Outdoor living spaces like patios and decks deserve the same attention to detail and decoration as your living room or kitchen. There’s more to decorating your patio than just choosing patio furniture that you like. The decor that you choose will set the tone, whether it’s casual, country chic, Mediterranean or modern. Some care and attention can turn your outdoor deck into an inviting, comfortable place to relax and entertain.

All the same principles that apply to interior decorating apply equally to designing your outdoor spaces. One of the basic principles of interior design is to define the areas of an open room with carpets and area rugs. This is a principle that’s only recently coming into use outdoors as new materials like polypropylene are developed and refined.

Long gone are the days when an outdoor carpet meant one of those grassy-green plastic mats that never looked like real grass no matter how well made it was! The availability of such materials as olefin, polypropylene and other acrylics has moved the concept of decorating with area rugs outdoors.

Your choices for outdoor rugs today are as varied and attractive as carpets you might choose for your living room or family room. Choose a pattern that accents your patio furniture or contrasts with it. Define a conversation area of benches with a subtly patterned Oriental look-alike. For a more unusual look, try the reverse. Outline a seating area with patterned runners in an outdoor weave and leave the floor within bare.

There are many designs of rugs for children’s rooms, and many of them are as at home outdoors as indoors. If you have young children, give them their own space for outdoor playing on your patio. Just define a safety-railed corner of the deck with a bright rug in one of the popular patterns for children. Here is just a sampling of the choices available:

* An outdoor rug patterned with a checkerboard or hopscotch grid
* A street map in bright colors to build a city on or play with cars
* An outdoor rug with a woven pattern of crayons, ABC’s or numbers.

Caring for an outdoor rug can be as simple as hosing it down with a garden hose. Outdoor rugs are an inexpensive way to add warmth and drama to your patio or deck. Take full advantage of the wide variety of patterns and styles to make your outdoor living area as beautiful as your indoor rooms!

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