Editor’s Pick: Capital Remodel + Garden Show Featuring Vern Yip
Designer Vern Yip headlines this weekend's Capital Remodel + Garden Show, back in full swing at the Dulles Expo Center.
“Something can be beautiful, but if it doesn’t function correctly, to me it’s a failure,” Vern Yip told Metro Weekly in 2018 in a cover story interview. “Similarly, if something just functions and it’s not aesthetically pleasing, it’s also a failure.”
The interview coincided with Yip’s appearance at the fall 2018 Capital Home Show presented by Marketplace Events. The Trading Spaces-minted celebrity designer and HGTV star went on to suggest that everything he does professionally — each design and remodeling project he takes on, whether in private practice or on TV, and every Vern Yip-branded home decor and lighting product he markets — is ultimately guided by a core design maxim of form follows function.
To Yip, design is of secondary importance — a project’s intended use or purpose should be the main concern, which in turn will inform the design, and be enhanced by it.
A characteristically pragmatic, problem-solving approach to design along with a consistently clean and refined sense of style have contributed greatly to Yip’s enduring popularity over the last two decades. As one token of his fame, Diet Pepsi introduced a limited-edition signature Vern Yip can a decade ago, making him the first — and still the only — interior designer so honored.
Yip remains a regular presence in multiple shows, both new and recurring, airing on TLC and HGTV. But this weekend, the McLean native will return to the Dulles Expo Center for another home show presented by Marketplace — the Capital Remodel + Garden Show. Yip plans to dole out more general design tips and guidance, with a particular focus on pandemic-related remodeling advice.
“Our homes became the centers of our lives during the pandemic, underscoring the need for spaces that fully support both our personal and professional lives,” Yip says in an interview posted to the remodeling show’s blog.
“Many tried to tackle refreshes and/or full-on renovations realizing that a home environment tailored to those living under its roof can vastly improve the relationships occurring within its walls. But lots of folks found that they got it wrong. I’m planning to dispense some tips on how to get it right.” He appears on the main stage on Friday, Feb. 24, at 2 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 25, at 1 p.m.
This year’s winter show also features two mainstage appearances by Christine Louise and John Begeny, longtime best friends who are producers at WETA-TV and co-hosts of the PBS station’s If You Lived Here, a house-hunting/neighborhood history series that has showcased more than 30 communities in D.C. and surrounding areas.
They have also jointly created several documentaries for WETA, and won a regional Emmy Award for The Washington Cherry Blossoms: A Gift of Friendship. They’ll appear on Friday, Feb. 24, at 1 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 25, at noon.
Every year, elaborate garden displays are a standout attraction at the show, highlighting the latest trends in outdoor decor and landscaping.
This year’s displays come courtesy of two local gardening and landscaping companies, Meadow Farms and Premium Lawn and Landscape, the latter of which touts its booth as “an immersive hardscaping and landscaping walkthrough [including] a Premium built walkway…garden beds, retaining wall, outdoor fireplace, and water feature.”
All told, more than 300 booths will be staffed by local and national exhibitors representing all the home and home-related categories you’d expect, plus automotive, electronics, fashion, finance, health & wellbeing, organization, and travel accessories, and luggage.
As such, the show is billed as a kind of one-stop shop for homeowners seeking to remodel or renovate their spaces, from the interior to the exterior, via landscaping and garden design.
The Capitol Remodel + Garden Show is Friday, Feb. 24, and Saturday, Feb. 25, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 26, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. At the Dulles Expo Center, 4320 Chantilly Shopping Center in Virginia. Single-day tickets are $12 at the box office or $10 online, or free on Friday, Feb. 24, for those coming by public transportation, free on Sunday, Feb. 26, for government employees with ID, and free any day for active service members and uniformed personnel with ID.
Visit www.capitalremodelandgarden.com or call 703-378-5324.
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