Carrollton is abuzz with vendors setting up for their two-week stay at Founders Pointe.

There will be more than 150 vendors at the 2010 Spring Homearama, being held at the East West community Saturday through May 23.

“We’ve been a vendor at Homearama for more than 15 years,” said Pam Moore of JC Penney. “We always really enjoy it. There are so many businesses that come. It’s by far the largest show we do in the state.”

Move-in for the vendors was Wednesday and Thursday and the kick-off for the annual event is tonight. The show opens to the public on Saturday.

For more than 25 years, the event has showcased some of the most innovative designs on the market. While 2010 is the first year the show is being held in the spring, the event — as in the past — promises to have the latest in construction, design, furnishings and technological innovations.

“Each builder added their own twist,” Tidewater Builders Association President Bill Halprin said. “You’ve got your technology, your man-cave, your art and your green. You see more green things, innovation and a replacement of things to suit today’s buyer — whether that’s faux granite or a cell-phone station.”

A main difference from this year’s Homearama and previous years’ events — and a primary reason the association chose Founders Pointe — is the practicality of the prices in light of the current economic situation.

“Over the last several years, we’ve gotten away from multi-million dollar showcase homes and scaled things back to suit the economy we’re in right now,” Halprin said. “People don’t have to just dream anymore. They can buy.”

And if someone isn’t looking to buy, “you’re not just limited to building or buying there,” Halprin said. “I had a friend who went years ago, and had a house he saw built elsewhere.”

Aside from building designs, there are plenty of interior decorating ideas to garner. Suffolk businesses A. Dodson’s and Powell Interiors both decorated homes for the event.

“The real challenge in this is budgeting on a dime,” said A. Dodson’s owner Alison Dodson Anderson. “You learn to work with something you might find in your garage.”

Dodson is decorating the Smithfield home by combining Smithfield’s tagline of hams, history, hospitality and “heART” with her ability to seamlessly blend antiques with modern flair.

Whether you’re looking for interior design, building design, to buy a home or just to “take the scenic route,” check page B1 for more information on Homearama.