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So much of restaurant design doesn’t make sense outside of restaurants: No one (I would think) is going to install a booth tree, 2020’s first major design trend, in their dining room. Sure, certain design trends, like the current tendency towards maximalist walls, are meant to be aspirational — but isn’t nice when you can exactly replicate the thing that makes a restaurant dining room so inviting?
Consider the oilcloth tablecloth.
These colorful tablecloths are nothing new. The material itself was first used as a floor and roof covering in the 18th century. In the 1950s, with the advent of vinyl, oilcloth made its way to tabletops in patterns we’d now call retro, and since then, their utilitarian nature — they’re waterproof and stain resistant while being more durable than plain-old plastic — has made them staples at outdoor restaurants and market-side food stalls around the world. For years now, Thai restaurants like Pok Pok and Nong’s Khao Man Gai in Portland and Night + Market in LA have used oilcloths in tropical patterns to reference Thailand’s thriving hawker culture, recreating the feeling that you could be eating this food outside, just a few feet away from the entrance to a market.
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Oilcloth tablecloths are popping up at other kinds of restaurants, too. There are vibrant oilcloths covering the tables at South Philly Barbacoa and at Michael Solomonov’s latest Philadelphia restaurant, Laser Wolf, where the look was inspired by vendors at the Machane Yehuda market in Jerusalem, who, at the end of the day, would grill meat over charcoal to be served at tables covered in oilcloths.
At Laser Wolf, the oilcloth expands beyond the tropical patterns most often favored by restaurants to include zebra, houndstooth, and cherries: They blend with stately bare wood tabletops for an eclectic aesthetic that calls to mind summer camp dining halls. According to a rep for Laser Wolf, the tablecloths came from two oilcloth specialty sites — Oilcloth by the Yard and Oilcloth Alley — and the restaurant notes that affordability is another draw.
As more restaurants bring oilcloths into their dining rooms, they begin to feel like an enviable design statement — not to mention a vibrant backdrop for overhead food shots, which might make them more relevant now than ever. Here are just some of the many, many options for dressing your table in the tradition of these sensible-but-fun restaurants:
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Retro Yellow Oilcloth Tablecloth with Blue Gingham
- $32
Prices taken at time of publishing.
The fruit motif is less expected than florals while retaining the vibrancy of that more common pattern.
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Bloom Oilcloth Tablecloth
- $25
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Florals are perhaps the most common oilcloth tablecloth motif these days.
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Vintage Rose on Blue Oilcloth
- $10
Prices taken at time of publishing.
The tables at Night + Market Sahm were decorated in blue, floral oilcloths like this one when it opened in 2018.
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60” Round Light Blue Gingham Oilcloth Tablecloth
- $46
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Light blue gingham would make a sweet addition to a kitchen nook.
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Pink Cherry Oilcloth
- $7
Prices taken at time of publishing.
These cherries make an appearance on the Laser Wolf tables.
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Hawaii Orange Oilcloth Tablecloth with Blue Gingham Trim
- $32
Prices taken at time of publishing.
These flowers feel distinctly tropical.
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Zebra Oilcloth
- $10
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Zebra is one of a few nontraditional oilcloth tablecloth patterns at Laser Wolf.
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Oranges on White Oilcloth
- $7
Prices taken at time of publishing.
South Philly Barbacoa opted for an orange-covered oilcloth like this one.
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Chili Peppers on Yellow Oilcloth Tablecloth with Green Gingham Trim
- $32
Prices taken at time of publishing.
Truly, there’s an oilcloth pattern to suit almost any aesthetic preference.
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COOKING
44
- Ditch Your Hyper-Specific Menu Plan. You Won’t Regret It.
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EATING
25
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STOCKING UP
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READING
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ENTERTAINMENT
19
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