A parade of homes

Why do they call it a "parade of homes" when the homes just sit there and we do all the walking.  A friend and I went to the Fort Wayne Parade of Homes this evening.  We toured seven houses and two villas, all priced over $400,000, all very nice obviously, and interestingly decorated.  I went with the idea in mind of getting some decorating ideas for my bedroom.  It's painted light blue now, fairly blah and boring.  I thought maybe I would see some bright exciting color combinations. Not so.  House after house had interior walls painted light taupe or light beige or light greyish seafoam, with white or natural woodwork. Ho hum. Things were attractive but not exciting.  It was interesting to see lots of great room ceilings with wooden (natural or painted, straight or intersecting) beams that looked very much like the beams in my (40 year old) family room.  But the best idea I saw, this I thought was a stroke of genius, was a lift installed in a garage.  It was an open platform elevator on which you could load things, like boxes of Christmas ornaments, destined for attic storage. Push the button and the lift goes up into the attic.  Meanwhile, you climb the traditional pull-down stairs, walk over to the bin or box that has arrived in the attic and shift it to its storage spot.  No more lugging boxes up those stairs. Isn't that a great idea?