Outdoor Dining – French Country Style

Summer is in full swing, and we are enjoying being outdoors. How about you? We are particularly blessed that the ocean is only a mile away, so frequent trips to the beach are a given.

That being said, our family also enjoys some downtime in our own back yard. I recently enjoyed creating an outdoor dining ‘room’ of sorts out back, inspired by french country style. Take a peek at how it all came together…

It doesn’t have to be perfect…

The first thing I want to share is that this space isn’t perfect. By that I mean it doesn’t match my dream vision for our yard. Ultimately my husband and I would love to add a patio (perhaps brick or slate pavers) and a wooden pergola. We’d like the seating and dining area to be more defined than just a span of dirt and grass.

Right now our fire pit is smack dab in the middle of our yard, while this seating area is behind our garage. We’d love to bring it all together in one spot eventually. For now, we simply attached 2 slender pieces of wood to the back fence to string up lighting that connects to the garage. This serves as the outline for our ‘room’.

Because our budget this year is focused on kitchen updates (see that excitement here), we have no wiggle room for updates out in the yard. But I didn’t want that to stop us from using this somewhat defined space for outdoor gatherings and relaxing.

Here’s how we made do with what we had…

Use what you have…

We’ve owned this picnic table for ages, and last year I finally painted the legs white and stained the top. I neglected to seal it, but this year I re-stained and sealed it. The look of the worn wood and Minwax Special Walnut stain is perfect, especially against my vintage ironstone!

Another seating area was created nearby by simply bringing over 2 chairs we got from Lowes last year. Indoor toss pillows were gathered for comfort, and I placed an old flea market crate nearby as a makeshift side table:

New salvia plants were placed inside an old galvanized bucket I’ve had for ages. I also brought out a cute stool for extra seating, which has the sweetest ticking cover:

For easy hosting, I simply grabbed a basket to hold plates and napkins. You may recognize the napkin rings from a pattern I shared not long ago…

Still in the spirit of using what I had, I brought out a grain sack from indoors, as well as my ‘aged’ terracotta pots planted now with Rosemary:

Keeping with the French country theme, I also included one of my lavender sachets for a sweet scent:

Speaking of lavender….I revived an old (decrepit!) faux stone urn by painting it white and potting lavender inside:

Table for Two

Not far away, we have another space for dining that is more intimate. We’ve owned this patio table and chairs for over a dozen years, and it’s been painted white (from black) in the span of those years. Although the paint is worn now, I think the set looks as though it belongs in a French Country garden.

These days I am loving the look of worn woods against the color white, so I grabbed this wood cubby from my garage and simply placed pots and a lantern inside.

The gray cushions are the most comfortable seating! You can find resources for these pillows and other inspiration for our patio style in this post.

I do hope you’ve been inspired by this French Country styled gathering space.

When we bring together items we love and create a comfortable outdoor arrangement, it no longer matters what is ‘missing’ or ‘not ideal’ from the setting. All that matters is spending time with friends and family in a comfortable and loving place. Bon appetit!