Use the Good Dishes

Last week, we shared that the best reservation on Cape Cod is the one in your own backyard - with the people that make you laugh, good food, and a perfectly set table.

Angela would argue that setting the table deserves an entire journal of its own. So here we are.

Since we are particular girls, we love a beautifully set table but ones that are organic and not overly styled.

Our favorite tables feel collected over time. The linen doesn’t necessarily match the dishes. The flowers look like they have been clipped from the yard.

It’s less about having the right things and more about knowing how to put all the pieces together.

So we are sharing our saved inspiration.

These are the tables that are inspiring our summer evenings - and the little details we’d borrow from each to set our own.

Start with the linen.

We’re starting underneath everything.

We love a crisp white linen, but that doesn’t always mean a perfectly pressed white tablecloth - although we do sell the perfect one here at Mac & Co. Shoppe.

Don’t be afraid of a little texture. A little wrinkle. Or even better - an embroidered edge that feels like you could have inherited rather than purchased.

Our general rule is to decide where we want the pattern to live. If the dishes are bold, we’ll usually keep the linen quieter.

WHAT WE’D USE:

Tablecloth: Linen Tablecloth

Napkins: Paige Napkins

Placemats: Seagrass Round Placemat

Bring out the dishes you’ve been saving.

You know the ones. The china that only comes out around the Holidays. The little plates you found antiquing and bought even though it was only a set of four. The serving bowl that has been passed down for generations that you’re terrified of breaking. Use them.

We spend so much time waiting for a special occasion to use our special things. And as we said last week, “summer is the special occasion”.

We’re much more interested in a table that feels collected than one where every place setting came out of the same box.

WHAT WE’D USE:

Dinner Plate: Lenox White Dinner Plate

Salad Plate: Antique French Terre de Fer Blue Plates

Bowl: Alix D. Reynis Handmade French Bowls

Serving Pieces: Taylor Server Set

The flowers should look like they came from your garden.

We will always choose an arrangement that feels loose and unruly over something perfectly composed.

Hydrangeas. Ranunculus. Dahlias. Clematis. Lavender. Herbs. Greens.

For a long table, we love a few smaller vessels scattered down the center than one large arrangement. And the vessel matters almost as much as what goes inside it.

We love a vase that doesn’t necessarily look like a vase - a little ceramic crock, an old silver vessel, something footed, or something you found at an antique shop and aren’t entirely sure what it was originally intended for.

OUR FLOWER FORMULA:

Our Favorite Small Vase: Georgie Glass Vase

Our Favorite Flower for a Small Vase: Clematis

Our Favorite Large Vase: French Mason Jar

Our Favorite Flower for a Large Vase: Hydrangeas

Let the glassware be decorative but not the hero.

We have a saying that not everything needs to be the “hero”. When there’s already pattern in the dishes, texture in the linen, flowers down the center, and dinner waiting to be served, we tend to let the glassware quiet down.

Clear glass. A little texture. Maybe something vintage.

A water glass and a wine glass are plenty for most evenings.

WHAT WE’D USE:

Water Glass: Dune Thistle Tumbler

Wine Glass: Dune Thistle Wine Glass

Pitcher: Dune Thistle Pitcher

Carafe: Carafe with Glass

Some of your pieces might be new. Some might be from the Shoppe. Some might be collected at antique stores over the years.

And that’s exactly the point.

You don’t need to buy an entirely new table setting to host the perfect summer. Start with what you already have. Add the beautiful things as you find them. Let the collection grow slowly.

And if everyone is still sitting there when someone eventually has to go inside for a sweater?

We’d say you did it right.