WASHINGTON -- The Washington Home & Garden Show is coming to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center March 9 through 11, bringing with it tech ideas for making your home more environmentally-friendly, green-thumb advice for gardeners and more.
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" host Ty Pennington will be there on March 10, and The Huffington Post caught up with the home improvement expert to talk about what to expect and his thoughts on D.C. architecture.
The Huffington Post: What are you most looking forward to checking out at the Washington Home & Garden Show?
Ty Pennington: Considering my background with homes and the building of many homes, especially on "Extreme," we're always trying to, you know, definitely use greener products ... anything that can really reduce the amount of utilities in your home or can also give your home not only a chance to last longer, but also raise the value of it. And you go to these home shows, you really do get a chance to really see what the homes of the future could be.
HuffPost: What's more important, green design or comfort?
Pennington: You want to figure out ways to help the environment, but you also want to create the perfect environment you're living in ... That sounded so bipartisan!
HuffPost: It did indeed. Very D.C., in fact. Maybe you have a career in politics ahead of you?
Pennington: Politics will be my next venture! [laughing] ... Which, I think is going to be really great.
HuffPost: Any areas of D.C. you particularly like the look and feel of?
Pennington: I certainly like Georgetown and how cool that area is. But, I also remember coming up when I was a younger kid, going to the Smithsonian back before we had GPS and all that other stuff. It was just simply maps, and I remember my parents getting lost on the Beltway.
HuffPost: Trust us, that still happens. GPS systems or not. We always end up in Virginia! Once you got in the city, what'd you like?
Pennington: I like the idea of how it felt old-school… what is beautiful about this city is that you really don't see the tall skyscrapers… You're not seeing disgusting billboards, you're not seeing any of these monstrosities. That view of when you come in, and you see the sunset over the Potomac… In my opinion, it's one of the most beautiful cities in America. It's a beautiful place to have a home show.
HuffPost: Have you got your eye on any buildings in D.C. in need of an extreme makeover?
Pennington: Oh, gosh. Well, I know for a fact that D.C. is not so happy with some of the buildings that were built in the '70s… But I'm a fan of all architecture, some good some bad. Some are actually atrocious…
HuffPost: Again, very bipartisan.
Pennington: Sometimes there's these things you find in D.C. that were built in the '60s and the '70s that are so cool because that era, that time was so special. I mean, even the Watergate -- it's sort of historic for the wrong reasons, but I think the design of it was sort of, kind of slick and swank and kind of stylish and very Vegas.
HuffPost: Interesting you mention the Watergate, because it's really looking kind of grim these days.
Pennington: Let's just say that I think a good design, at some point… it's all going to fall into disrepair. The question is do you try to preserve it exactly the way it was or do you give it an updated new look … keeping all the key lines ... some things you don't want to cover up, you want to accentuate. I think sometimes when it comes to that, it's even cooler if you can keep it original but give it a whole new facelift.