Green (Living) Review: Ideal Home Show at Christmas 2011

The largest real indoor Christmas tree in the UK at 15metres high and over 7 metres wide, has been unveiled as the central feature of this year’s Ideal Home Show at Christmas between the 16th – 20th November 2011, at London’s Earls Court.

Towering over the show, the 30- year-old Norwegian Sitka Spruce, will be dressed in a selection of festive decorations and is being illuminated with stunning lighting provided by Philips.

Over 12 runs of 20metre cable will be used to illuminate the tree, which will be powered by a series of low wattage, energy efficient Living Colors Philips LED lights.

The 8-foot-tall balsam fir chosen as Grand Champion has been supplied by Elveden Estate, near Newcastle and is the largest indoor Christmas fir Tree that you will see anywhere indoors in the UK this year.

The giant Tree was transported to London’s Earls Court on a flatbed truck, and installed on a 5m2 steel tree stand where it rested for 24 hours to get its perfect shape back, taking just 24 hours, to put the tree in place for the five day show.

After its life as the largest indoor Christmas tree, the wood will be cut and donated to young London based furniture designers and recycling enterprises by Stewart Walton at the Bexhill and Hastings Wood Recycling Project, and Fabien Cappello to be used in furniture making. Any leftover product will be chipped and recycled by Elveden in the estate.

Guess the number of Philips Living Colour lights on our tree to WIN!

In celebration of the UK’s largest indoor Christmas Tree and the first ever Ideal Home Show at Christmas, we are offering the opportunity for visitors to WIN an exclusive ‘Light Over’ a lighting makeover for a room of your choosing courtesy of Philips, as well as tickets to the Ideal Home Show at Christmas and a chance to come down and turn on the lights with the show’s celebrity ambassadors Gino D’Acampo, Suzi Perry, Olly Smith, Gizzi Erskine and Laurence Llewelyn Bowen. To be in with a chance to win just guess how many Philips Living Colour lights are on our tree. The ‘Light Over’ includes a selection of table and floor standing fittings from Philips Living Colors and Living Ambiance ranges to create the perfect ambiance in your home by offering both useful white light and decorative mood lighting. Also part of the £1,500 package is a selection of LED energy-saving bulbs, which offer a high-quality, green alternative, and an assortment of Lumiware accessories, a stunning range of LED based accessories for the home such as a wine cooler and vase. To achieve the look a lighting expert from the Philips Consumer Lighting team will be on hand to provide advice and ideas.

One lucky winner who guesses the correct number of lights expected to be used on the tree, will be in with a chance to win.

To be in with a chance to win, all you have to do is log on to the www.idealhomeshowchristmas.co.uk website and enter your prediction into our online form. You will then be placed into a draw of finalists who all guessed the correct number. The overall winner will be drawn at random, and all runners up who guessed the correct number of Philips lights will also win tickets to attend this year’s show.

So log on now to be in with a chance of winning www.idealhomeshowchristmas.co.uk

Shoppers who want to stock up on festive goodies there will be over 400 exhibitors offering the latest home improvements, interiors, furnishing, and with more Gadgets, shopping and gifts for all the family.

The Ideal Home Show at Christmas will be running from the 16th – 20th November 2011, at London’s Earls Court. Open daily from 10am-6pm, Late Night Thursdays open until 9pm. Tickets can be either booked online or by calling the Ticket Hotline on 0844 209 7330, or for further information about the show visit the website http://www.idealhomeshowatchristmas.co.uk/.

The Ideal Home Show’ is supporting the Ideal Homes For Heroes appeal supporting ABF The Soldiers’ Charity – see www.idealhomeshow.co.uk/ideal-homes-for-heroes/ for details.

Source: Stuart Higgins Communications on behalf of the Ideal Home Show 2011.

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

With over 6* million Christmas Trees dumped outside on the streets each year, and 976,000** of those in London alone simply being thrown away, it is never too early to start thinking about how we can be more environmentally responsible this festive season.

In an era of "reduce, reuse and recycle", the Ideal Home Show at Christmas is teaming up with the Little Tree Company to offer a unique, ‘Christmas Tree Hire Scheme’; a new way of hiring and recycling your Christmas to help reduce waste from your home this year.

In partnership with The Little Tree Company, the Ideal Home Show at Christmas will create a 1001 strong Christmas Tree snowflake shaped maze, offering beautifully pruned and potted Christmas trees that you can select to annually hire over the Christmas period, for the same price as a normal cut tree.

Once at the end of the Christmas period, the tree can then be collected by the Little Tree Company in the New Year and re‐planted to be rented out again the following Christmas, making perfect wildlife habitats over the rest of the year.

Once the tree finally grows too big for the home, The Little Tree Company will plant it out where it can grow into the towering giant it aspires to be, creating beautiful woodlands and habitats for Britain’s wildlife and find a final resting place in a variety of community locations from schools to nursing homes.

Figures show that only 10% of the UK’s 6 million Christmas Trees are recycled each year for composting and wood chipping. The rest goes into landfill - a wasted opportunity to create biomass that could provide nutrients for depleted soil.

Unlike normal Christmas trees, these especially grown and pruned rental trees don't cost the earth and use the most eco-friendly and sustainable growing methods available. Every Christmas tree recycled by this scheme will save one cubic yard of landfill space per tree, with each re-planted average tree then absorbing approximately 1 ton of carbon - that’s around 10% of your annual carbon footprint.

Unlike standard cut trees, these recycled pot grown trees won’t die whilst on display, nor will they drop all of their needles like cut Christmas trees do, meaning they last longer and look fresher for the whole Christmas season.

Lee Newton, Managing Director of the Ideal Home Show at Christmas, commented: “It is always a bit heart-breaking to see bare bristled Christmas trees dumped and discarded along the streets every January, so we are proud to be able to offer our visitors an alternative way of purchasing and recycling their Christmas trees this year.

“Not only will we help offset their home’s carbon footprint, but this initiative will help reduce the domestic waste created by Christmas trees, whilst allowing the trees to live on beyond the holiday season as they are replanted and reused year after year, or rehoused in communities and more permanent locations.”

Visitors to this year’s show will be able to enter the maze and reserve their very own tree from a variety of 3 different species in a range of sizes from mini 2ft trees right up to 7 footers.

Once you have selected your tree it will be reserved and delivered to your door just in time for the Christmas period. This service costs from as little as £29.95 and £16.95 for the delivery and collection, so you won’t have to worry about where to get rid of the tree after Christmas, saving on your domestic waste.

In addition to this eco Christmas tree rental service, The Little Tree Company will also be offering an eco-decor service, where they decorate the trees with a range of dried fruits, spices and flower heads all sourced from nature’s craft cupboard, as well as a range of eco gift ideas which include Botanical Beverages and Gourmet Woodland Mushroom Logs.

So like you might already do with your cards, your wrapping paper and your empty bottles ,do your bit for the environment and recycle a living Christmas tree with The Little Tree Company rental scheme. Come with the whole family and pick your own tree for hire at The Ideal Home Show at Christmas, from the 16th to the 20th November at Earls Court.

The Little Tree Company: The Little Tree Company hires out specially pot grown and pruned Christmas Trees delivered directly to your door for the price of a cut tree. They are then collected from your doorstep in the New Year. Once back home, the potted trees are maintained again until the following Christmas, making perfect wildlife habitats over the rest of the year. Once the trees finally grow too big for houses they find their final resting places planted out in a variety of community locations from schools to nursing homes.

Graham Willett of The little Tree Company talks you through how to have a beautiful tree that doesn't cost the earth, from what to look for, how to recycle and re-use your tree if you already have an artificial or cut tree, or better still, how and why to rent a tree this Christmas. Watch charming decorating ideas take shape all using materials and decorations from sustainable sources, available to make and buy at our Christmas Trees to Rent winter wonderland feature at the show.'http://www.thelittletreecompany.com/

Ideal Home Show at Christmas: The Ideal Home Show Christmas will run over five days, from the 16^th – 20^th November at London’s Earls Court, based on the same format as the London and Scotland events, including the brand’s flagship zoned areas that include; Ideal Home Improvements, Food, Interiors and Woman sections, but featuring a Christmas twist and with more Gadgets, shopping and gifts for all the family, in time for the busiest retail shopping period of the year.

Media 10 Ltd: Formed 6 years ago, Media 10 is a privately owned publishing and events company based in Loughton, Essex. It currently employs approximately 150 staff and has fast become one of the leading players in the events industry as a result of the hugely successful Ideal Home Show and Grand Designs Live exhibitions.

Other events in the portfolio include the Duke of Essex Polo Trophy – now one of the largest attended polo matches in Europe; Clerkenwell Design Week, Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model, The London Design Trail; The Milan Design Trail and the Grand Designs Awards.

Media 10’s award-winning magazine portfolio also includes icon magazine, the leading international architecture and design magazine; Grand Designs, the magazine of the leading property program on Channel 4; The Selfbuilder, a monthly resource for anyone looking to refurbish their home.

Source: Stuart Higgins Communications on behalf of Ideal Home Show at Christmas

This press release is presented without editing for your information only.

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.