a spring garden table with Claudia

reposted from the August Table blog 

There are tablescapes that stop you mid-scroll. This is one of them.

When Claudia Fabiana set her outdoor table using August Table’s Garden napkins and tablecloth in yellow and gray, she created something that feels less like a styled moment and more like a memory waiting to happen. Sunlight pooling on white linens. Amber glasses catching the afternoon light. Daisies spilling from a white ceramic pitcher. Artichokes and lemons tumbling across the center of the table like a still life that wandered in from the garden.

It is, simply put, everything we believe a table can be.

Letting the Garden Come to the Table

What makes this setting so special is how effortlessly it blurs the line between the table and the world just beyond it. Claudia used what was growing and blooming around her — nasturtiums tucked onto each plate, trailing yellow blooms woven into the centerpiece, a generous bunch of daisies that feel gathered rather than arranged. Nothing here looks purchased for the occasion. It looks lived.

This is one of the most beautiful principles of a well-set table: nature is always your best stylist. A few lemons halved and placed casually alongside artichokes creates a centerpiece that is as fragrant as it is visual. A single bright nasturtium on a white plate is more arresting than any formal garnish could be.

The Details That Make It Sing

The layering in this table is masterful in its simplicity. The August Table Garden tablecloth and napkins anchor everything with their yellow and gray botanical print — the palette is the palette of the season itself. Against that, Claudia chose:

Ruffle-edged burlap chargers that add warmth and texture without competing with the print. White beaded charger plates that feel fresh and airy. Amber glassware that echoes the yellow in the napkins and flowers, bringing the whole color story together. Bamboo-handled flatware that lends a natural, organic quality to the table. A white ceramic pitcher serving double duty as a vase — one of the most charming and practical styling tricks there is.

Each choice is considered, yet nothing feels fussy. That balance is the hallmark of truly beautiful tablescaping.

A Table Made for Lingering

This is an outdoor table, set on a brick patio, with the kind of casual ease that invites people to pull up a chair and stay a while. It is the table you set for a long Sunday lunch, for lemonade in the afternoon, for dinner that stretches past golden hour into the soft evening light. It is generous and warm and entirely without pretension.

That is what we are always chasing at August Table. Not perfection, but presence. Not a table that impresses, but a table that welcomes.

How to Recreate This Look

If this table is calling to you, here is how to bring it to life:

Start with the August Table Garden tablecloth and napkins in yellow and gray. They do a great deal of the work for you — the print is layered and botanical, which means you can keep everything else quite simple.

Add texture through your chargers and flatware. Burlap, rattan, bamboo, and woven materials all complement a garden-inspired print beautifully.

Build your centerpiece from whatever is growing. Artichokes make extraordinary table decor. So do lemons, branches, herbs, and garden flowers. Use a pitcher, a crock, or a simple jar rather than a formal vase.

Let a single bloom do the work on each plate. One nasturtium, one sprig of something fragrant, one small flower from the yard. It takes thirty seconds and transforms the entire setting.

Finally, choose glassware that echoes your color story. Amber, green, or yellow glass will warm up a yellow-toned table beautifully.

Thank You, Claudia

We are so grateful to Claudia Fabiana for sharing this beautiful table with us. She has created something that perfectly captures the spirit of the season — and the spirit of what August Table is always trying to inspire. A slower pace. A more beautiful table. A gathering worth savoring.

We hope it inspires you to pull out your linens, step into the garden, and set a table this spring.

ciao fabiana

 

 

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You can check out some of my favorites here at “Tablescaping Essentials” 

setting an outdoor table for two

So, “my fellow hunker-downers”, today we’re gonna talk about setting a cozy table for a party of two, with pictures from last year’s photo shoot as inspiration.  

These are my two favorite pages from my layout in this month’s Cottages & Bungalows magazine. I just love that so many of my favorite vintage finds are included in these snapshots. It’s easy to use what you already have to create a pretty petite tablescape. 

I'm also including some behind-the-scenes photos I took on the day of this photos shoot back in June of 2019. 

Just a week before we set this little table up, I found a few vintage goodies at our church’s annual rummage sale. One being this lace-edged tablecloth.  

For a solid month, I was thinking “coastal décor". Not your typical seashells and nautical stuff, but things that evoke that special feeling of being close to the sea. 

For some reason the lace on this little tablecloth reminded me of a fishing net, and the pattern was geometric enough not to feel too grandmothery, I hope! 

I pulled, pulled and pulled “coastal” stuff out of my cupboards and drawers for weeks and gathered them together on a couple of tables, holding them there for styling on the day of our photo shoot.  

I had these lanterns in my backyard for a while, and I had recently brightened them up with a little cobalt blue spray paint. I love how they look filled with large turquoise votives and a handful of seashells. 

You know me, I love collecting vintage blue and white plates and pretty colored glass goblets, so here was my chance to showcase a few of my favorites. 

  

Tips for setting an inviting table for two: 

-Find cozy spot outdoors, which may involve bringing out a table and chairs from indoors. 

-Start with a tablecloth to set the mood. You can even use a scrap piece of beautiful fabric. 

-Two plates, two glasses, two pretty napkins and silverware... easy to bring out to the table, right? Pick items that are favorites or fit with the theme you’re going for. 

-Add votives or lanterns for ambiance. 

-A potted flower or little vase with fresh greenery or blooms.  

-Prepare breakfast or lunch inside and just step out to your little outdoor sanctuary.  

    

Among the items I pulled for these vignettes were this favorite wooden cake stand, a set of pewter seashell votives and this zigzag vase. I just love the textures and pattern of the three items together, and when staged with some fresh hydrangeas, I think it’s just perfect. 

The cake stand and vase were purchased a while ago at Home Goods, in fact, I think the vase is actually more of a utensil holder for the kitchen, but I just love the vibrancy of it when paired with flowers.  

Years and years ago, I’m talking maybe 25 years ago, I received these pretty clam shell candle holders from my sister-in-law Deborah, and I’ve cherished them ever since. They’re lovely on this table.   

To add to the casual nature of this table, I simply used a piece of washed light blue linen and left the edges frayed and fringed. We casually draped it across the table for a carefree and interesting look. The BONJOUR bowl is from Anthropologie.

I have to say, I'd love to be sitting at this table right about now noshing on a little cheese and a few sweet cherries. It’s such a casual feeling, as well... The carefree summer days that I love. 

Here, on the back side of my shed, I transformed my potting station into a colorful outdoor beverage station. A tray with napkins, a selection of pretty blue glasses, sliced lemons and a bucket of ice is the start to a useful spot for an outdoor drink station for the whole family to use on the weekend. 

Back in March, at the beginning of this “staycation” period, my husband and I created another inviting outdoor area comprised of two café tables, four French bistro chairs and a set of faux shutter doors we attached to the wall. We call it Moulin, after our favorite local French restaurant.  

I’ll share more on our own private Moulin café soon. I’m just waiting for the ivy to grow a little more up on the walls to really have an authentic feeling of Provence in the backyard. We spend hours out there, under the black and white striped umbrella having coffee or a late lunch. 

It's all about escapism for me with these little vignettes I like to create. I encourage you to set up your own little special place to escape for a few minutes each day. 

ciao! fabiana 

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