Your Ticket to Inspiration IRL

You know those satisfying home hacks that stop you mid-scroll on Instagram and TikTok? The Charleston Fall Home Show is that in IRL, except you actually get to meet the local pros who can turn your inspo boards into reality.

Written by Josh Walker

Social media has changed a lot of things, not least of which how we shape and keep our homes. I’ve scrolled into the wee hours searching for the perfect feng shui, color palette advice, and Mr. Fix-It hacks, and I’m not afraid to admit it. What I always miss, though, comes after the “Wait. You can do it?” revelation, when all I want to do is talk to a pro who can help me accomplish the work in real life. That’s what the Charleston Fall Home Show is all about.

Of course, social media being social media, the next video will inevitably be of Jimothy, or a dog riding a skateboard or something, and whatever revelation I’d just logged in my actual brain or saved into yet another inspo folder disappears into the algorithmic ether.

I haven’t been to a Home Show yet, but from what I’m learning, it’s a magical place where you could spend hours discovering all those ideas but in three actual dimensions, and they don’t simply get filed away in a “save for later” folder. It’s more of a “start the dream here” situation where actual humans show you the cool things right there, and those pros are ready to explain how everything works and whether or not you could—or should—actually do it in your own home.

Next weekend in Mount Pleasant, there will be pros. There will be products. There will be materials. There will be ideas, and there will be plenty of eye candy and expertise covering just about every corner of the home. You can arrive with a project in mind, or simply substitute the day’s scrolling by stumbling upon some of the most interesting things you didn’t know you needed.

Danielle & Warren DeHaven | Photography by Kelly Parrish

Just ask Danielle DeHaven, of Charles Towne Plumbing. They’ve had an illustrious presence at the Home Show for years, and DeHaven shared some enlightening insight for a first-timer like myself looking to forget the phone and connect with real people. She said most visitors, after visiting with Charlie the Dolphin, stop by their booth with what begins as relatively simple plumbing questions. Then they start talking.

“You may come in looking for ideas for one project and end up having conversations about three others you hadn’t even considered yet,” she said.

Take a damaged sewer or drain line. You probably won’t see a hack for that on social media but it’s a real thing homeowners have to deal with, especially around here. On the other hand, we all know our phones are listening all the time, and maybe your algorithm tosses you a traditional solution for this sort of thing that includes b-roll of heavy equipment digging through a driveway, yard, and carefully tended landscaping. Oddly satisfying on screen but stress overload in real life. But in an actual real-time conversation, don’t worry: there’s actually something called trenchless pipelining that can sometimes rehabilitate that damaged line from the inside and mitigate the need to dig.

Wait, you can do that? Saved to mental inspo folder. In fact, Charles Towne Plumbing might be able to do just that for you, and they have for others. It’s exactly the kind of thing you might never think of because you didn’t know it was even a thing. Not even your algorithm can know what you don’t know… yet.

“Those are some of our favorite conversations because you can almost see the relief when someone realizes there may be another option besides tearing up a yard, driveway, or landscaping,” DeHaven said. “We love when homeowners tell us what they’re dealing with and ask, ‘What are my options?’ Because sometimes the solution is completely different from what they expected.”

Greg Hoffman | Photography by Ruta Smith

Then there are the things you know you want, but it’s only ever been eye candy on a screen. I’ve scrolled through enough kitchens wrapped in richly veined marble or quartz to fill more inspo folders than I can manage, but it’s ultimately just a few inches of glass and a collection of colored pixels.

Natural stone, in particular, is meant to be felt and seen at scale. Veining moves across an entire slab. Colors shift under different light. Honed and polished finishes interact differently with the room around them. Even quartz, with its seemingly endless range of colors and patterns, can be difficult to judge from a digital photo or video.

Greg Hoffman at Universal Marble and Granite knows there’s no substitute for seeing those materials in person. “We have the largest selection of quartz in Charleston and dozens of natural stone slabs on display,” he said. 

He’s also a Home Show maven and says it offers guests a chance to begin that experience; get off the feed, see materials with their own eyes, and talk to the people who work with them every day. Seeing it IRL might just be what puts it in your home and not just another folder.

“We pride ourselves on our workmanship so I love the opportunity to show more visitors our presentation,” Hoffman added.

Toni Johnson and Jodi Crosby | Photography by Ruta Smith

Maybe you’ve seen the materials in person and have a project simmering, but it’s plateaued. Maybe all you need is an “I-don’t-know-who-needs-to-hear-this-but” affirmation and a friendly nudge in the right direction from a real person.

“If you have an upcoming project, then bring your sketches, vision, and plans—whatever will paint a picture of what you’re looking to do,” said Jodi Crosby of Crosby Creations. “Many vendors will be able to guide you and advise you on next steps and maybe fill in some information you didn’t realize you needed.”

Getting from “I want that” to “we’re doing this” can be considerably more complicated than a before-and-after Reel makes it look. Depending on the project, there can be zoning requirements, variances, architectural review boards, design, engineering, bidding, and permitting to navigate before anybody ever jams a shovel in the ground.

That makes one question in particular worth asking: How long is this actually going to take?

“Sometimes folks don’t realize everything that goes into a renovation or custom build,” Crosby added. On the other hand, sometimes the doom spiral in your mind showing you five-figure budgets and multiple weeks of mess will only take a day and sacrifice a few coffee runs this month.

But perhaps the best evidence that a Home Show conversation can move an idea off the screen and into the real world comes later. Crosby also said she’s designed projects for numerous people they’ve met at previous shows. Some of those homeowners eventually returned to a subsequent Home Show carrying something considerably more useful than the inspiration they arrived with the first time: Their plans.

“It’s always so rewarding to see those same people come to the next show with our plans in hand to meet the next round of vendors that can help bring their project to fruition,” Crosby said.

Maybe a project you start at this season’s Fall Home Show becomes one of the dream homes featured in our next Luxury Home Tour | Photography by Keene Eye Marketing

That’s the advantage to discovering these things in person: you can ask the next question. Online inspiration is great at showing you the finished product. It’s less reliable at telling you whether that product makes sense for a Charleston home that may have been built before you were born. A real pro knows what holds up to Lowcountry humidity, what it costs, what has to happen to execute it, what historical significance it might have, and whether there’s another option that might cost less and work better.

“What we love about the Home Show is that it gives homeowners the opportunity to actually meet the people behind local companies, ask questions, see products and ideas in person, and make those connections face-to-face,” DeHaven said. “There’s a really great energy to it, and it feels much more personal than simply searching for someone online.”

Listen—I’m going to keep scrolling. That’s the age we live in. But knowing there’s a place I can go and say out loud to someone in real life, “Wait, you can do that?” Shut up and take my money, I’m already there. And I hope to see you there, too.

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The Charleston Fall Home Show brings together local builders, remodelers, designers, and home professionals for a weekend of ideas, inspiration, and one-on-one conversations at the Omar Shrine Temple at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant. Guests can explore products and services for projects throughout the home, meet the people behind some of the Lowcountry’s leading home companies, and get expert advice for projects big and small. The show is presented by Charleston Home + Design and includes free parking all weekend.

Get your tickets at charlestonhomeanddesign.com/event/charleston-home/