In the current issue of O at Home, actress Jennifer Carpenter shares photos of her Laurel Canyon home, which was redecorated by Jennifer's friend Ariel Ashe, an interior designer with the firm Ashe + Leandro.

While I loved the entire home design, my eyes kept coming back to this cool tipi in Jennifer's backyard. In the article, Jennifer admits, "That was my idea. I always wanted a yurt."

When I was growing up, my family used a traditional tipi as an alternative structure for camping on our land, and I can vouch for their comfort. Although a traditional tipi would look too hippie in Jennifer's colorful, modern space, the updated tipi, which uses the Hable Construction Big Beads outdoor fabric in Java, is absolutely perfect.

To hear Ariel's tips for relaxed, easy living, read more.

• Buy neutral furniture and bring color in with accessories. It's easier to replace a candlestick than a sofa that suddenly feels outdated.
• Take a laid-back approach to art. We used game boards and Polaroids. And who says everything needs to be hung on the wall—or even framed?
• Big names aren't always best. I like to mix highbrow and affordable furniture because it's hard to feel comfortable in a room that's all design, design, design.
• Erase the barrier between indoors and out. Furnish your deck, porch, or patio as if it were your living room. Then you can't help but enjoy the good weather.
• Don't bother with fussy drapes. In fact, if privacy is not an issue at your home, you have my permission to skip curtains all together.

Get more tips about Summer living, and check out the rest of Jennifer's house, here.

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