If you are one of the millions of women thrilled by the idea of trading spaces and making extreme changes to your rooms, you would probably love the chance to get personal tips and information from the pros. For three days only this November, you can have access to hundreds of home improvement and design resources under one roof.

Bring pictures of your decorating disasters, and get all kinds of ideas on how to turn those rooms into decorating dreams. Visit television hosts Joan Steffend of HGTV's Decorating Cents and JoAnne Liebeler (Passport to Design, Home Savvy and Room for Change) at the FM 107 booth to share their stories about home improvement and design. It all happens at the second annual Womens Home Expo™, coming November 12-14 to the Minneapolis Convention Center.

This year's show headliners also include designer Mark Montano of TLC's While You Were Out. Montano will conduct demonstrations on stage both Saturday and Sunday including how to make simple and beautiful art with simple supplies; creating easy lamps and lamp shades from unusual objects; easy techniques for stained and frosted windows; simple decoupage; and cool sponge painting techniques. Montano's appearance is sponsored by Benjamin Moore paints. Each demonstration will be followed by an autograph session at the Hirschfield's booth.

This is the ultimate home show produced exclusively for women, with nonstop seminars, including how-to demonstrations conducted by design professionals, and the opportunity to browse through as many as 250 exhibit booths featuring everything from muralists to the latest in countertops and flooring. And it's all in time for the holiday decorating season!

Ask the Pros

Montano, Steffend and Liebeler are just some of the many design professionals who will appear at the show. A number of designers, contractors and vendors will be there to help you accomplish your design dreams, whether they are trendy or traditional. You can save time, money AND get ideas from the pros all under one roof! As a special treat, show producers are putting together a special designer panel that will meet on stage each day to answer audience questions.

The public also is invited to Ask the Pro Before You Go by visiting the official expo Web site at www.101expos.com. Design questions submitted from that site are being directed to one of the many professionals who will be exhibiting at the show. It's a great way to make contact with experts before the show and prepare for your face-to-face meeting.

Just because the seminars and exhibitors will be going nonstop, doesn't mean you'll have to as well. The Expo producers are bringing in musicians and other entertainers so that you can take relaxing breaks to consider all you've learned.

There also will be plenty of drawings and prizes given away, including a synthetic, low maintenance backyard putting green, valued at up to $5,000, from GolfGreens of Minnesota - which specializes in the highest quality and playable outdoor synthetic greens systems for residential and commercial applications. A sponsor of this year's expo, GolfGreens of Minnesota offers state-of-the-art greens that have a putting surface very similar to the natural bent grass green. Home practice greens vary in size from 180 sq. ft. to 4,000 sq. ft., and can last up to 10-15 years. Experienced representatives will be on hand at the expo to discuss custom design options including size, contour and other features such as sand traps.

Show hours are November 12 from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., November 13 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and November 14 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $3 with the half price coupon available on the Web site (www.101expos.com), and free to kids 17 and under when accompanied by an adult.

After the show, extend the ladies day out (before hunting season ends) by exploring the easily walkable downtown Minneapolis area. Home to more than 30 theatres, plus dozens of eateries and two art museums, much of downtown is connected by a system of covered skyways. Don't miss the opportunity to spend time at Nicollet Mall, a mile-pedestrian mall, with many fine shops and restaurants.

Benefiting Other Area Women
One dollar of every paid admission will be donated to WomenVenture, a nonprofit economic development agency for women. WomenVenture's mission is to assist women in securing their own economic success and prosperity. WomenVenture helps women start and grow their own businesses, change or develop careers, and train for well-paying jobs in non-traditional industries.

This year's Womens Home Expo™ is sponsored by FM 107, TLC's While You Were Out, KSTP TV, Sea Dreams, Benjamin Moore Paints, SimonDelivers, KSTC 45 TV, GolfGreens of Minnesota, Lincoln Mercury and Stressfree Living.

The Womens Home Expo™ is produced by Mid-America Events & Expos, Inc. which also produces the Body Mind Life Expo™, the Seniors Spring Show™ and the Seniors Expo™.

Media note: For further information, or to set up an interview with an exhibitor, designer or celebrity guest, contact Media Relations at 612-798-7220.

For Viewers or listeners: More information on the Womens Home Expo™ can be found at www.101expos.com or call the Expo hotline at 612-798-7256.

Biography -- Mark Montano

While You Were Out's Mark Montano is an energetic and undeniably cool designer. His creative musings have manifested in the arenas of fashion, interior design and writing. Originally from Colorado, Mark attended Colorado State University and then moved on to the Fashion Institute of Technology, earning a M.A. in costume history and decorative arts. An internship with Oscar de la Renta gave him an appreciation for exquisite fabrics and the inspiration to begin his own line.

Mark joined CosmoGirl Magazine as a contributing editor, a produces a monthly column of creative room makeovers ("Cool Room"). At the same time, he also writes a weekly column distributed by Knight Ridder Publications. In 2002, Mark also published a collection of room makeovers called Super Suite, which was selected by the New York Public Library as "Books for the Teen Age 2003 List."

Mark's flagship boutique is based in the East Village of New York.

Biography - Joan Steffend

Joan Steffend is nothing if not real. She doesn't believe in perfection, but she has a darn good time looking for a way to keep a home stylish on a budget, all while looking for a good laugh.

A national Emmy award-winner for her writing and reporting, Joan has worked since 1997 as host of HGTV's "Decorating Cents" on the Home & Garden Television Network (now in more than 85 million homes). Joan's "can-do" way with a 500-dollar budget has led to appearances on "Oprah", "The Today Show", "The CBS Early Show", and "Live with Regis and Kelly."

Joan has also hosted many HGTV specials, including highly anticipated tours of three of HGTV's Dream Homes. In addition, she closed out 2002 & 2003 as host of HGTV's "Christmas at the White House", a show that became the network's top-rated hour-long prime time special.

Joan's hallmarks as a host are her warmth, her genuine enthusiasm, and her comfort with the spoken word and the camera. Her hallmark as a shopper is her ability to spot a sale sign at 500 feet! To be able to put together a line of home accessories that appeal to her budget loving heart is a dream come true!

But. . . if you really want to know who she is. . . the seeds of Joan's career were sown in the first grade appearing on stage as a green light bulb in the school Christmas pageant. She knew she had found a place where she felt comfortable (and no, not inside a scratchy, green, crepe paper costume, clutching a flashlight).

Flash forward through years of school plays, summer stock, and a stint at Warner Brothers Film Actors Workshop and you find Joan taking a left turn into television news - anchoring and reporting the news, first in Duluth, Minnesota and then in Minneapolis- St Paul. In her time at KARE-TV (NBC), Joan received many national and international awards for her compassionate writing and reporting, including that national Emmy, and the Grand Award from the New York Film International Festival (there's also the Houston Film Festival, San Francisco Film Festival, the Cine Golden Eagle, a Telly, and so on).

In the spring of 1997 the green light bulb part of Joan's character re-emerged when HGTV came into the picture, offering Joan a chance to host her own national decorating show, called "Decorating Cents." On the air since October of 1997, it's one of the network's most popular shows, founded on the principle that a little do-it-yourself creativity can stretch a 500-dollar decorating budget all the way around a room.

Showing a Lucy Ricardo kind of flair, Joan already has managed to break a pedestal sink, hot glue-gun herself to a kitchen tile, and have a little too much fun with red paint on a cream Berber carpet. In these days of economic uncertainty, her show, "Decorating Cents" remains the least pricey decorating show on TV and also one of the most popular for HGTV.

Biography - JoAnne (JoJo) Liebeler

The current crop of television designers may know a thing or two about wallpaper, but television home improvement expert JoJo Liebeler knows what's behind that wallpaper. For 15 years, Liebeler has been showing viewers how to fix, manage, maintain and improve their homes on a variety of television programs.

Recently, Liebeler wrapped production on an hour-long Travel Channel pilot that examines the ups and downs of building a vacation dream home. It's Liebeler's second foray with the Travel Channel. She served as Host and Executive Producer of a series entitled Passport to Design in 2002-03. Passport to Design is different from most room makeover programs because projects are inspired by homeowner's vacation memories. Room designs have been classic, such as a Venetian Dining room, and kitschy like a Vintage Rumpus Room.

Passport to Design is Liebeler's second show that dabbles in design principles. She also hosted HGTV's Room for Change from 1995 - 2001. In that program, rooms were meticulously transformed using time-lapse photography.

But Liebeler's enduring popularity has come from the hands-on, down-and-dirty home improvement shows she's hosted. Her Midwestern appeal, and ability to swing a hammer even earned her a spot in Men's Health magazine's Top Ten Most Strangely Sexy Women poll. She worked with Dean Johnson on PBS' long-running Hometime series, and moved on to host her own show on TLC called Home Savvy. As one of the female pioneers in television home improvement, she has inspired millions to pick up a power saw and go to work.

Liebeler has built a following as a home improvement expert, but has a passion for comedy. While living in Los Angeles, she was the lone female sketch writer on a syndicated series called The Newz. She performed for years in improvisational comedy troupes in both Los Angeles and Minneapolis/St. Paul. She has also had roles in broadcast television sitcoms and feature films.

As a how-to and home improvement expert, she practices what she preaches. Liebeler and her husband are re-modeling the home they bought, and are doing most of the work themselves.