Summer is just made for alfresco dining and long evenings with friends, sipping rosé on the terrace, don't you think? Our garden redo rolls on, and we are far from being photo-ready, but last weekend, a hot Saturday night called for dinner outdoors. So much time had been spent choosing materials, okaying hardscapes and planting plans, that the styling of it all - taking it from a pretty blue stone terrace to an actual garden room - hadn't been given much thought.
So out came the old picnic table. The dining room chairs moved outside. A quick trip to Red Ticking yielded the perfect blue and white napkins. A new table cloth from Anthropologie delivered a French vibe - but it was the detail of tying a pretty ticking stripe ribbon round the napkins that inspired - it brought to mind Ralph's in Paris.
Have you been to Ralph's? The restaurant in the Ralph Lauren store in St. Germain des Prés boasts one of the loveliest courtyards ever. The blue striped pillows and cushions and iron chairs have an unmistakeably Frenchie feel... but at the same time would be equally at home on a veranda in the Hamptons.
It's this perfect marriage of French and American style that I would love to bring to the new terrace of our shingled home, which is full of vintage Parisian finds. Here's some inspiration:
Vintage iron furniture is definitely in order. Some grain sacks and tickings, a miss-matched collection of blue and white transferware...perhaps some rattan and a blue and white garden seat or two for good measure...
Where to find it all? Red Ticking, Atelier de Campagne, French Larkspur, My French Country Home Brocante all serve up lovely bits of French Vintage. I'm sure Ralph Lauren Home would be good for a pillow or two et voilà: hopefully by next summer our terrace evenings might be mistaken for dinner at Ralph's.
What's happening in your garden these days?
Hope you get to enjoy the outdoors this weekend! XO
Images: 1&2/My photos, 3/via, 4/via, /5/via, 6/7/via, 8/via, 9/via, 10/via, 11/via, 12/via, 13/via