IBS & KBIS Recap

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We flew out to Orlando last week for the annual International Builders (IBS) and Kitchen & Bath Industry (KBIS) show.

We’ve both been to the show prior but not together, so it was fun to experience it together and sneak in a little getaway with just us.

Where do we begin…

A friend texted me once we returned saying that she wanted to know the biggest surprise and biggest disappointment.

Our highlights…so many…

One of the best parts is we got to see old friends and meet so many cool new people. One of our favorite things about social media is all the neat people we build a relationship with online. Then when you go to fun events like this, you get to hang out and meet for the first time, even though it feels like you’ve known them for years. We have a large group of contractor friends online, and we hung out with those guys nonstop.

Like these guys we’ve been watching their YouTubes video for months…and they were even better in person.

Contractors Unite!!

And of course, the beyond beautiful inside and out, Allison Victoria from Kitchen Crashers.

Working in this industry is physically exhausting. Even when you’re not working, you’re hurting.

Jamie reminded me of that while we ran around nonstop and he said how much his back hurt. Oh dear, haha! It’s also mentally exhausting. Doing bids before the kids get up and waking up to emails wondering where their bids are, running from job to job to job to make sure things are getting done and to make ends meet…we could go on and on. Sometimes we wonder why we’re in this trade. Ha! But we wouldn’t have it any other way. It was so nice to chat with other contractors, who are doing things a million times bigger and better than us, to strategize, get their perspective, and push us to the next level. We’re definitely coming home feeling energized and ready for anything that comes our way!

We also partnered up with Elkay to promote their new product launches, which was super cool! As you guys know, we love these guys so much! It’s very rare that you get to talk to some of the head honchos in big corporations and all of the Elkay guys, the president included, went out of their way to chat with us. It’s so refreshing to work with a brand that says their family oriented and they actually are.

One of our favorites, their interchangeable apron front sinks. Want to go bold but nervous…here ya go!

And their gold new faucets did not disappoint…

We also took part in a “meet & greet” happy hour that our management agency put on, which was SUCH a good time. All these guys crack us up and are such good people. It was fun to spend some time with them and get to know them on another level.

I can’t really say we had too many disappointments. If we had to think up one thing, it would probably be that we were so busy in meetings and running around to happy hours that we hardly had any time to walk the show and see all that they had to offer. But from what we did see we can tell you wood and colors are going to be huge this year!

I mean look at this island design! LOVE. Jamie’s thinking about spinning something like this up for us with our own dinning room table. He was feeling inspired!

Moulding from Metrie, another one of our favorite brands, their booth was loaded with such neat finishing details that we’ll for sure be incorporating into our clients and our own home.

We can hardly wait for next year in VEGAS! When contractors unite, you always know it’s going to be a good time.