Find summer table and centerpiece inspiration with themes and ideas ranging from nautical, seaside, tropical, or fresh-from-the-garden, for your outdoor entertaining and dining.
Happy Thursday!
I think that alfresco or outdoor dining is at its best when combined with a fun summer theme or activity! With a little imagination, you can be transported to a tropical or seaside locale, or celebrate the flowers or fruits of the season! I pulled together some summer table and centerpiece inspiration from the archives.
Click on the links in red to see the original post if you’d like more details, table sources
and centerpiece inspiration for your summer dining!
A Tropical Table and Lake Breeze Cocktail
A tropical-inspired tablescape and cocktail for lakeside dining and sipping.
Hydrangeas and Butterflies Summer Table + DIY Hosta & Hydrangea Centerpiece
Welcome summer with hydrangeas and butterflies. You’ll find tips to create a hydrangea and hosta centerpiece and Hydrangea Frosted Cupcakes with Butterflies, easy and fun to make for a birthday, tea or garden party!
Lakeside Nautical Table and National Lighthouse Day
A nautical lakeside table in celebration of National Lighthouse Day
Lakeside Summer Table: Red, White and Blue and Nautical Too
Set sail into summer with some nautical fun on the dock and celebrate the red, white and blue.
DIY Blooming Watermelon Vase and Patriotic Table
Create a blooming watermelon centerpiece for the Fourth of July or summer entertaining.
Stars and Stripes Forever Lakeside Tablescape
Lakeside table celebrating the red, white and blue with pocket napkin fold and DIY Patriotic Party Favor Cones.
A table on the porch with a patriotic tree and galvanized three-tier stand makes an easy centerpiece to celebrate the Red, White & Blue.
Red, White and Blue Ridge Tablescape
North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains provide a blue back drop for our red, white and blue dining! Blue bottles in varying heights provide vases for an easy and casual table centerpiece.
DIY Summer Fruit and Flower Arrangement + Tablescape
A fruit and flower centerpiece and table on the porch
A garden-inspired table with blooming watering cans and a quilt for a casual alfresco table.
Lakeside Tea Table with Peonies
Take pleasure and drink in the floral notes at a lakeside tea table and setting. You’ll find an easy technique and recipe for Rosette Cookies with Almond Buttercream, a sweet treat and pairing with China Rose Petal Tea.
Anchors Aweigh and Nautical Table on the Pontoon
All aboard on the pontoon, decked out from stem to stern, with anchors, ship’s wheels, red, white and blue, and stars and stripes for some nautical and patriotic fun for boating season!
Seaside Dining Tablescape
A beach-inspired tablescape with the colors of sun, sand, and sea.
Loggerhead Love Tablescape
Table inspiration from Loggerhead Sea Turtles and summer family vacation.
How to Make a Seashell & Floral Centerpiece for a Seaside-Inspired Table
Add some coastal charm to your table and find the steps to create a flower arrangement and centerpiece incorporating shells for a seaside-inspired summer table setting.
Fantasy Island Getaway Tablescape
A fantasy island getaway and boating excursion tablescape.
A Caribbean {Floating} Island Picnic
The pontoon decked out with frolicking flamingos, tropical bunting and hula skirt swags with a Caribbean-inspired menu and picnic
You Say Tomato
Celebrating tomato season with a tomato centerpiece and Heirloom Tomato Pie.
Dockside Dining with Butterflies and Hydrangeas
Garden hydrangeas provide a centerpiece for a dockside table with Lenox Butterfly Meadow Cloud. Post includes an easy tip to keep cut hydrangeas from wilting.
Lakeside Limonata Table and Sparkling Cans of Flowers
Sunny lemons provided some cheery table inspiration in a tablecloth and dinnerware for lakeside dining. Sparkling Limonata cans are repurposed as vases for flowers.
DIY Lemon Vase Flower Arrangement and Alfresco Summer Table
An alfresco summer table with steps to create a lemon vase flower arrangement. Mini lemon ‘vases’ are filled with garden blooms.
August Blues Lakeside Table and ‘Pitcher Perfect’ Limelight Hydrangeas
Embracing the August blues with transferware and Limelight Hydrangeas
Dining with Sunflowers on the Dock
Sunflowers meet a bright farmhouse plaid and blue water views
Lakeside Table with Sunflowers and Black and White Buffalo Check
Black and white buffalo check marry cheery sunflowers in a lakeside table for two.
Alfresco Table Buzzing with Bees and Summer’s Last Hurrah
Summer’s last hurrah and getaway to North Carolina’s high country and table buzzing with bees
I’m happy to *bee* a part of a Summer Tablescape Blog Hop next week!
I hope you’ll buzz back to find summer table inspiration from 18 table stylists on Tuesday, June 10th.
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You really should publish a book about tablescapes. Never, not ever, have I seen any that consistently compare to your phenomenal work! ❤️
It’s 6:30 in the morning and that “You Say Tomato” tablescape has me absolutely drooling! That table is unexpectedly visually stunning and oh so fun at the same time. It is very bit (bite Ha!) as lovely as any flower arrangement. I agree with Pamela…you should publish a book. But I can’t imagine how hard it would be to pick a favorite tablescape to grace the cover. They are all truly fabulous, Mary! Now, pass the salt, 🍅🍅🍅
Each one is just as beautiful as the next! I so enjoy your tables, Mary!! You have a gift and I am glad that you share it with all of us!!❤️
Mary, These are all outstanding! Your talent is amazing! The lemon table should be on book or magazine. It reminds me of pictures I’ve seen of Lake Como, Italy. You could do a magazine spread with these very easily it would seem. I really hope a magazine sees these and appreciates your talents! Thanks for sharing. Clara❤️
What a wonderful collection of tables, Mary! So much inspiration. Thanks for sharing.
So beautiful!! I love all of them!! Thanks for sharing!!
Mary, just gorgeous!! I’m pinning and pinning this morning. Each table is a joy and has so much inspiration! I’m going to spend the day looking through each one! I cannot choose a favorite. But I do love bees and birds and hydrangeas!
Thank you!!
Fun table settings, I’m curious about the Summer Table. What is the plant with pinks stems and green fruit. Thanks Gail
Good morning, Mary. I love all of these fabulous tables! I am especially fond of the patriotic, lemon, and bee themed tables. I enjoy the pleasure of seeing your lakeside tables! All of your tablescape are designed perfectly.
Thank you for all of the eye candy this morning❤️ Wishing you a wonderful Thursday!
Simply Beautiful!!! You should win an award for such marvelous creativity. WOW
I so enjoy your website. Your vision has inspired me many times to do my own thing with my country cottage. Thank you.
Absolutely beautiful Mary! I echo everyone’s sentiments, you should publish a book!
So inspirational Mary! There are so many favorite tables here…I’m always partial to the ones by the lake. I know it must be a tremendous amount of work setting them up and creating your floral arrangements and centerpieces. Looking forward to your table next week!
All of these creative tables and centerpieces sing summer Mary! “You say Tomato” is a long time favorite, but of course I love them all :) Seeing all this gorgeous eye candy makes me want to buy flowers asap!!
Jenna
Absolutely amazing! Such inspiration every post! Suzi
The florals are very nice for the summer table. I’d skip the shells and starfish, they carry parasites and bacteria even when dry.
Most of the shells and starfish were purchased in a package at the craft store. The sand dollars and shells found on the beach were bleached and dried so any bacteria and algae is gone. Potential parasites on the shells cannot survive without water or organic matter, thanks for your visit.
These tablescapes are so beautiful! Can’t wait to see the next group! And can’t wait to create my own version with your fabulous ideas!!
What a gift you have, Mary. Each tablescape gets prettier and prettier!
I just came in from trimming bushes and sat down to view these masterpieces! Thank you for all the eye candy. I so appreciate the inspiration!
It is ingenious the way you “find” these unique elements and combine them as though they were
designed for one another. Love the nautical themed settings, but then again, there is no ho-hum
among any of these photos. Your sense of color and form is so well honed, that any on of these
settings is magazine-worthy. Thank you for the inspiration and effort, Mary.
The peony table is my most favorite table. .. .very sweet and inviting. Those pink frosted cupcakes just add to the fun and floral theme. Very artful as always.
Mary, each one of these tables is a feast for the eyes. You have such a gift for creating the most stunning floral arrangements and gorgeous table settings. I look forward to joining you Tuesday. Happy Monday!