Period’s vintage furnishings updated and on sale

Through Jan. 31, Period is offering a 40% discount on furniture and 50% markdowns on all lighting and accessories. The Los Angeles store specializes in vintage furnishings kicked into the 21st century by owner Jim Turner, former creative director for Flaunt magazine, who’s making room for new merchandise. Sale items include a 1960s pair of what Turner calls Leigh Bowery upholstered armchairs (formerly $1,600 each, now $960). Turner dubbed the chairs after seeing a portrait of the 1980s performance artist and fashion icon dressed in a houndstooth Lycra bodysuit. Click here to see them. Dorothy Draper’s 1940s three-drawer Espana dresser for Heritage -- a piece that came to Turner in an electric blue -- has been stripped and lacquered into a more tasteful cream-with-gold color scheme (formerly $4,500, now $2,700). And perhaps just the thing to combat the headache brought on by a worsening economy: an oversize mortar-and-pestle with a gold “Rx” printed on its side (formerly $300, now $150). “You could grind a whole bottle of aspirin in this baby,” Turner says, “or, it would make a nice vase.” 708 N. Wilton Place; (323) 461-6567; www.periodcollection.com.