I don’t know about you, but we love to eat outside whenever the weather permits us to. We eat Saturday breakfasts, picnic lunches, bbq dinners, even regular spring/summer/fall dinners out back. We love to be outside at ever chance we get.

Two years ago, we picked up this wonderful patio table and chairs from a yard sale and have loved it! The only complaint that I have is that it usually ends up with “junk” piled on it. Such as partially empty water bottles, sidewalk chalk, screw drivers, Home Depot receipts, dog bones, and etc. Whenever I looked outside and the table was being used as a temporary “junk station” I started to think about adding some kind of table centerpiece so that there wasn’t room on the table to pile “junk”. But what do you put on an outside table for a centerpiece that won’t get ruined due to rain, wind and sun?

The Herb Centerpiece

 I cleared off all the “junk” before taking this picture. I wish I would have left it so you could see what it looked like . .

Well I am happy to say that this week I finally narrowed it down to what I wanted on the table. This patio table centerpiece cost less than $20 and only took about 30 minutes. Background: I have be wanting fresh herbs in our yard for sometime, but being renters in a rental for an unknown amount of time I haven’t wanted to plant any. So, I sent my husband to Home Depot to find some small pots to plant my herbs in – This way if/when we move I can just bring my herbs with me. This also made it so that when cold weather comes in the fall and winter I can just move my well-established herbs into the house with no problems.

This centerpiece layout is the perfect compliment for any outdoor table. It’s earthy, natural and yet it adds just the right amount of color to make it fun. You know me, I love anything with color!

The Herb Centerpiece

So here is what I did . . .

I bought three different herbs at a local nursery for 39 cents each: chives, sweet basil and flat-leaf parsley. I then planted them into these adorable small pots that my husband found at Home Depot with some potting soil.The Herb CenterpieceThe Herb Centerpiece

Next I made a little frayed canvas table runner to match the pots. Burlap would also work very well for this. Note: I chose canvas because of it’s natural look, it hides dirt very easily due to it’s color and I always have scrap pieces of it around the house. (The canvas that I buy is actually a canvas drop cloth from Home Depot. I just buy it in a big piece and cut off pieces when I need it for different projects, such as for my pallet ottoman.)

I added some top stitching that matched the pots and then frayed the edges. For a full tutorial on how to make this table runner in less than 30 minutes, check back tomorrow.

The Herb Centerpiece

Now all you need to do is place them all on your patio table, enjoy. . . Oh, and don’t forget to water your herbs a little every day. Note: It’s been more than a week since I made this change to the table and so far no “junk” has piled up. Success!!!The Herb CenterpieceThe Herb Centerpiece

 . . . Don’t Forget to check back tomorrow to see how to make this canvas table runner in less than 30 minutes . . .