Ben Pentreath’s Favorite Under-$100 Home Items
Design can be prohibitively expensive. But not far from, say, Julianne Moore’s George Nakashima coffee table, there might just be a $135 Ikea shelf. In this series, we ask designers and design-minded people for their favorite useful, utilitarian home items under $100. This week, London-based designer Ben Pentreath, who was honored by King Charles earlier this year for his design services and just co-published the book A Year at the Parsonage with his husband, gardener (and occasional Loewe model) Charlie McCormick, shares his essential cheap candles, lemon squeezer, and room scent.
I first discovered our country house, the Old Parsonage, in Orkney, Scotland, when I was young. My best friend from school lived there. Years later, I heard it was available for rent, and I made an appointment to take a look. The walls had gone black with mold, a window or two was hanging off its hinges, and the rooms were a good deal smaller than I remembered. Still, I moved in with a couple of beds and no curtains and slowly started finding pieces to fill the place up: a kitchen table from eBay, carloads of junky treasures from the antiques shops of Bridport. Charlie, my husband, dug up the lawn and filled every room with flowers.
The kind of decoration I like looks completely undecorated. It’s slow-cooked over years, and it doesn’t need to cost much. Our dining room was at its most magical lit only by candles, which flattered a set of Piranesi engravings I bought at auction for £4 each.
Over the years, we’ve found a number of things we return to again and again — some are handsome and some are merely useful — from potpourri (which is essential in a country house that you may not be living in every week) to creamware candlesticks that look good in any room.
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These are the best, most basic white candles and really well priced. We go through dozens of boxes a year at our bothy on the west coast of Scotland. All of life looks better by candlelight.
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If, like us, you love John Derian but get a bit terrified by the prices when walking into his shop, then his collection for Target is for you. This pillow demonstrates his mad inventiveness perfectly.
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When Bridie Hall and I started Pentreath & Hall, we set about reviving the great art of British creamware, lovingly made exclusively for us in Stoke on Trent. Pop in those Ikea candles and you have a set.
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Charlie cooks with a lot of lemons. This fun yellow squeezer is the best.
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Choosing Keeping is a wonderful shop near us in Bloomsbury and sells a trove of stationery. This will look good on any desk or table.
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We know this is $1 over the limit, but it’s a kitchen staple in the Westness cupboards.
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Our friend Amy Merrick’s book on flowers is so much more than her notes on arranging. It’s one of the most beautiful books you’ll ever see.
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Frances Nation is a brilliant homewares shop in New Zealand stocking products only made there. This is the best potato masher.
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Santa Maria Novella potpourri is a Ben P classic; we have it at home and in the office, but it makes its way into a lot of our studio projects.
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More Under-$100 Homewares We Love
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The Strategist is designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read about here. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
