Take It Outside, Inspiring Ideas For Outdoor Dining

Make fresh-air meals as comfortable and genteel as those indoors — and maybe even a bit magical

By Mike Dietrich - Houzz Contributor 

As the days get longer, the temperatures gets warmer and the light gets brighter, our daily routines undergo a radical paradigm shift. Whereas just a month or two ago, we were huddled indoors eating hearty stews, roasted meat and baked potatoes, we’re now ready to spend time outside in shorts and T-shirts, consuming lighter fare. One of the great joys of the summer is dining al fresco, enjoying the cool breezes, the late-evening light, the riot of garden color and the smells and sensations of warm weather.

More relaxed, more spontaneous, more colorful, al fresco dining is a different kind of experience. Here are some ideas that will inspire your shift to the outdoors.

Outdoor dining has come a long way from splintery picnic tables, paper plates and plastic sporks. Nowadays real hospitality can happen outside as well as in.

Dining on the back porch, for those of you lucky enough to have one, is an easy way to transition to the outside, because it’s just on the other side of the back door.

Here a welcoming environment has been created using a modest vintage table, chairs and sideboard painted a perky aqua. Afternoon tea, or an intimate dinner for four, would be a delightful outdoor experience in this cozy corner.

Sroka Design, Inc.

A back porch can be humble, but it can also be grand. In fact, I think we’d have to call this back porch a loggia to do it justice. But what a luscious place to have a summer dinner for 10. This makes me envision many courses, flowing wine, heady conversation and lots of laughter.

The table setting is quite formal, which I love, but I’d be just as comfortable with a very colorful and casual tablecloth and dinnerware.

By the way, do you know the difference between a porch and a patio? Porches are mostly built of wood, are elevated off the ground, traditionally have a roof and are attached to the house. Patios are usually built of stone or concrete, sit at ground level, don’t have a regular roof and can be attached to the house or not.

markdesign, llc

One thing that makes eating outdoors really special is bringing the conveniences of the inside to the outside. This inviting and intimate outdoor patio space includes a fireplace, art on the walls and a sideboard — things not usually associated with outside dining, but that enhance comfort and the sense of hospitality.

Speaking of hospitality, if you’re like me and love to dine outdoors but don’t like sitting in direct sun, shade is an important factor. On this patio in sunny Santa Fe, New Mexico, a shade sail provides a cool sanctuary.

Learn more about this outdoor dining room

Earthwork Landscape Architects

This colorful outdoor dining room in New Zealand affords partial shade for light-sensitive guests, thanks to the leafy bower.

Michael Woodall photographer

Another way to provide shade is with a pull-across awning. This is a great option because it allows for adjustment, depending on the preferences of your guests.

Umbrellas, awnings, arbors and strategically planted trees are all great friends of folks like me who prefer shelter over swelter.

decordemon

It’s not just porches and patios that beckon us to dine al fresco in the warmer months. How about this awesome converted carport?

decordemon

To me, a carport is often an eyesore, but this one has become great additional living space with the creative use of several simple elements. Three different colors of garage floor paint create a very durable “rug” underfoot. Colorful Japanese lanterns hung by string and lit by battery-operated tea lights make for easy lighting without having to hire an electrician. (Yeah!) Simple curtains (they could even be shower curtains) hung on a galvanized pipe rod can be closed against nosy neighbors.

Careful attention should be given to the comfort of garage sale chairs. Paint can always remedy a bad finish, but comfort is intrinsic and important for hospitality, so make sure the chairs have a comfy seat. Some flowers and a perky tablecloth complete the transformation.

Read more about this carport

Aiken House & Gardens

Many folks go to great lengths to decorate their tables when entertaining guests for dinner indoors. “Roughing it” can become a bit more genteel when we take those same sensibilities outside. In this alluring clematis-covered arbor, crisp white linen, flowers, a candelabra and real china make for a very civilized open-air afternoon tea or romantic dinner for two.

And how romantic that an arbor like this isn’t necessarily attached to the house? Maybe it’s out on the “back 40,” down a winding trail and beside a pond … or even 20 feet from the back door but screened by trees or foliage (I’m picturing climbing roses). Somehow that distance and privacy add a bit of mystery and adventure.

Note: If your table is in particularly rough shape, you can put an old sheet under your delicate tablecloth to keep it from harm.

Scot Meacham Wood Design

Another way to add to the hospitality factor is with an area rug. A rug like this defines the space and is something comfortable underfoot.

Notice how the tablecloth, pillow, placemats and dishes all work together to create a very smart, tailored look. The flowers, ferns and lanterns soften the edge a bit and beautifully keep everything from being too matchy.

Atmosphere Design Group

One of life’s ultimate luxuries is an outdoor fireplace, as it makes al fresco dining even more elegant. You can never predict the weather, even in the summer, so if things turn a bit chilly, what could be more right? Just crank up the fire and all’s well.

Of course, most of us aren’t going to have a great, hulking fireplace like the one shown here, but there are smaller, portable ones available that would provide a similar warmth and atmosphere.

I’m inspired by all the color on this table set for dinner under a lush covering of trees. It makes me glad that summer has arrived. The deliciously festive tablecloth, the bright yellow napkins and the flowers all mix to make guests feel special. The whimsical cow sculpture in the background — curious but keeping her distance — is the perfect finishing touch. In this setting you could even serve me Brussels sprouts and I’d be happy!

Anthony Wilder Design/Build, Inc.

If candles aren’t your thing, consider an electric chandelier designed for exterior use.

Amy Jesaitis

Try mixing and matching some colorful chairs.

Maureen Stevens

Or add some dreamy, gauzy curtains and welcome friends and family for a memorable summer fete. Your hospitality will make them feel loved, cement friendships and bring a little joy to all involved.

20 Ideas for Easygoing Summer Parties

Ditch the fancy and fussy in favor of laid-back entertaining that leaves you more time to enjoy the fun

By Laura Gaskill: Houzz Contributor

Summertime calls for a distinctly unfussy approach to entertaining, and thankfully so — because who wants to sweat over planning a summer soiree? Make things easier on yourself by hosting outdoors instead of in, getting guests to pitch in and embracing low-key, budget-friendly decor. From DIY flowers and quick extra tables to a beachy outdoor bar, these 20 ideas will make your party planning easier.

Corynne Pless

1. Fashion a wooden crate into a drinks container. If you line it with plastic, any old crate can be a rustic-chic open-top cooler for keeping soda and beer on ice. It won’t keep it cold as long as a real cooler, but it should do the trick at a party.

2. No crate? Use whatever you’ve got. An old wheelbarrow, a garden cart, an enamel bucket or even a toy dump truck can be lined with trash bags and filled with ice to make an impromptu drinks cooler.

 

Celia Bedilia

3. Dress up candles with woodsy details. Curl a wide green leaf and drop it into a glass jar — then fill the jar with water and float a tea light on top. Or use lengths of birch bark (available at craft stores) to wrap the outside of a jar or candleholder, and fasten them with twine.

4. Make beachy candles with mason jars and sand. Filled partway with sand, a mason jar of any size can easily become a chic candleholder. To make hanging lanterns, wrap the mouth of the jar with flexible wire and hang the jar from the branches of a tree. For safety, use battery-operated candles for hanging.

 

Cezign

5. Give your outdoor bar a tiki makeover with a palapa roof. Search for “palm leaf thatch panels” to find a source and tack a few lengths of the grassy stuff to the roof of your outdoor bar or shed to give it some tiki bar style.

 

Corynne Pless

6. Whip up an extra table with sawhorses. Short on outdoor dining space? Hunt down a few sawhorses and top them with a length of board as big as you want your table to be. You can paint the board, cover it with a cloth or butcher paper, or leave it as is.

 

Atlantic Archives, Inc.

7. Use soda bottles as vases. A row of tall, slender soda bottles lined up in the middle of a table makes a pretty (and supereasy) centerpiece. Just plunk one bloom in each vase, and you’re done! Try gerbera daisies, cosmos or sunflowers.

 

Soapstone Werks

8. Involve your guests. Have them help squeeze lemons for fresh lemonade, let them take a turn cranking an old-fashioned ice cream maker or send them into your garden with clippers to pick a bouquet for the table.

 

Bruce Clodfelter and Associates

9. Seat everyone at one big table. Who wouldn’t love coming into a backyard set up like this? Put two or three tables together if you have to — the dramatic effect will be worth the effort.

 

Corynne Pless

10. Use old crates as trays and servers. Vintage wooden soda crates make the perfect receptacle for toting glasses, vases, napkins and other essentials out to the garden. Or use one to dole out flatware, standing utensils upright in simple mason jars.

 

Cassie Daughtrey Realogics Sotheby's Realty

11. Boost ambience with lanterns and signs. Flank the entrance to your party area with a pair of big lanterns and lean a sign nearby — it can announce the menu or simply say, “Welcome!” 

Cassie Daughtrey Realogics Sotheby's Realty

12. Greet visitors with a pretty porch for the Fourth. A great big galvanized tub of red geraniums and a waving flag make a cheerful entrance to this home. Keep the patriotic spirit going with Americana-style cushions on a classic porch swing. Note: The red scheme works equally well for Canadians on July 1st!

Beckwith Interiors

13. Give guests a healthy option with fresh flavored waters. Fill a big drink dispenser with ice water, flavored with fresh ingredients for a healthy thirst quencher on hot days. Try lemon, lime or orange slices; fresh mint leaves; cucumber rounds; or berries.

 

Cassie Daughtrey Realogics Sotheby's Realty

14. Place your table in the shade. There’s nothing worse than trying to enjoy a lovely meal al fresco when the sun is beating down on you! Keep your guests comfortable by pulling the tables under the shade of a tree or awning, or invest in some umbrellas.

 

Cottage Home, Inc.

15. Make a plan to keep bugs at bay. If you have a water feature, make sure you regularly treat it or skim it to keep mosquitoes from breeding there. If the bugs are bad in your area, plan your event for a less buggy time of day or hold it on a screened-in porch, where your guests can enjoy a fresh breeze without getting bitten.

 

Brunelleschi Construction

16. Create activity zones to keep large parties moving. Setting up several distinct areas can help a large gathering feel more manageable, as your guests will naturally be drawn into smaller groups. For instance, you could set up a dining table, a fire pit circle, a porch lounge and an outdoor bar.

 

Buckets of Burlap

17. Collect thrifty party supplies. Avoid last-minute stress by keeping an entertaining cupboard well stocked with mason jars, florist’s buckets, table linens, candles and serving containers. Many times you don’t even need to buy these things — save pretty old jars to use as glasses, washed-out tin cans to use as flower containers and even old bedsheets to use as outdoor tablecloths.

Celia Bedilia

18. Go wild with your arrangements. Plucking flowers and foliage from your own backyard is cheaper than buying them, and it can be more fun, too! Push yourself to look at your garden anew and clip a little something unexpected to tuck into your bouquet. Dandelions look charming in mason jars, flowering chives are utterly romantic, and an artichoke would make a dramatic centerpiece in a mixed floral bouquet.

19. Hang flowers from a tree. Use a drill to punch two holes in a washed-out tin can and thread wire through the holes to make a hanger. Fill your cans with cut flowers and hang them from a tree around your outdoor dining table. Leave the cans plain or dress them up by tying on strips of pretty fabric.

 

Thom Filicia Inc.

20. Consider the arc of your evening. Moving your guests from place to place is a great way to keep the evening moving along — and keep folks talking. Start with appetizers and drinks on the porch, move into the backyard for dinner, gather around the fire pit for dessert, and carry mugs of coffee on a post-dessert walk to the water or somewhere equally pretty.

 

How To Keep Your Upholstery Looking Good

By Becky Dietrich - Houzz Contributor

You wouldn't expect your car to maintain itself. Show your sofa and chairs the same courtesy with this 3-part strategy

 

“What do you mean I have to maintain my new sofa? I spent all this money on the thing and now it wants more of my time and attention?!”

I used to hear this all the time when I sold furniture for a living. As soon as I started to tell my clients how to care for their new upholstery, the rivers of resentment would flow. Let me share with you what I told them about why simple maintenance is not only necessary but worth the effort.

 

LORRAINE G VALE, Allied ASID

There’s your new sofa or chair reigning gloriously in your living room: the perfect shape, style and size, resplendent in the fabric that you agonized over for weeks. And yet all too often, a year later it looks as though it’s been through a bad episode of Survivor. The cushions are lumpy, the fabric is wrinkled and dingy, and everything looks crooked and unkempt.

What happened? Assuming you started with a quality piece, you didn’t remember to fluff, flip and fuss!

 

Becky Dietrich, Interior Designer

Fluff. Because cushions are not made of concrete, but of soft materials, they must be regularly fluffed to maintain their shape and comfort. By fluffed, I mean punched, prodded, poked and pushed around to refresh the shape and loft of the cushions … just like you do with your bed pillows when they flatten out.

 

Becky Dietrich, Interior Designer

Actually, fluffing can be therapeutic. When life gets frustrating, punching my cushions (rather than something less appropriate) has a positive effect, and I kill two birds with one stone!

Firmer cushions generally take less fluffing, and squishy ones filled with down take more, but any cushion that gets sat on should be fluffed at least every few days. I generally fluff mine every night just before I go to bed to keep them looking and feeling great. And it’s no big deal; it takes about two minutes.

 

Becky Dietrich, Interior Designer

Flip. About every two weeks, you should flip your upholstery cushions. This will ensure that they wear evenly and will help to maintain their shape. Both the seat and back cushions need this regular change to perform their best. 

 

bnl-interiordesign.com

If your chair or sofa has an attached back cushion, this will be a bit more difficult but can still be accomplished. Attached back cushions usually have a zipper opening at the bottom, and the cushion innards can be pulled out, turned over, and reinserted.

Given my druthers, I always choose detached back cushions. They’re not only easier to maintain, but since they have two sides, they last twice as long … providing I flip them regularly.

 

HALIFAX FINE FURNISHINGS

On a three-cushion sofa, people generally avoid the center cushion like the plague. Consequently, that cushion will get the least wear. If your sofa has T-cushions (meaning they wraps around the front of each arm, as in this example), you can’t move the center cushion to the end — you can only flip it over.

 

Room & Board

But if your sofa has cushions that are all the same size and shape, the center one can be regularly rotated to the ends, greatly extending your cushion life.

 

Becky Dietrich, Interior Designer

Fuss. I use this word for the sake of alliteration, but by fuss I mean regular vacuuming. It’s easy to see dust on a shiny tabletop, and you’re quickly motivated to get out the feather duster. But even though you usually can’t see it, the same amount of dust has settled on your upholstery.

In this case, “Out of sight, out of mind” results in a reduction of the fabric’s life. As we sit on a dusty cushion, the dust gets down into the fibers and acts like sandpaper, causing the material to wear much more quickly.

 

Becky Dietrich, Interior Designer

So every time you dust your wooden furniture, remember to be just as kind to your upholstery. Get out the vacuum and give the fabric a quick once-over. I find a little handheld vacuum to be very effective and convenient.

Becky Dietrich, Interior Designer

When I was a little kid, I would look at these “under penalty of law” tags and think the police would come haul me off if I dared remove them. Lots of other people must have thought the same thing, because when I would go to check out a client’s new sofa, there was often — in front of God and everybody — the ugly tag hanging from the upholstery.

Please do remove this tag, but do not throw it away. It contains a fount of valuable information about your new upholstery, like the body and cushion content, style and fabric numbers, and delivery date. Staple it to your invoice or warranty and file it safely away. Doing this will practically guarantee you will never need it.

 

Becky Dietrich, Interior Designer

Do not remove the manufacturer’s tag that is adhered to the deck of your furniture. It provides the provenance of your piece. Even if you eventually reupholster it, make sure the tag is reattached.

Direct sunlight is the bitter enemy of your new upholstery fabric. Ultraviolet rays are just as destructive to your piece as small children with permanent markers.

Honestly, would you ever expect your shiny new car to maintain itself? Your new upholstery is just as needy.

10 Ways to Fight Pollen at Home

Keep sneezing and stuffiness to a minimum by making your house as pollen free as possible

 By Becky Harris - Houzz Contributor

Today as I noticed the soft pink blossoms of a cherry tree give way to soft new leaves, I wondered when my car would transform from yellowish-green back to its natural dark blue. I wondered when I’d be able to put my contact lenses back in, and when that stuffy feeling would leave my sinuses. I checked the pollen count — 2,722 for my hometown of Atlanta, which is high. In April, pollen season goes into full effect in the South and heads north soon after. While it’s tempting to enjoy open windows and fresh air this time of year, it’s best to keep the yellow stuff out. Here are some simple tips to keep your house a pollen-free zone. 

 

Johnsen Landscapes & Pools

Farrell Design Assoc Inc,

1. Keep the car in the garage. If you don’t have a garage, give it a quick rinse whenever you can. Every time you touch the car, shut the door or open the window, you’ll be spreading that pollen around in the car. Keep the windows shut. I stash sanitary wipes in my car so that after I touch a pollen-covered handle or window, I won’t spread it to my face.

 

Dehn Bloom Design

2. Wipe your feet on the mat, then take off your shoes and other outerwear as soon as you enter the house. Leave them there. Have a designated spot in the entry to leave shoes out. 

 

Divine Custom Homes

3. Decontaminate — think Silkwood. If you’ve been doing yard work or you walked by one of those incredibly annoying leaf blowers making clouds of pollen and dirt while blowing one leaf from one part of the yard to the other (can someone please ban leaf blowers from planet Earth for me? Thanks in advance), you’ll need to get the pollen off your body and your clothes. Otherwise you’ll spread pollen all over the house. Do not sit down; you need to strip. Go to the laundry room and put what you can right into the washer or hamper.

 

k YODER design, LLC

4. Wash that green right out of your hair. Your hair is a pollen magnet. If you don’t wash it out before bed, you’ll have pollen-covered pillows. This is not good. Wash your hair after your last trip outside before bed. If you want to prevent all of this hair washing, wear a hat, turban (think Little Edie) or bandana (don’t think Brett Michaels) when you’re outside and remove it as soon as you enter the house.

 

Kara Weik

5. Prevent your indoor-outdoor pets from bringing in the pollen. Give them a good brushing and wipe their paws off before they track it through the house. Immediately wash the brush and vacuum the area if you do it inside.

 

Nicholson Builders

6. Empty the vacuum outdoors. If you have a bagless vacuum like this Dyson, you should not empty it inside the house. Take it outside to dump its contents into a bag that will go straight into your rubbish barrel. 

 

FGY Architects

7. Keep the windows and doors closed. I know, this is the time of year when I’m really excited to let the fresh air in, but unfortunately, this lets the pollen in. Keep windows shut and turn on the A/C if need be. Be sure to change your HVAC filters; HEPA filters can help trap more pollen. Note: HEPA filters should be changed monthly. You and your sinuses will find the extra expense well worth it. 

 

Rizzoli New York

8. Be vigilant about dusting. Be vigilant about dusting everything twice as often as you usually would, and don’t ignore those hard-to-reach places like the ceiling fan blades. Buying an extender for your duster is well worth the cost.

 

The Anderson Studio of Architecture & Design

9. Keep porches clean or put off using them a lot until the season is over. I go through a lot of Swiffer dusters during the spring, because in spite of the pollen, I love to enjoy my screened-in porch. I also keep an old bedsheet over my outdoor sectional cushions and take it off when I have guests over. Once the green stuff is gone for the season, I take the cushions to be professionally cleaned (mine didn’t come with slipcovers). Then I have the whole porch power washed to get that pollen out of the screens, posts and flooring.

 

Wallace Landscape Associates

 

 

10. Don’t let the pollen get you down; it’s one of the most beautiful times of the year. The pollen does have a nice trade-off; sealed up in my yellowish-green car today, I couldn’t help but smile at the white dogwood blooms hovering over the street, with the stunning redbud trees providing a brilliant raspberry-pink contrast. Then I sneezed.