home: featured [ Present Indicative ] 

home: featured [ Present Indicative] 

For unique homeware, perfect for gifts, we just love the range of unique academic-inspired home accessories. 

There’s glassware, ceramics, tea towels, prints and quirky pieces including the brutalist ‘Archilamp‘ and ‘Obessive Chef‘ precise measuring chopping board. 


Present Indicative is the sister site of The Literary Gift Company. The Literary Gift Company was launched in 2009 and has over 1000 gifts for book lovers. Present Indicative offers a similar range of unusual and beautiful gifts but with more of an academic twist. We love beautiful, practical and intelligent gifts for thinking people, including clothing, jewellery, games, and much much more.

home: found this [ cutlery ] 

home: found this [ cutlery ] 

With dark tones, especially black being so strong an influence in interiors trends, we look to the smallest details to include in these colours to tie in to creating s complete look for a room. 

Recently we featured dark kitchens and now IKEA have this incredible black cutlery to work perfectly in to this trend. 

The TILLAGD cutlery set is an affordable £40 for a 24 piece set and is handily also dish washer safe!!  

home: favourite thing [ door mat ] 

home: favourite thing [ door mat ] 

Quirky and welcoming but still in contemporary grey with a lovely detail of typography on it – this great door mat from Argos is a super update for a hallway and it’s only £7.99 or on special offer of two for £15. Great to give as a gift! 

Typography is big this year in interiors trends and the italic ‘hello’ is popping up everywhere across highstreet stores – on wall or window decals, prints, cushions and kitchenalia! 

home: trend [ sanctuary ] 

home: trend [ sanctuary ] 

Forget the high tech gadgets, forget the plugged in paraphernalia, switch off all devices and embrace the santuary trend. 

It’s all about creating a natural, calm, serene environment to allow you to switch off, and for your over stimulated senses to have a break from work, stress, busy lives and hectic schedules. 

What better trend to bring in to your home? 

Using soft tones of colour, mainly neutrals and white, natural fibres and simple accessories including a happy abundance of indoor planting as this will increase the potential of your calm space. 

Create seating or bed cocoons with comfort and relaxation in mind. Layer up cushions and throws in soft fabrics, avoiding pattern or bright colours. Use voile or lace on windows to have privacy but allow plenty of natural light. 

1 Ira Lamp / Made £49

2 ‘Calluna’ Paint / Farrow&Ball from £43.50

3 Mongolian Cushion / Tesco £12

4 Cerrant Mirror / Maison Du Monde £180

5 Monstera Plant / Waitrose £24.99

6 Alvine Spets Curtains / Ikea £10

7 Stockholm Chair / Ikea £175 

8 Wool Effect Throw / Dunelm £35 

9 Beatrice Hanger / Urban Outfitters £18

home: featured [ Pentreath + Hall ] 

home: featured [ Pentreath + Hall ] 

Sometimes it’s good not to be minimal, and have the coldness of a monochrome interior. Pentreath + Hall embrace colour, pattern, beautiful design and layering up textures to ensure perfect interior inspiration. 

Tucked away in Rugby Street, Bloomsbury, London, this store is bursting at the seams with homeware, furniture and accessories. Also available online, every department is covered – a great place to buy interiors gifts or treat yourself to a new look for a room. 

Around for almost a decade, the duo behind the retail outlet have an interiors, architecture and artistic background. This has evidently come together perfectly in their great buying choices and curated ranges. 

Visit them online or in store. Currently you can enjoy shopping the Summer sale too. 

home: found this [ sunburst clock ] 

home: found this [ sunburst clock ] 

So good it’s worth shouting about again. Hard to resist and a worthwhile investment, Marks and Spencer are on to a winner with their modern reproduction of the classic midcentury sunburst clock

At £69, the Sputnik cheaper than buying an original and would make a gorgeous statement piece for any room. Functional and great design. 

Made of teak and aluminium it’s the perfect modern take on the much loved retro clock. 

home: trend [ desert ] 

home: trend [ desert ] 

We are needing a retreat, a place of calm and perhaps an interior that makes us think of warmer climates, holidays and miles of endless sands. 

The desert trend back for 2017, with the surge in popularity of succulents and cacti still growing (happy plants we generally succeed in not killing!) is a strong easy look to pull together in a home. High street (and designer) stores have plenty of natural homewares, products that look as if they’ve been gathered from travels and craft inspired goods. 

Use bright light interiors and bring in leathers, weaves, wood and tapestry. Search vintage fairs for large patterned rugs or head to highstreet stores including Urban Outfitters, La Redoute and House Doctor for new versions. The current Summer sales are perfect to pick up large items that work with this trend – suede sofas and leather armchairs and with the good weather explore markets and carboots, and thrift unusual items, pottery and trinkets to build the look.  

Stick to neutral colours, dark and light but throw in a little colour in an odd chair or patterned cushion. Essentially use indoor planting for fresh green tones that will set off well against the tans, beiges, whites, creams and other neutral tones – with highlights of gold and bronze. 

Get creative and work on your own DIY projects for accessories – macrame pot holders, woven hangings for the wall and block print canvases leaning casually against the side. 


Credit : TheArtHouseConcept 

Product guide: 

1 cactus curtain / BritishMadeInteriors £27.73

2 ‘Clunch’ paint / Farrow + Ball £43.50 

3 ‘House Doctor’ rug / Wayfair £85.17 

4 goat skin pouffe / MaisonDuMonde £108

5 Aztec cushion / Wolf + Badger £105 

6 llama cushion / Urban Outfitters £35 

7 midcentury leather chair / Rose + Grey £915 

8 woven throw / Dunelm £15 

9 white cactus vase / La Redoute £65 

(Currently 25% off at La Redoute with code : 25OFF )

home: favourite thing 

home: favourite thing [ vintage cocktail chair ] 

Absolutely loving this beauty of a vintage find – a gorgeous original 1950s cocktail chair from super cool new online homeware store The Joyful Home Company. 

A great addition to your home at just £150 

In great vintage condition as is but if you fancy an alternative colour or pattern, these talented folks also offer an upholstery service. Along side upholstery and vintage pieces, the store also offer a beautiful curated range of other homewares including lighting, prints and cushions.

home: featured [ Corey Homeware ] 

home: featured [ Corey Homeware ] 

Found on the historic Roman Road, East London we find Corey Homeware. Opened in 2015,this boutique homeware and furniture store has a lovely, constantly changing curated selection of pieces sourced from the UK and further a field. 

We love their eye for unique pieces with both a modern and industrial edge. 

They say, ‘The idea behind the shop is to offer a treasure trove of modern design at realistic prices. I am a local resident with a passion for interiors. Originally working as a teacher, I spent years being frustrated at the lack of affordable homeware. Each weekend would see a trip to seek out interior shops across the capital only to be disappointed by the choice and shocked by the price. I felt so strongly about it that I decided to put my passion into practice and open my own homeware shop right on my doorstep.’

459 Roman Road, London E3 5LX

home: featured [ Amazon ] 

home: featured [ Amazon ] 

Not everyone’s cup of tea for an online shopping destination but king of online selling, Amazon, is a surprising veritable gold mine for modern well priced homeware.

 A few searches of key wording including marble, copper, Moroccan, monochrome and even Moomin and we could be filling our virtual shopping trolley with anything from rugs to lighting, to ceramics and cushions, with prices so tempting it’s an easy way to kit out a new home with some great pieces, update current rooms or find great gifts for interiors lovers! 

If you love a certain look or piece from another interiors store but not the price tag, it’s definitely worth having a window shop around the Amazon mega site to see if a more affordable version is available.