Period Features

Win a trip to Paris with Farrow & Ball

Farrow & Ball is delighted to have teamed up with the prestigious Musée du Louvre in Paris to support its main autumn exhibition 'Andrea Mantegna, The First Painter', available to view until 5th January 2009. Farrow & Ball paint colours including Brinjal®, Picture Gallery Red®, and Cook's Blue® create a stunning backdrop to a collection of 170 unique works by this renowned Italian artist.

Click here to enter the exclusive prize draw for the chance to win a trip to Paris and tickets to the exhibition.

For more information about the exhibition visit The Louvre website.

Hopvines

This is the perfect time of year for decorating with hops. Fresh hop vines are stunning when hung as natural fresh foliage. The sales season for these fresh cut vines is short and lasts from mid August through to late September. During the drying process the flowers give off their nostalgic hoppy aroma. If you miss the time slot to buy fresh hops you can still buy dried hop bines all year round. For more information on this classic country home decoration visit the hopvines website

Autumn Antiques Fair at Radley College 24th - 26th October

The Thames Valley Antiques Association are again holding their much loved Autumn fair at Radley College near Oxford from 24th to 26th October.

This years fair will have an interior design theme, furniture dealers will be encouraged to create room settings on their stands; fabrics, curtain making services and advice on colour schemes will also be available.

The event has attracted more exhibitors than hitherto; counted amongst the most prestigious furniture dealers in the United Kingdom are local experts from  Summers Davis of Wallingford, The Country Seat at Huntercombe, Hallidays of Dorchester and new members of TVADA W.R Harvey & Co of Witney.  There will be a glorious selection of art on offer, alongside local dealers will be others travelling from as far as Cambridge and Jersey in order to exhibit their paintings & sculpture. Newcomer to the fair Brian Watson from Norfolk will be exhibiting a beautiful selection of antique glass.

Old fashioned techniques for storing food

If you are green fingered you may find yourself with a glut of garden produce at this time of year. Many of us have forgotten the old fashioned techniques for storing food over the winter by drying or preserving them. As the credit crunch hits and we are reminded from government down of the need reduce food waste preserving may see something of a renaissance. Advice on oven drying, freezing, preserving, storing and making jams, jellies and chutneys can be found in a useful article on the BBC food pages.

Eco-friendly Farrow & Ball

Long before it came into vogue, Farrow & Ball recognised the importance of the environment. For many years they have offered some of the most environmentally friendly paints available anywhere in the world. The vast majority of Farrow & Ball paint is classified by the US Environmental Protection Agency as zero VOC.

Farrow & Ball has recently added to its eco-friendly range with the launch of Estate® Eggshell, a unique high performance paint which retains the flow, appearance and performance of traditional oil-based eggshell paint, yet has minimum impact on the environment.

Extremely durable and ideal for use on all interior woodwork and metal including radiators, Estate® Eggshell is an excellent, low-sheen complement to Farrow & Ball Estate® Emulsion and Modern Emulsion, giving the unmistakeably elegant Farrow & Ball look.

Estate® Eggshell is available now in all Farrow & Ball colours and in tin sizes of 750ml, 2.5 litres & 5 litres. Period Features sells the full range of Farrow & Ball paint and wallpapers and the team at our Leek shop would be pleased to advise you on the appropriate type of paint for your project or to offer advice on your decorating schemes. Visit Farrow & Ball website for more information.

Modern and antique reproduction furniture

Lexterten manufacture modern and antique reproduction furniture and patio furniture in the UK. Lexterten offers a bespoke, made to order service will allows you to colour match to existing furniture in your home - an antique dining table could be matched with new chairs for example. Lexterten also sells a range of items that would not have existed in period homes, but which are useful in modern ones, such as coffee tables and hi-fi and television cabinets. They have even created a new elevating cabinet for the new style plasma screens which conceals not only the screen itself but all the cables and other items that come with it. Find out more at www.lexterten.com

Win A £25 Period Features Voucher!

This month we are giving away a £25 Voucher to spend on any of our lovely products, redeemable in store or online. Just answer one simple question and after the closing date of 30th November 2008, we will pick the winner at random from all the entries received.

To enter please take a look at our Rim & Mortice Knobs which can be found in our Period Hardware section then just answer the following question: Which 'period' does our square mortice knob originate from? Email the answer to us at competition@periodfeatures.net. Good luck!

The lucky winner of our August/September competition, receiving a £25.00 voucher, was Ms H Wright. Many thanks to all of you who entered.

Homes and Bargains

Evening Standard and TV journalist Alison Cork is another journalist helping people to cope with the credit crunch with her website www.homesandbargains.co.uk. You can sign up for a newsletter to find out where the bargains are to be found or check out where the sales are. There's an ask an expert section for those things you can't track down and with the directory listed under helpful headings it is easy to find companies offering the type of products that you are looking for.