OUTDOOR DINING IN STYLE: MODERN TABLES, CHAIRS AND ENTERTAINING ESSENTIALS
With a little planning and a dash of inspiration, you can turn any outdoor space into a welcoming, chic, and enticing dining experience for you, your family, and your friends. With the right outdoor furniture you create an outdoor room that feels just as good as your indoor dining area, with the special feel and ambience of al fresco dining.
Explore outdoor dining ideas for any space, from balconies or patios to larger areas. From lighting and décor to tables and chairs, you’ll find everything you need at CB2 for outdoor dining in Dubai.
Start with the essentials
To enjoy outdoor dining in Dubai, you’ll need two basics – comfy seating and practical yet stylish tables. If you’re short on space, it’s best to look for patio furniture designed specifically for small spaces. This is often more lightweight (think ‘French Bistro’ style tables and chairs) and easily stored or packed away when not in use. To enhance the outdoor design element, open-weave rattan or rattan-style designs are exceptionally popular. Using modern materials such as coated metal frames, they’re long-lasting too, ticking both the form and functionality boxes.
If you have more room, you have more options for your outdoor furniture. You can start looking into adding more design-led items, such as benches and ceramic accent tables, to create a more casual dining experience for BBQs and parties. You can also include extra decorative elements in your planning, such as signature plant pots to create a dramatic entrance between your interior and exterior spaces, and larger dining tables for bigger family get-togethers.
Outdoor décor – setting the mood
The nice thing about the understated simplicity of modern outdoor furniture and dining sets is that they create a perfect ‘blank canvas’ for you to decorate your space however you want. Lighting is the best way to set the mood, with flickering lanterns, strings of fairy lights, and candles providing warm, harmonised illumination. Table décor can be as simple or as ornate as you like, with table runners for oblong or rectangular tables and chic tablecloths for round tables.
Add matching tableware, such as place mats, napkins, and charming cruet sets. These finishing touches create the perfect al fresco dinner party for a memorable night under the stars.
Use bright dinner plates, bowls and serving platters to add pops of colour, which can be echoed and harmonised with coloured linen to create a cohesive effect. Just because you’re dining outdoors doesn’t mean you have to let your décor standards slip. So, make sure your flatware matches, your table is laid beautifully, and additions like contemporary candles or chic oil lanterns add the finishing touches to your outdoor dining.
Entertaining essentials
Outdoor dining is not always a formal sit-down meal. Sometimes, the whole garden is a party space. For BBQs or evening parties, you’ll need essentials like side tables for dips, drinks, and nibbles. Have coasters to keep tables clean, and cushions to make dining chairs and benches more comfortable.
If you’re lucky enough to have a big garden, make sure your outdoor dining ideas include garden décor too. A series of lanterns or lawn lighting can lead guests down the garden to more secluded socialising areas, where comfortable seats and outdoor tables laden with delicious treats await them.
Outdoor dining is all about the little details, whether that’s pitchers of drinks so everyone can help themselves, or mood-enhancing oil lamps strategically positioned to create an embracing ambience that encourages guests to mingle and circulate. If you’re planning some garden parties, intimate dinners under the stars, or a family BBQ on a lazy weekend afternoon, you’ll find a host of outdoor dining ideas at CB2.