Simple Table Decoration for Outdoor Summer Entertaining

Sweet summer looks to be on its way in our neck of the woods and I for one am keen to get my outdoor mojo on. Often, I am ill prepared for our infrequent and unscheduled heatwaves. Not so this year. And over the next two weeks I will be showing you my ideas for pretty outdoor summer décor beginning this week with simple table decoration ideas so you too can be ready to entertain outdoors this year. No arrangement is prescriptive and no new fashions or trends will be found here. As ever the ideas are inexpensive with many looks coming from simply shopping your home and recycling and reusing where you can. And if you don’t have a particular item I have, you’ll be encouraged to look to what you do have that’s similar and change it up. Over the next two weeks I’m going to show you how by spending little or no money and using a whole load of sweet imagination, you too can achieve the outdoor summer décor of your dreams…

This week we’re looking at three ideas for simple table decoration. Three tablescapes with three different looks all which can be colour changed to suit what you have and all which can be added to or simplified still further. So, let’s make a start with my take on…

Roses and Romance; a simple table decoration

Start by choosing your colour. For this setting for a romantic supper for two, I wanted to use my thrifty vintage blue and white plates, as I have just four of these and they’re not often on show.

I began with a simple white tablecloth as my base. To create a focal centre piece, select a tonal colour or a shade of the main colour you’re using throughout your scheme. Here I’ve gone with a sea blue and chosen a scarf I haven’t worn in a long time and ruffled it up just a little.

Add your crockery, cutlery and glassware.

Essentials done, now comes the fun part. The pretties. I wanted the romance of roses and since The Cottage Garden isn’t offering quite enough just yet, I opted for inexpensive supermarket tiny roses in off-white. I loosely rolled the white linen napkin, added a single trimmed bloom and tied with a lace ribbon cut from a fussy tablecloth I found a while back at a boot sale. If guests are joining you, why not decorate luggage labels with hand written names to show where they should settle. I’ve taken a hole punch to this plain label to add a little pretty detail. In real life, tuck the fresh foliage under the ribbon shortly before your guests arrive to avoid wilting.

Top tip: play to your strengths. This simple table decoration is afforded the luxury of a beautiful outlook so why detract with unnecessary flowers. Keeping it simple, I arranged the remainder of the bunch of roses in a recycled glass coffee jar again decorated with the same rag ribbon.

Plain white pillar candles and homemade paper confetti using this hole punch and a tonal piece of paper in my stash finishes the look.

So here’s the magic. If you find yourself saying “well that’s ok but I don’t have…” look instead to what you do have. No white table cloth? A flat white sheet or piece of material will work a treat. No fancy pants coloured crockery? Use what you do have and add your colour instead through decoration, candles or napkins. No ribbon? Use string. No hole punch? Scatter garden petals. Candles keep blowing out? Opt for fairy lights instead. There’s always an alternative. And if you don’t have this beautiful view and instead have an unattractive wall or fence, well don’t even get me started; that decor is for another day.

Pretty in Pink; a lunchtime table decoration

Let’s go about this next scheme a little differently. Let’s begin with what inspired me to create a pretty pink tablescape. In this case, mismatched floral tea plates and a gorgeous gifted pack of shabby chic rose napkins. I wanted to incorporate them into a fun and jolly lunch scene rather than coffee and cake as they might be predictably used for. The crockery I’m using is everyday plain white and it’s the same simple tablecloth again.

Imagine if you will as you look at the following photos, how this scene could look if you had say, two green side plates or yellow or maybe even orange. Now imagine orange paper napkins and orange side plates with this white crockery and plain white tablecloth. What a vibrant setting that might be and could be what’s sitting in your kitchen cupboard waiting right now.

To create my look I’ve added an avocado dyed linen topper bought inexpensively from a flea market on top of my tablecloth. The pretty printed napkins have been wrapped simply around the cutlery and tied with a saved piece of string and popped on top of my floral tea plate.

The simple white (and very well used) pasta bowls, will serve a delicious seasonal summer salad from my £5 charity shop soupiere. And this time the same inexpensive pillar candles are held in recycled jam jars tied with avocado dyed ribbons taken from that same over frilly tablecloth trim. Oh and I’ve reused supermarket pop bottles for my home-made elderberry cordial, a family favourite and come autumn, I’ll share our secret recipe with you.

Garden pickings are the choice of flowers in this simple table decoration grouped in delightful recycled bottles, dressed with a homemade label not dissimilar to these I made last summer. And finally, to add a little more fun, I’ve dressed the old garden fence with cute homemade bunting.

I didn’t part with a penny for this décor I simply shopped the home and garden. If you really don’t have the fabric for bunting, make a pretty paper alternative or get creative with inexpensive paper doilies. Keep in mind new looks do not have to cost the earth. Support a charity shop or local market to spend a fraction of the high street prices. All the fabric in my bunting came from charity and vintage shops and my wonderful mother-in-law’s dining and sitting room curtains. Not the real curtains of course; donated off cuts, “I know you can do something lovely with these dear” she said.

A Simple Summer Supper

My final alfresco dining scene is for an evening garden supper for four which will of course work for any number of guests. A favourite colour combination of mine is a gift straight from Mother Nature herself. And with Lavender, Nepeta, Salvia and Rosemary to show case the hues, it’s purples and greens all the way.

Same white starting point and this time I’ve scrunched up a favourite purple scarf (any fabric or home dyed voile would work just as well) to which I’ve added three glass votives with tealights: Pretty bowls and dishes with short candles would make a perfect alternative.

Home-made paper roses from the faded pages of a vintage book are scattered through the centre piece and more table confetti this time made from a coordinating recycled cardboard tissue box, adds to the look. These paper decorations can be saved and used time and again and if they do happen to escape in the garden, you’ll be safe in the knowledge they will disintegrate over time.

For this simple table decoration there’s no need for a central vase of flowers since I’ve layered frothy cow parsley, criss crossing from one end of the table to the other. And if delicate cow parsley isn’t in season, look to natures alternatives. Long lengths of Ivy, small pretty leaf branches or bunches of green grasses will all add to the occasion. Including foliage like this is best done just before guests arrive to avoid shrivelling and to allow unwanted creatures to vacate.

I’ve used our wedding dinner service – vintage now I do believe – layered on thrifty chargers, an easy afternoons diy I thoroughly recommend and there’s a handwritten name setting to help guests find their place. The napkins are similarly dressed to those in the first tablescape, this time I’ve popped in lavender sprigs from the garden and tied with thin green ribbon, to blend seamlessly with my chosen colour scheme.

It can be too easy to spend a princely sum entertaining and it is not always necessary. If I’d had off-white roses in my garden, not a penny would have been spent creating any of these three table settings. Instead I made an investment of £2.50. I can live with that. Although if I had practiced more of what I preach, I should probably have foraged an alternative to the roses from my own garden.

Not everyone will have my pretty pieces I know that. What everyone will have though are cherished pieces of their own to create a unique take on my simple table decoration. And by visiting charity shops and car boot sales you may find perhaps just one or two new/old treasures to add an individual twist to your own table setting this summer.

About the most wonderful thing about creativity is this. Everyone has some. And if you are reading this and thinking “well hang on just a minute there lady, I don’t have a whole lot” use what you have and keep it simple. It doesn’t have to be difficult. A few delicate garden flowers, a scattering of petals or paper confetti, three plain pillar candles grouped together, a favourite ribbon or string. Using a little creative imagination could yield a whole new dining experience for you and your guests this summer.

Next week I have more pretty and creative spins on outdoor summer decor, including the easiest of tin can and glass crafts, until then…x