As we did the previous years, we went to Bis exhibition this year. There wasn’t any one specific thing we went for, it was more a trip for inspiration for the first floor bedrooms (we still need to figure out what floor we’ll have there, what wall paper, and so on), and perhaps some garden and terrace ideas.
Bis, unlike Batibouw, has one single path meandering through all the halls, making you go past each and every single stand, no matter how huge or tiny it is. Bis, also unlike Batibouw, doesn’t group stands by subject (e.g. contractors together, plumbing together, electricity together, and so on) but spreads it all out all over the place. You have the option to either go with the flow (and spend 5 hours to get through it all, the horror…) or time and plan your visit wisely. It probably won’t surprise you we chose the latter, especially since the only day we could visit was the opening day…
We got there a little past 3 PM, giving us just short of 3 hours to make it through. First thing we noticed was that it wasn’t as crowded as we’d feared. In fact, we quite easily navigated the maze of people. So easily that by 5 PM we were back at our car already, having seen and asked everything we wanted to (if present).
So what did we see? No wall paper, no flooring suited for outside, some tiles for inside (but we were thinking about a laminate floor for the first floor). One stand that had laminate, but we weren’t quite convinced about the overall look, feel and finish of it. What one of the tile stands did have was something that we could use for a splash guard in our kitchen. Chrisje has always been a fan of cement tiles, wanting them in our kitchen floor at first, and we stumbled across something similar:
They’re strips of 30 by 10 cm, in all different designs.
Or there’s the option for the metro tiles:
I’m not sure if the area isn’t too small for that to work though.
Then near the end of our round we saw a stand showing insulation and stone strips. Interested as ever (we’ll have to do something to the back facade eventually) we stopped and asked for information. Looks very nice, but I fear the quote that will follow… We’ll see.
All in all a blitz-visit during which we didn’t see what we went for, and saw what we didn’t think of. Any of you that went, or still want to go? In any case, Bis, see you next year!