ALFRESCO FINERY

Dining outdoors can be chic—provided you set the table with the same care as you would indoors. Step up your backyard entertaining with these effortlessly elegant summer tablewares.

BY BRETT WALTHER

Cabin Fever

Nautical motifs meet vintage Canadiana in this nostalgic nod to old-school camping.

Tropic Cool

Like a loud Hawaiian shirt translated for your tabletop, this bold setting positively screams summer.

Striped metal mug, $10, and Canoe ceramic dinner plate, $20, indigo.ca. Bottle bucket with bottle opener, $20, and Saanvi blanket-stitchedge napkin in Indigo, $22 per set of four, danica imports.com. Ralph Lauren Ronan flatware, $55 per five-piece place setting, thebay.com.

THE JUMPING-OFF POINT

Canvas teak harvest table, $800, canadiantire.ca.

Floret placemat, $6, Ecologie side plate in Sunshine, $4, dinner plate in Natural, $5, and dip-dyed napkin in Honeysuckle, $30 per set of four, danicaimports.com. Wooden Picnic flatware, $10 per 18-piece set, crateandbarrel.com. Nutcracker Designs acrylic goblet, $7, accentimports.ca. Distinctly Home Outdoors Toucan melamine side plate, $6, and dinner plate, $7, thebay.com. Kira Brights acrylic tumblers, $33 per set of four, pier1.ca. Origami paper napkin in Yellow, $9 per set of 12, danicaimports.com. Diego round caddy (cutlery not included), $30, crateandbarrel.com.

No need to brush up on your napkin-folding skills—this one comes prefolded!

Garden Party

A fresh floral-print place mat establishes the palette for this vibrant vignette. There’s a green element at play as well: The bamboo-and-rice-husk plates are biodegradable, while the flatware is made from sustainable birch.

French Accents

Channel Parisian bistro style in backyard-friendly melamine, acrylic and, yes, even paper!

PC Home irregular white melamine dinner plate, $5, realcanadiansuperstore.ca. Grey distressed plastic charger, $7, canfloyd.com. Rustik flatware, $40 per 20-piece set, ikea.ca. Flax linen napkin in Poppy, $9, and Les Moulins recycled-paper place mats, $15 per 40 sheets, danicaimports.com. GlucksteinHome smoke-dipped acrylic double old-fashioned glasses, $5 each, and highball glasses, $7 each, thebay.com.