Lilacs & Linen Spring Outdoor Tablescape

It’s finally warm enough to break in the deck for outdoor dinners- and actually, every single meal that we eat. Usually this means we bring out whatever dish we served up dinner on but when we’re hosting, I like to dress it up a little bit. So when Wayfair Canada challenged some bloggers to show off their ‘Al Fresco at Last’ spring tables- I jumped on it. Today I’m sharing what that looks like for us (spoiler- it’s pretty low key!) and a first peek at our deck this spring! We have a little more work to do out here then I’ll be sharing a full reveal of the space that we spend most of our hours in the warm weather.

My jumping off point for this table was the lilacs. Our backyard has a few giant lilac bushes, so we have a never ending supply in the spring. I cut some larger branches and put them in one of my favourite vases.

All the glassware and cutlery is our every day dinnerware. One day I’ll have patio dishes but for now- these work and they’re not precious to us if they get dropped or left out in the weather. One thing I like to do to dress up the basic dishes is use a cloth napkin and place card. We bought a pile of these linen look cloth napkins for our Friendsgiving a few years back and they get put to work whenever we have company. Not only is it a bit fancier than paper napkins, but they hide all the nicks and marks on the dishes as well. I just used a brush and ink to letter the place cards and grabbed a few rocks from the garden to keep them from blowing away in the wind.

If you don’t already love brush lettering- it’s amazing for quickly dressing up a table setting. It’s one of the reasons I love it and started in the first place!

We built this table last summer and it’s been such a workhorse since. The benches are perfect for kids to climb up and down and our deck doesn’t get cluttered with chairs. I toss a blanket or runner over the bench sometimes if we’re hosting adults.

Speaking of runners… This table runner is just a piece of dropcloth we cut. I use drop cloths for everything, so I had this on hand but it’s so affordable to make linen look pieces with the unwaxed cloth drop cloths. One day, I’ll invest in some matching linens for my table, but for now this is perfect for us.

Alright, I’ll leave it at that! The night I took photos of this tablescape, we actually got rained out and had to come indoors. So I’m waiting for the next sunny day to head back outside and enjoy this again! Have you started dining outdoors yet?