Overheard at the Home and Garden Show March 30, 2007 Overheard at the Home and Garden Show March 23-25 at Nassau Coliseum: THIS OLD CHOP-SHOP. Among the 150 or so people who went to the home show Saturday to see "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" fashion maven Carson Kressly were Frederick Rudd and Kim Greenberg, new owners of the Upper Brookville estate of chop-shop boss Michael Pescatore. The couple bought the 14,000-square-foot mansion at an IRS auction last week for $8.3 million. Greenberg said her daughter is dating Shane Tallant, host of HGTV's "Designed to Sell," and Rudd said he spoke to Tallant, another celebrity at the home show, about working with the network to highlight the home. "It's a phenomenal house," Tallant said. "But right now, it's a blank canvas. There's nothing in it." CHATTY GUY. Kressly might live in Manhattan, but he's familiar enough with Long Island to name his favorite places. "Of course Fire Island, that's a given," he said. "I have a soft spot for Huntington. We did an episode where we made over a Moose lodge there. We still get invited to clambakes and things. The people are really so great. I heart Long Island." Although there for the home and garden show, Kressly offered advice on big and tall shopping (finding a good tailor is important), described his favorite clothes (he claims to own 27 different colors of Ralph Lauren cashmere sweaters) and helped a 9-year-old on how to update his hairstyle (a faux hawk with crew-cut sides). LAND LOVERS. Property owners looking for a change are more often choosing to keep their land but demolishing the home on it, said exhibitor Michael Graziosi of Roslyn-based Hoschler-Graziosi Architects. "It's been going on for years, but it's in the last five years that we've noticed people that, rather than going out and finding a home they like, they're knocking down the one they have and building the one they want," he said. Roslyn, Melville and Nassau's North Shore have been hot spots for the trend, Graziosi said, due to the big, high-priced lots in those areas. DRIVING DR. GADGET. One of the biggest new gadgets on the market might also be the most useful for Long Islanders, said Dave "Dr. Gadget" Dettman, who displayed a variety of off-beat devices at the show. American Electric's Kurrent NV is a two-seat electric car which Dettman described as "a golf cart on steroids." The seven-and-a-half-foot-long car has a 40-mile range, takes eight hours to charge, and costs about $10 a month to operate. It's only certified for speeds of less than 35 mph, but that's the speed limit in most towns, Dettman noted. "As far as the Long Island area, it's really perfect for short trips," he said. "The average commuter is going less than 10 miles to work." Dettman said the Kurrent NV is one of the first affordable electric vehicles, retailing for $9,800, not including a government tax credit. But prospective owners should get in line now: American Electric is backordered for almost two years on the car, he said. GREEN STUFF. Even small, tightly packed Long Island lots can benefit from new, smaller-sized trees and shrubberies now available, items "Renegade Gardener" Don Engebretson says can make a big difference in any yard. "I would say Long Islanders should get out to the nurseries and take a look around," he said. "There's been a revolution in the last few years, an explosion of evergreen and varieties, including dwarf trees you can even plant in urban settings." Some types of the trees and shrubberies can be planted as close as five feet to a home, and can update a landscape that hasn't been changed in decades. "People rip out their kitchen and carpets more than they ever think about tearing out that '50s and '60s landscaping," he said. BIG SPACES, SMALL BUDGETS. "Designed to Sell" host Tallant and designer Taniya Nayak usually have just $2,000 to fix up a property for sale, but they say even a large, high-end Long Island home can reap big benefits from work in that price range. "There's always spaces that can be fixed," said Tallant, "even a $4 million home. You can really do a lot for a small amount of money." Nayak said simple changes like updating cabinet fixtures and lighting sources can make a room stand out, and in larger homes it's important to pay attention to the little things, especially in rooms not normally used, right down to the grouting. "Grout can get old, get dirty, that's something that happens even in the nicest of homes," she said. "Regrouting can really make a difference." GAMING IN STYLE. One show vendor drawing crowds was Game Cabinets, Inc., whose arcade-style video game cabinets have found a market on Long Island. "This is a huge area for us," said David Flagg, president of the Redmond, Wash.-based company. "A lot of people here have basements, game rooms." The cabinets contain software for more than 5,000 arcade games from 1975 to 2000, can be used as an MP3 jukebox or Web browser, and retail for around $6,500. -- AARON CAHALL