Creating a relaxing outdoor space has come a long way from propping up a couple of Adirondack chairs on the porch or stringing up a line of Chinese lanterns over the deck. These days, outdoor spaces are much more sophisticated and rival many indoor rooms in comfort and livability. Outdoor furnishings are more refined, lighting and audio are more technologically advanced, and landscaping possibilities are virtually limitless. Furniture and fabrics are more resistant to the elements, too.

After the floor plan is complete, people often wonder what to tackle next when decorating a room. Donna Brown of Dazzling Designs always starts her interior design process with a decorative hand-woven rug and builds the space using the rug as inspiration.

“I like to start with a hand-woven rug on the floor because that sets the pace of everything in the room and will help drive the colors. It’s the artwork on the floor and it offers a great color scheme to start with for the rest of the space,” says Brown.