A Summer Table
A bit of joy and fun in case you need cheering up...
I was feeling a bit low this morning, so I chose to look at and read pretty stuff. P was away in that there London to watch the cricket with No 2 son, or he’d have been made to take me somewhere pretty eg. Duchy Garden centre, Mevagissey, Polkerris beach etc. This is our usual approach: if one of us feels in the need of cheering up, we go to somewhere beautiful - which for me often involves oohing and aahing at lovely things I can’t afford lol. He’s much easier: ply him with a pint!
Granted, we are very lucky to be able to stare at the sea from our windows and that’s usually more than enough. But sometimes you do actually need to go out of the house - which is much more difficult than it ever used to be as we always think: we prefer the view at home!
Anyway, I turned to the lovely Willow Crossley’s Seedlings newsletter on here this morning. There are usually beautiful photographs involving some kind of flowering, and today didn’t disappoint. I must confess that I’ve stopped my paid subscriptions for most of the newsletters on here, like Willow’s and India Knight’s Home.
Not because they are rubbish; both are beautifully written and very enjoyable, but more because they are so aspirational, it gets a bit on my wick. I got a bit tired of all the recommendations for clothes and home stuff that cost a fortune. Oh, look at this T shirt or dress, looks lovely, you click the link and it costs £100s. Not reflecting my life, or only really a life available to a privileged few. Maybe I’m just jealous, lol. Not really, though, as I’ve never really been into ‘trendy’ or materialism, to be honest. I like nice things, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not going to spend the same on a dress as I would a small car, you know.
You do you, of course.
Anyway, all that said. Willow’s photography of her recent flowering job in Amalfi, Italy (see..), did in fact cheer me up. Look at this table setting. Or ‘tablescaping’ as we’re meant to call it. Lordy.
Now, not only is it beautiful - the setting, the trees, the framing of the table, the gorgeousness of the cloth etc, but it struck me that we can all do something similar with a bit of thought.
Ok, maybe we’ve not got the Italian backdrop or the olive trees, but if we have a small patch of garden or a balcony - or even a nice park nearby, we can set up a picnic or Summer lunch table like this. We often used to take our dining table outside and dress it up, like this:
But all you really need is a fold down table and some fold down chairs. We’ve even used a wallpaper pasting table before. No-one’s going to see what’s under a nice cloth, are they?
You can get any number of cheap fold down tables of various sizes from Amazon, Argos, Ikea, B&Q et al. I am always looking for teak around here because of the salty air, so I was pleased to see one I could leave out all year if I wanted. More expensive obvs. Because: teak. We’ve actually got 3 of these tables from B&Q, which we’ve accumulated from various parties over the years. We just use cheap fold down, stackable chairs from Ikea with them.
I love the way they have hung a chandelier from a tree branch here - that’s becoming quite a thing; I keep seeing it everywhere. More likely, though, use a rechargeable table or floor lamp from the house. These from Argos look nice and would suit the colour tone in Willow’s picture as well as be useful and pretty in the house.
So, some kind of surface, a couple of cheap chairs, a rechargeable portable lamp. Now, we need a pretty tablecloth and maybe some nice cushions for comfy bottoms. Have you any in the house you could use - a throw or cushions from the sofa, maybe?
I think the reason Willow’s table looks so beautiful is the layering. So, a slightly darker larger cloth, topped with something more wispy and lacy. That looks like broderie anglaise to me. Not seen that since my nan’s house! I note matching napkins too.
The plates and bowls are good quality plain white and the glasses are simple and traditional.
What ‘elevates’ this table, though is Willow’s flowers, of course. But we don’t need to be world-famous florists. The point is abundance and single colour - white, here to tone with everything else. I think that’s why it looks so beautiful. Just choose two or three types of flower from your garden or local farm flowers. I realise that sounds posh, but I’m making an exception here to encourage supporting low carbon footprint local flower farmers - who are actually pretty good value because the flowers are more beautiful and last a lot longer. Check where your nearest flower farm is here - they often deliver and even have DIY buckets of flowers so you can make your own displays.
Or, what is around you - what wildflowers are growing by the roadside or nearby? Don’t pick everything, obviously, but a few bits from several patches is usually fine. If a man and a dog chase you holding a shot gun, not so much. If all there is is green stuff, that’s fab - green is the best, most natural colour to use. Go for a natural feel.
Remember: abundance. Get some height and width so it looks like you have loads of flowers. The trick is plenty of ‘white space’ ironically ie. not too crammed, so you can see through the top. Also, to vary the heights of various arrangements. Maybe the easiest way to do this would be to get some simple gypsophilia and pop in a few extra blooms.
If you do want to make some stunning flowers yourself, I like this lady - the low bowl or bud vase displays look great. You can make much smaller versions, of course. I’d do 3 smaller versions and put them down the centre of the table, or one larger one on a small round bistro sort of table. You could just use some simple white mugs or a couple of your bowls. Just tape a grid over them with tape to make a vase to hold flowers.
Anyway, I had to have a look for tablecloths, of course.
H&M does a broderie anglaise one for £14.99. Dunelm has a rectangular larger one for £20 and also a cheaper table runner if you just need a nod to lacyness. If you have got more money to spend and want real French lace, these are gorgeous from Etsy. I swooned. There are of course tons of cheaper options on Amazon. It’s only going outside so…
I think the cheapest way to put a block colour cloth underneath is maybe to use a coloured sheet. To make it feel even more luxurious and hide a naff table, you could fold something else underneath that so it feels lovely and luxuriously thick - a towel, a second sheet?
If you don’t mind a tiny red stripe, just look at this large tablecloth from Ikea for under a fiver! And napkins for £1.50. How do they do it? Economies of scale or it will fall apart after the first wash. Who knows? Or, I see Dunelm does a huge caramel coloured cloth - as in Willow’s for under £30. Lovely.
I do like those seat cushions to match, though, oops. See how it adds up.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that, if only looking at the pretty pictures, like me! If you do make a nice tablescape (ugh) over the Summer, do share so we can all see your talents and drool.
I’m well cheered up now :)
Speak soon, Micki x
❤️❤️