High/low: Stylish outdoor dining space

Can you tell the difference?

Which is high and which is low?

High: $3,459

Everything tastes better when eaten under the night sky, so we created an outdoor dining space that blends formal and casual for a look as easy and breezy as our favourite summer evenings–and we did it all on budgets befitting a single star or the immense Milky Way. • Genie House copper and glass outdoor sconces in Dark Copper marine, Sescolite, $370 each. • Grade A teak Athena folding sidechairs, Mountain House Furniture, $279 each. • Large glass Edge wine glasses, Crate and Barrel, $13 each. • Glass Genisa Tumblers in Green, Anthropologie, $8 US each. • Raynaud porcelain Cristobal No.2 Dinner Piates in Red, William Ashley China, $90 each. • Juliska ceramic stoneware Country Estate dessert plates in Flint, William Ashley China, $44. 7. Stoneware Etched Bowls in Dark Orange, Anthropologie, $12 US each. • Cotton Pavilion fabric in Scarlet, through designers, Lee Jofa, $226 per yard. • Cotton Crochet Toss Cushion Cover, Zara Home, 16" x 16", $40, polyfibre toss cushion insert, 16" x 16", $8. • Wicker, resin and powder-coated aluminum maui ARMChAiR in Light Green, mountain House Furniture, mountainhousefurniture.ca. • Ambrosia maple Serving Bowl, 14" x 4", Woodlot Harvest Studio. • Black walnut Salad Bowl by Geoff Kelk, Woodlot Harvest Studio, 16" x 8", $415; black walnut McLeod Salad Servers, Williams-Sonoma, $52 per pair.

Low: $745

• Portfolio large steel Trevett Charcoal Black outdoor scones, Lowe’s, $60 each. • Grade C teak Bistro Folding sidechairs, Mountain House Furniture, $99 each. • Glass wineglasses, per set of 6, HomeSense. • Green glass tumlers, HomeSense, $3 each. • Thomas by Rosenthal Sunny Days porcelain dinner plates in Tangerine, William Ashley China, $23 each. • Scalamandre for Lenox china Toile Tale accent plates in Chocolate, William Ashley China, $20 each. • Miko Collection porcelain tapas bowls, Urban Barn, $5 each. • Linen Toile orientale fabric in Poppy, Designer Fabrics, $33 per yard. • Cotton Crochet Toss CUshion Cover, Zara Home, 16" x 16", $40, polyfibre toss cushion insert, 16" x 16", $8. • Lacquered rattan Holmsel armchair in Green, IKEA. • Cherry wood serving bowl, Williams-Sonoma. • B. Smith acacia wood salad bowl & servers, per set, Bed Bath & Beyond.

Dishware

Toile takes on a fussy, refined look when layered with more toile or a matchy-matchy solid colour, but when paired with a boldly contrasting hue and other graphic patterns, the timeless pastoral print becomes fresh, youthful and fun. The high and low place settings here feel far from stuffy, and humble accents like casual green glass tumblers and durable wood-handled cutlery bring the look from museum formal to everyday fabulous. 1. Thomas by Rosenthal Sunny Days porcelain dinner plate in Tangerine, $23. 2. Scalamandre for Lenox china Toile Tale accent plate in Chocolate, $20. 3. Raynaud porcelain Cristobal No.2 dinner plate in Red, William Ashley China, $90. 4. Porcelain Atom Art bowl in Red, $8 US. 5. Glass Genisa tumbler in Green, Anthropologie, $8 US. 6. Raynaud porcelain Cristobal No.2 dinner plate in Red, $90. 7. Juliska ceramic stoneware Country Estate dessert plate in Flint, $44. 8. Thomas by Rosenthal Sunny Days porcelain dinner plate in Tangerine, William Ashley China, $23. 9. Miko Collection porcelain tapas bowl, Urban Barn, $5. 10. Green glass tumbler, HomeSense, $3.

Wooden bowls

Ambrosia maple, black walnut and black cherry, oh my! The great Canadian wild offers up a bounty of natural beauty, and Ontario-based wood-turning artist geoff kelk harnesses it in his collection of unique hand-made serving bowls. Finished with a food-grade walnut-oil rub and a light layer of beeswax, these bowls are organic and can breathe, absorbing the oils from the salads you serve, which both season and preserve the wood. From left ambrosia maple, Woodlot Harvest Studio, 14" x 5", black walnut, $265, 16" x 8", $415, black cherry, 17" x 6", $365.

Wooden utensils

Whoever said “you don’t make friends with salad” obviously never dished out a delicious one with salad servers like these. They give off an exotic global feel that’ll have guests-and new friends!–guessing where you bought them. From left acacia twisted wood, Pier 1 Imports, $33 per pair. Yamazaki signature collection stainless steel, William Ashley China, $60 per pair. GlucksteInHome mango wood Lucca, Hudson’s Bay, $30 per pair. Perforated bone and wood, Zara Home, $20 per pair.

Trendy toile fabrics

In the world of decor, toile has gone from trendy to traditional and back again more than most other prints, but we’ve always stayed true to this classic beauty. Drawn to those pastoral scenes of picnics and nature, we love its intricate and mostly two-toned motifs that seem to tell a story. And toile itself has an interesting tale to tell: Europe’s first toile came in the 17th century from India, but in 1760, Christophe-Philippe Ober-kampf, a German immigrant to France, established a printed-cotton factory in jouy-en-josas, which soon became the most important toile producer in Europe. Under Oberkampf, the wood-blocked and copper-plated prints became some of the most popular, even coveted by the likes of royals, such as Louis XVI. Though toile from jouy-en-josas fell out of favour in the next century, the factory there is so historically significant that toile is still often called Toile de Jouy.

Toile fabrics

1. Schumacher linen Nanjing in Coral and Jade, Bilbrough & Co., $124 per yard, through designers. 2. Cotton Juegos L Lino in 3, Designer Fabrics, $37 per yard. 3. Schumacher cotton Starry Night in Mandarin, Bilbrough & Co., $188 per yard, through designers. 4. Kent-Bragaline linen/cotton Continents in Green, Suzanne Brown & Associates, $279 per yard, through designers. 5. Schumacher linen Continenti in Rouge/Prussian Blue and Grey/Fuchsia, $348 per yard. 6. Schumacher cotton Coromandel in Rouge/Noir, Bilbrough & Co., $264 per yard, through designers. 7. Bassett McNab cotton Tea Garden in Blue and Cream, Suzanne Brown & Associates, $234 per yard, through designers. 8. Schumacher cotton Starry Night in Chartreuse, Bilbrough & Co., $188 per yard, through designers. 9. Cotton A?lgo?rt, IKEA, $7 per metre.

Pairing toiles with colours

Toile is ultra-traditional in name only: depending on the colourway and accents you pair it with, it can suit any style, from playful to sophisticated. • Girlie Glam, Childlike SW 6569, Sherwin-Williams. • Timeless Traditional, Hardwick White 5, Farrow&Ball. • Contemporary Chic, Violet Mist CC-880, Benjamin Moore.