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Two years ago, when the Pistons were looking to rebuild their front office, they requested permission to interview Troy Weaver, who was a sought-after assistant general manager with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Thunder refused, and the Pistons moved forward with Ed Stefanski leading the front office, but they left the spot of general manager vacant.

Troy Weaver is the new general manager of the Detroit Pistons.(Photo: Detroit Pistons)

This time, they circled back. This time, Weaver was ready and available.

Weaver joins the Pistons staff with the task of reinvigorating a franchise that hasnt had a playoff win in more than a decade. When the season is scheduled to resume in July, the Pistons will be on the outside looking in, one of eight teams eliminated.

Although team owner Tom Gores and Stefanski have conceded that the Pistons are beginning a rebuild, Weaver isnt so quick to use that term.

This isnt a rebuild its a restoring. Theres been greatness here, Weaver said Monday in his virtual introductory press conference. The Motor City deserves a consistent winner back on the floor.

The Pistons and Weaver is a union two years in the making, as the Pistons had an unusual structure to their front office, with Stefanski as the senior adviser to Gores, but handling many of the responsibilities of a president of basketball operations and general manager.

With Weaver, the Pistons get an ideal candidate to usher them into the next phase of their franchise development, as Weaver worked with Thunder general manager Sam Presti to make Oklahoma City one of the pillars of the Western Conference, including four appearances in the conference finals and one trip to the NBA Finals.

Getting a fresh start with a rebuild with the Pistons is a challenge, but Gores said the Pistons went all out to get the best person for the job.

(Weaver) had all the track record and everything on his resume that made complete sense. We had actually tried to talk to Troy a couple years ago and Oklahoma City wasnt quite ready to let him go, so hes been on our radar for a while, Gores said. Ed has come in and done a great job of stabilizing our front office and cleaning some things up.

We just felt it was time to go big or go home lets just go get the best. We have a great coach ready to go and Dwane (Casey) and Troy have a great chemistry theyve built.

The timing of Weavers hiring and the Pistons emergence from two years of perilous salary-cap maneuvering along with a critical upcoming high draft pick and space under the cap makes adding Weaver a priority.

Weaver sees the fit as a good opportunity to use what hes learned under Presti to begin to lead in the Pistons front office and to use his experience to right the ship.

I just felt like I looked at where the Pistons were at this time, trying to surge forward and become a competitive team again. Ive been in those situations, when I first went to Utah after (John) Stockton and (Karl) Malone, Utah was trying to restore their franchise and I was a part of that, Weaver said. My last 12 years in OKC, we just built it from the ground up. My skills and my talents and leadership and training Ive had with the Jazz and Thunder actually made this a great fit for myself and thank God the Pistons saw it the same way.

One of the primary tasks for Weaver in his first weeks will be assessing the roster and deciding which pieces to keep. That starts with stars Blake Griffin and Derrick Rose. Both have had injuries, but the mix of veterans and young players can be a benefit.

You have two veteran big-time players that are looking to restore their careers: Blake Griffin, who is a perennial All-Star, and Derrick Rose. Both guys have had some injury history and theyre looking forward to building their careers back, Weaver said. That stood out and were excited to get them healthy and help us moving forward.

The second piece is the young players on the roster: Sekou (Doumbouya), (Luke) Kennard, Bruce Brown and Svi (Mykhailiuk) and (Christian) Wood. We feel like we have a good mixture of young guys with those two staples to start there.

The Thunder lose one of their keystones in the front office, but Presti was gracious in congratulating Weaver.

Troy has been an integral member of our organization since 2008. Aside from being a terrific basketball executive, Troy's personal values of honesty, unity, and hard work make him a great addition to the Pistons organization.

The Pistons could not have found a better person to lead and direct their franchise.

Weaver will guide the Pistons day-to-day operations and one of his first orders of business will be assembling the remainder of his staff, which will include adding at least one new assistant general manager, after the departure of Malik Rose. The NBA announced Monday that Rose accepted a position as vice president of basketball operations in the league office.

The Pistons are one of eight teams whose season ended because of the COVID-19 pandemic and will not be part of the 22-team restart that is planned for late July in Florida.

They finished the season at 20-46 and will have a likely top-five draft pick and possibly $30 million in salary-cap space when the offseason hits in October.

Rod.Beard@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @detnewsRodBeard

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New Pistons GM Troy Weaver: 'This isnt a rebuild its a restoring' - The Detroit News

A U.K. man will be spending the next 12 months behind bars for care-taking a commercial cannabis grow that is estimated to be worth about a half-million pounds.

A judge recently sentenced Flavio Picaku after he pleaded guilty to producing a controlled Class B drug, according to ITV News.

The plan seemed solid: grow scads of weed plants, 608 in all, in The Commercial Hotel in Pontypridd, which is in the process of being renovated.

But the entrepreneur missed an important detail, namely the intense smell of weed generated by the grow in the four-storey hotel. Nosy neighbours noticed, prompting complaints and a subsequent visit by police on May 31, ITV News reports.

There they found Picaku who was living in the hotel sans permission from building owners in one of the seven rooms that filled with 608 cannabis plants. But first officers had to use their feet to break through a glass panel and gain access.

The man was arrested. The plants, 16 to 52 kilograms of weed worth an estimated 638,400 and hydroponic equipment were seized.

Picaku reported to police that he was unable to find work, having illegally emigrated to the U.K. / Photo: Twitter, South Wales Police/ Photo: Twitter, New South Wales Police

Picaku reported to police that he was unable to find work after illegally emigrating to the U.K. from Albania. He said he accepted an offer to feed and water the plants in the already established grow-op.

Picakus defence barrister described him as paid gardener in the illegal enterprise, according to ITV News. But the sentencing judge noted he must have known it was a commercial operation given the number of plants involved.

Want to keep up to date on whats happening in the world of cannabis? Subscribeto the Cannabis Post newsletter for weekly insights into the industry, what insiders will be talking about and content from across the Postmedia Network.

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A man who house-sat nearly 640,000 of weed in a hotel under renovation is going to jail - The GrowthOp

To woo research scholars from across the world, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom of Deoband is working on restoring over 1500 rare manuscripts, some as old as 800 years, placed in its 150-year-old library.

These manuscripts are on various topics such as Unani medicines, law, history, religion, culture and Sufism.

They are very rare. A few are perhaps so rare that one will not be able to find another copy of them anywhere in the world. They can be a treasure trove for research scholars, said librarian Mohammad Shafeeq Qasmi.

The collection includes more than 100 manuscripts on Sufism, a handwritten Quran by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, a huge Quran and a 750-year-old Manuscript written by author Imauddin Zakaria about animals, said Qasmi, who took the degree of Fazil from Darul Uloom before joining as librarian here in 2015.

He said the idea of restoration of these manuscripts came from seminarys deputy vice chancellor Maulana Abdul Khalik Madrasi.

These were our heritage and a treasure for research scholars who could serve the society and the religion by incorporating knowledge of our forefathers and great visionaries in their research work, Maulana Khalik had said while ordering the restoration process.

Shafeeq and Maulana Madrasi then visited the National Archives of India to seek their assistance in restoring the manuscripts.

It was followed by Shafeeq and three other members of the library attending a seminar on conservation and restoration in Jammu.

The seminary then approached the Iran Culture House in Delhi, which is considered as an expert on restoration of such manuscripts.

They agreed to extend help but we refused to accept their condition of taking one copy of the restored manuscripts, said Shafeeq.

Seminary then hired some professionals to speed up restoration work and till now 50,000 pages have been restored.

A dedicated team is engaged in the process of restoring 150 to 200 pages every day, said seminarys vice chancellor Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani.

Seminarys media incharge Ashraf Usmani said more than 300 manuscripts got damaged over the period of time and we are hopeful that all these valuable manuscripts would be available for research scholars after restoration.

There are many libraries across the world with great collection of books but they rarely match the unique collection of books that we have. Research scholars come here from different countries, including England, middle east countries and almost every nook and corner of India because they can get valuable references from our unique collection of books and manuscripts, said Usmani while hoping the restoration of manuscripts would indeed be a great help for such scholars.

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A treasure house of manuscripts, Darul Uloom busy restoring them - Hindustan Times

The total revenue was down 8% YoY to 1,354.8 crore during the period. The companys board has recommended a dividend of 0.30 per equity share.

This time along with the coronavirus crisis, the prolonged monsoons and floods in different states impacted decorative paints adding to woes of the paint maker. Yet, the stocks have ridden a wave of hope over in the last one month.

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According to Statista, Berger Paints owns a little over 12% of the paint market share in India.

Indias sanitiser market is expected to touch 500-crore mark this year all thanks to the coronavirus woes. In the times of new normal, paint companies are expecting a good demand for the health and hygiene ranges. Berger paints also introduced its antimicrobial powder coatings for usage in the medical industry to restrict the spread of infection as much as possible.

SEE ALSO: Asian Paints and Bergers earnings will show if people will risk renovators inside their homes until then its sanitisers to the rescue

Asian Paints shareholders had a fear that Goldman Sachs just confirmed Indians will not rush to do up their homesAdvertisement

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Berger Paints just put out the dullest quarter in a long time and that didn't include the worst of the lockd - Business Insider India

Tonight's (June 17) episode of 'Property Brothers: Forever Home' featured Bruce and Patricia. Their lives were turned upside down a year ago by a tragic event, the passing of their brother. This incident changed everything for them overnight as they decided to adopt their late brother's children - Mary and John. Their house was a good enough space for them and their son Logan and they now wanted it to be functional enough for a family of five. Jonathan and Drew Scott were tasked with giving this couple with a big heart, a home renovation of their dreams.

The house had three bedrooms before the renovations - the master bedroom for the couple with a crib for their adopted son John, a room for their adopted daughter Mary and their son Logan's room. The basement housed Patricia's "lady lounge" where she retreated for her "me time". The kitchen was a good size but the couple wanted a space wherein all of them could sit and dine together, an island kind of a setting was what they wanted. The kitchen was also closed off from the rest of the house and the couple wanted it to change since they now had very young kids in the house. They also wanted wide plank flooring, a feature wall, two-tone cabinets in the kitchen, a nursery for their son John along with a family-sized island in the kitchen, and an open-space plan across the house.

The couples had a total of $155,000 spared for this renovation and Jonathan and Andrew immediately set out to work. Apart from ticking all the requirements off the couple's wishlist, they added a few more touches to the house personalized to the family's needs. For eg they added a soccer stadium mural to Logan's bedroom and new wallpapers in the house. They also renovated their backyard deck and customized it in a way that all of the five members of the family along with their guests could gather without worrying about space. All of this was within the budget. Also seen making an appearance on this episode of 'Forever Home' was Jonathan and Drew's elder brother JD Scott. He was brought in specially to bond with Logan who was seemingly overwhelmed with a sudden change in his life that turned him into an elder brother, almost overnight.

'Property Brothers: Forever Home' airs Wednesday nights at 9 pm ET only on HGTV.

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'Property Brothers: Forever Home': Big-hearted couple Bruce and Patricia get a home renovation of their dreams - MEAWW

This time along with the coronavirus crisis, the prolonged monsoons and floods in different states impacted decorative paints adding to woes of the paint makers. Yet, the two stocks have ridden a wave of hope over in the last one month.

The green-zone volumes picked up in the first week after lockdown, but it shrank once pending work was completed, according to a dealer volume check by B&K Securities.

According to Statista, Asian Paints own about 38.87% of the paint market share in India, whereas Berger Paints own a little over 12%.

Advertisement

Indias sanitiser market is expected to touch 500-crore mark this year all thanks to the coronavirus woes. In the times of new normal, paint companies are expecting a good demand for the health and hygiene ranges. Berger paints also introduced its antimicrobial powder coatings for usage in the medical industry to restrict the spread of infection as much as possible.

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SEE ALSO: No layoffs, Asian Paints will give salary increments to boost employees morale

Asian Paints shareholders had a fear that Goldman Sachs just confirmed Indians will not rush to do up their homes

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Asian Paints and Bergers earnings will show if people will risk renovators inside their homes until then it - Business Insider India

She has been staying with her parents for more than two months after renovation work at her flat was suspended.

This was after the circuit breaker was imposed on April 7.

Thousands of home renovations have also stalled until recently, affecting home owners such as Ms Alisya Fatin, 24, a customer support officer.

But even as the country entered phase two, she is still stuck in limbo with no completion date in sight.

The Building and Construction Authority had said on June 13 that more than 19,000 suspended home renovation projects can now resume work. But it would depend on the availability of manpower and supplies.

Ms Alisya married Mr Muhd Fairuz, 29, on June 13, and they were supposed to move into their four-room resale flat in Pasir Ris in mid-June.

Renovation had started in mid-March, but now the flat is mostly empty, with only hacking work done and construction tools lying around.

Ms Alisya, who bought the flat for $400,000, said she spent another $25,000 on renovation, excluding the cost of furniture which she has yet to buy.

She said the contractor company she engaged has been trying to get its workers back from Malaysia but they were unable to return to Singapore for work due to travel restrictions.

She said: "I am sad but there is nothing much I can do but wait. I kept asking when construction can continue again, but eventually I stopped because I didn't want to seem pushy or irritating."

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The couple has been staying with her parents in a five-room flat, together with three of her siblings aged 18 to 29.

She added: "I am disappointed but I know I am not the only one who is facing this. The silver lining is spending more time with my family."

Another frustrated home owner is a civil servant who wanted to be known only as Ms Png, 36. She was supposed to move into her five-room condominium in Serangoon in April.

Most of the project's construction workers are Malaysians who need to be approved for work.

The mother of two preschoolers said the wait has been almost three months, with no completion date in sight.

Ms Png , who has been staying at her in-laws' four-room Housing board flat, said: "It is inconvenient that my family of four is squeezed in a room and have to sleep on a mattress on the floor."

Mr Edward Seet, principal designer of Arche Interior, told TNP he has 20 affected clients whose renovations have been halted due to the circuit breaker.

Mr Seet, 34, said he could resume four of his suspended projects earlier this month but was limited to only about three workers a day.

He added that although the shortage in manpower has not led to price hikes yet, more potential stringent tests and measures implemented might affect the cost for renovation contractors. He said: "Renovation during this period is fraught with uncertainties. It is important to expect delays and keep an open mind on changes to work deliveries."

This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.

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New home owners still stuck in limbo, unclear when renovation works will be completed - AsiaOne

Nearly four in five homeowners admitted theyve noticed home improvement projects they need to take care of while in quarantine, according to new research.

Some 78% have discovered new projects to be completed, and the to-do list appears to be growing as the weeks go on.

The survey of 2,000 homeowners found the average respondent has six repairs or updates theyd like to make.

But not all the desired projects will get done in one go - since the average person would need 545 to complete their top three repairs.

Updated kitchen

The research found the most common updates homeowners are dreaming of include updated kitchen countertops and cabinets (65%) and smart home technology (63%).

Three in five (61%) think their lighting, switches and outlets need an upgrade (61%), while the same number think their bathroom fixtures could use a refresh, too.

However, making home improvements are not always trouble-free, especially when doing the updates yourself.

Of the respondents, 59% have attempted a repair or renovation on their own, in the past, and of those, nearly seven in ten confessed their projects never turned out how they imagined.

Renovation mishaps

Those with home improvement experience revealed the average repair has three things go wrong, with the most common mishap being incorrect assembly (51%).

Other home setbacks were buying the wrong pieces (49%), injuries to the respondent or someone else (42%) or the end result not looking as planned (36%).

One in ten of those confessed the finished project looked even worse than before the respondent started.

Here are the reasons why improvement projects pile up:

Not having the tools - 31%

I cant decide how to proceed - 19%

Two-thirds (65%) of respondents think their home lighting isnt how theyd like it, which could be frustrating as 78% think bad lighting can severely affect the mood of a room.

Highlighting issues

These are the main lighting issues:

Not enough lighting in space - 37%

Flickering or buzzing lights - 36%

Cannot find compatible lighting for space - 26%

Two in five respondents have dimmers to help control the lighting in their home. Respondents dont just want the perfect setting, they also care about being energy-efficient.

Four in five think its important to have energy-efficient LED bulbs in their homes, but many are at a loss when it comes to installation compatibility with LED bulbs and dimmers.

If ever unsure about lighting set-up or installation, consult with an electrician.

Bill Grande, senior director of product management for lighting company Leviton, who commissioned the study, said: As many of us are spending more time at home, it makes sense that we are looking to take on projects to improve the aesthetic, safety and functionality of our homes.

Now is the perfect time to make easy DIY upgrades to your lighting and lighting controls as these things truly determine the overall look and feel of your home.

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Here's what tops the home improvements wishlist - Morpeth Herald

I am unapologetically indoorsy. Photo: FORTEPAN/LENCSE ZOLTN

What are the effects of spending an entire season indoors, as most of us have done this year? I dont mean the psychological effects but the material ones. I wonder about the carpets that have gotten worn down from pacing. The couches that sag from cradling our butts all day. The expanded inventories of elastic-waist pants, house slippers, sweatshirts. Among other lessons learned, weve had a chance to become intensely familiar with what we like and dislike about our living spaces. Weve experienced every day what studies have confirmed: Plants, space, and sunlight make people happy, while extreme temperatures, loud noise, cramped conditions, and dim light make people unhappy. The pandemic has forced us to confront exactly how little control we have over our homes.

Thats the subject of Emily Anthess The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness. Along with domestic spaces, Anthes explores a range of buildings fancy offices, operating rooms, a housing development designed for adults with autism, a solitary-confinement unit in hopes of dissecting the effects of architecture and design on human behavior. I read it, in a perverse spirit, entirely outside, on a sunny patch of grass, without a single person within seeing or hearing distance. I am unapologetically indoorsy, writes the author in her introduction. Its not that I dont like nature; I think nature is lovely. Ive been camping several times and enjoyed it! Ha. Me and Emily Anthes, we could not be less alike.

The formula for popular social-science books is: cold open on a catchy anecdote, proceed to divulge personal interest in topic, pivot to argument about why topic is universal and not remotely what the reader expected, and then spend 240 pages on scenes of varying persuasiveness. Im usually out by page 30. I dont know if this is a fault of my attention span, the formula, the kind of author who is drawn to the formula, or constraints pushed by publishers eager to get the book on a best-seller list. In any case, my alarm bells tend to go off early.

In order to enjoy one of these books, you need to trust the authors ability to responsibly synthesize specialized knowledge that lies outside of her, and your, expertise. You need to know in your soul that the author is not the type of person to cite Wikipedia as a source or become enveloped in a plagiarism scandal one instant after you finish reading her book. I am glad to report that Anthes passes the trustworthy test. Her sources are respectable and diligently noted. My margins were covered with scribbled WTFs not because she was drawing deranged conclusions from misinterpreted studies but because the book contains piles of cool facts that are actually, from what I can tell, facts.

Those cool facts come fast and furious. The New York City subway, for example, is smothered in microbes associated with bare feet. Why? Anthes quotes a microbiologist on the topic: Every time you take a step, your heel comes up and then presses down, creating a small bellows of bottom-of-your-foot air squirting out into the surroundings. The scientist continues: Imagine millions of people running around down there. Puff puff puff puff puff every time they take a step, they put out a little puff of foot microbiology. Another WTF moment: Pillowcases and toilet-seat surfaces are apparently strikingly similar from a microbiological perspective. These are from a chapter on the billions of invisible roommates we cohabit with, from bacteria to fungi to dust motes to a zoos worth of wee invertebrates. In one scene, Anthes unscrews her showerhead and swabs the interior, then mails it off to a lab. The results come back a year later. Among other things, her showerhead contains an organism called RB41, which has been found in dog noses and paleolithic cave paintings, and a class of mycobacteria that can cause tuberculosis and leprosy when inhaled. Nothing to freak out about, the scientist who processed the swabs assures Anthes. Many of those could be totally nonpathogenic. Could be!Even the least germophobic reader will squirm at the descriptions of carpeting (disgusting a scientists term, not mine!) and basements (hotbeds of arthropod diversity). However, its less boring to stay home all day when you know that your house is a teeming jungle.

Hospitals are scarier. Design can alter patient outcomes in unnerving ways, suggesting that our fragile bodies are susceptible to environmental factors not just psychologically but on some mysterious mechanical level. Surgical patients with plants in their rooms have lower blood pressure and use less pain medication than patients in plant-free rooms. Patients in sunny rooms fare better than patients in shady rooms. In one study, patients treated in rooms with sound-absorbing tiles were significantly less likely to be readmitted within three months. When Florence Nightingale recommended sunlight and flowers for the infirm in 1859, she anticipated what would later become known as evidence-based design.

The books best chapter explores how neuroatypical people interact with their surroundings. Gallaudet University is a private college in Washington, D.C., that largely serves students who are deaf or hard of hearing. A group of academics and architects at the school outlined design features tuned to the needs of the students, including translucent and partial walls and rooms painted in soft blues and greens, which contrast with human-skin tones and make it easier to perceive gestures. Designers who worked on a housing development created for adults with autism made a slew of decisions that would probably appeal to people without autism too, pouring a layer of gypsum concrete between each floor to dampen the sound of footfall and cleverly installing shower temperature knobs opposite the showerhead, so residents didnt have to dart through a stream of frigid or boiling water in order to adjust it. (Can we standardize that?) In a 2015 study, researchers created a dental office designed to soothe children with autism, featuring dimmer lights, relaxing music, and calming images projected onto the ceiling. What happened next will not shock you: The changes were received warmly by neurotypical people, too.

A good chunk of the books material fits into the obvious category, but its always nice to see ones personal preferences ratified by data. A study of IT employees confirmed that face-to-face communication as opposed to, say, Slack was correlated with higher productivity and performance. (I believe workers required to use Slack should be paid extra for the sheer attentional burden of it.) Students who attend class in well-ventilated and well-maintained buildings perform better academically. A detention facility remodeled to include athletic facilities, a library, and classrooms saw the number of assaults drop by 50 percent.

But for every unsurprising conclusion, theres a curveball. Anthes visits a Louisiana professor who has developed a buoyant foundation that allows houses to float on top of floodwaters. The system requires no heavy equipment and can be installed inexpensively on an existing house by just two people. Rather than pour catastrophically into a home, the floodwater itself lifts residents to safety. But what would seem like a brilliant answer to Hurricane Katrina (and a future of similar disasters, worsened by climate change) is stymied by the federal government. Homeowners in high-risk areas are required to buy flood insurance, but amphibious structures like the floating foundations are not eligible for subsidized policies. When Anthes reaches out to FEMA, shes told that the technology is not as safe as simply moving to a higher elevation. Well, sure.

The Great Indoors isnt a self-help book, but our present context has layered it with some self-helpy applications. You cant necessarily drill a window into your wall or blast a skylight into your ceiling, but you can push your favorite chair closer to the window and find out whether being depressed in a pool of sunlight is better than being depressed in a veil of shadows. If you cant turn your bedroom into an anti-sensory cocoon, do it to your own body with a pair of earplugs and an eye mask. Pick a clump of roadside greenery next time you go outside (in your mask) and put it in a rinsed-out jar on the kitchen table. All those studies proving that plants cause joy? They dont specify that the plants should be exquisite. Gather ye weeds while ye may.

*A version of this article appears in the June 22, 2020, issue ofNew York Magazine. Subscribe Now!

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After Months Spent Inside, The Great Indoors Is Uncannily Relevant - Vulture

If you are fortunate enough to have a terrace, a porch or some backyard space, spending a lot of time at home can be a much nicer experience. But how you design that space makes all the difference.

A lot of times, youll see a beautiful garden with very organized furniture, which looks pretty, but when you actually go and sit, its out in the blazing sun, said Scott Shrader, a landscape designer in West Hollywood, Calif., and the author of The Art of Outdoor Living.

If you want an outdoor space where youll be comfortable lingering for hours, he said, you need to address some basic questions: Can you be protected from the sun? Can you put a drink down? Can you put your feet up?

In short, you need to think of it as another room in your home an outdoor room and furnish it accordingly.

We asked landscape and interior designers for practical advice on how to do that.

An outdoor room wont serve any function particularly well if it tries to do everything, so start with an honest assessment of how you plan to use the space.

You want to ask yourself, first and foremost, What are we going do there? said Charlotte Moss, a New York-based designer and a passionate gardener.

If the terrace will be a place for alfresco dining, youll need chairs that will allow people to sit upright and a table high enough to eat at a very different arrangement of furniture than a space for casual lounging, where sofas and low tables may be more appropriate.

Or maybe its just a space for hiding from everyone, Ms. Moss said, which would require greater privacy and perhaps just a single chaise longue.

If your outdoor space is large, planning several different seating arrangements can accommodate multiple functions.

When youre trying to decide on the style of an outdoor room, look to your homes interior-design scheme, Mr. Shrader said, to reinforce the connection between indoors and out.

I always start inside the house and work my way out, he said, with the goal of achieving an effortless flow from inside to outside.

In his West Hollywood home, he said, the indoor floors are antiqued oak, so he installed chiseled stone pavers on the terrace outside, for a similar sense of age. I try to blend the materials and make them all uniform so that you dont have anything super jarring, and its all very harmonious, he said.

Your interior-design scheme can also inform material and color choices for outdoor furniture, accessories and even plantings, said Keith Williams, a partner at the Palm Beach-based landscape-architecture firm Nievera Williams and the author of The Graphic Garden.

For instance, he said, if the house has soft, pale colors, well tend to pick that up in the landscaping through the choice of outdoor fabrics and flowers.

Demarcate the area of the outdoor room and make it feel like a destination that stands apart from the rest of the terrace or yard by changing the flooring material where the furniture will be placed.

For an outdoor dining table by a pool in Palm Beach, for instance, Mr. Williams designed an area where the ground looks almost like carpet, with crisscrossing lines of black pebbles and diamond-shaped patches of synthetic grass.

Wesley Moon, a New York-based interior designer, rolled out an actual carpet at his apartment on Fire Island an indoor-outdoor rug from Dash & Albert. It gives that softness that really makes it feel like a room, he said, noting that it is surprisingly easy to keep clean. You just vacuum it like a normal rug.

A section of wood decking could also be used to underpin a seating area, Mr. Moon noted, within a large expanse of pavers.

Ms. Moss, inspired by the gardens at Colonial Williamsburg, in Virginia, used crushed oyster shells for the floor of the outdoor dining area in her garden in East Hampton, N.Y. Mr. Shrader sometimes uses an area of pea gravel.

If there is no roof or overhang above your outdoor space, you can at least create the impression of a ceiling, Mr. Shrader said, both for the intimacy a sense of enclosure provides and for protection from the sun.

Everybody feels most comfortable when theyre tucked under something, he said.

Putting a seating area beneath the canopy of a tree is one of his favorite techniques. Often, I talk about trees as my outdoor ceilings, he said.

In the absence of a tree, Mr. Shrader will sometimes add a trellis over a seating arrangement, which he might cover with willow or bamboo. An umbrella would also work, he said, although it wont be as sturdy or durable.

Its also possible to add a sense of privacy by introducing tall plantings around the perimeter of an outdoor room. Its not a physical wall, but more of a visual separation that says, Something is happening here, Ms. Moss said. It could even be a 3-foot hedge that defines the space.

For her dining space in East Hampton, Ms. Moss installed a ceiling of hickory branches above walls of clipped hornbeams.

On a terrace or balcony, tall planters filled with leafy or flowering plants could be used to similar effect.

Many successful outdoor rooms have nearly as much furniture, and as many accessories, as indoor rooms.

I try really hard to make the outdoors just as comfortable and chic as the indoors, Mr. Moon said, so people really want to spend time out there.

That means plenty of comfortable seating, often with cushions upholstered in outdoor fabric (typically solution-dyed acrylic for durability). It also means having enough tables to hold drinks, snacks, phones and books. Add outdoor throw pillows in the same way you would use indoor pillows in the living room, Mr. Moon said, and keep throws handy for cool evenings.

In an outdoor room on a Manhattan terrace, Mr. Moon used low-slung, armless chairs from Dedon with throw pillows in various shapes, sizes and fabrics, as well as a group of small teak-and-stone tables that could be pushed together as a coffee table or pulled apart as side tables.

If your outdoor room will serve as a dining space, Mr. Shrader said, You really need to think about it like youre in an indoor dining room and hosting Thanksgiving dinner.

Consider the maximum number of guests youre likely to entertain and make sure you have an appropriately sized table and enough chairs, he advised. Then think about how you will serve meals.

A strategically placed buffet or console table can hold platters during dinners or function as a bar for cocktail parties, he said. After guests leave, that same piece of furniture can serve as a pedestal for potted plants and decorative objects.

Finish the space with vases, bowls and candleholders, which can be changed and rearranged over time. If the outdoor room is next to an exterior wall, consider adding mirrors, pieces of sculpture or wall-mounted planters.

Lighting is an important functional consideration without it, you might not be able to find your drink after dark but it can also provide a significant boost to nighttime ambience.

Some methods of adding light are simpler than others. You can hang a candle chandelier from a tree branch or have lanterns with candles, Ms. Moss said. Its very romantic.

Plug-in string lights and portable LED-based candles and lanterns are other easy options for adding light that dont require hiring an electrician.

If you want something more permanent, decorative pendant lamps can be suspended from pergolas, and sconces can be installed on nearby walls.

For a more dramatic look, Mr. Shrader and Mr. Williams frequently use low-voltage landscape lighting that is barely visible during the day, including small lights hidden in trees and mixed into plantings, and pin lights tucked into pergolas.

Whether you choose portable lamps, hard-wired decorative fixtures or landscape lighting or a mix of all three Mr. Shrader said he always prefers outdoor lights with a warm-white color temperature of about 2,700 Kelvin.

However you illuminate your outdoor room, adding light is crucial to extending the hours you can use the space, Mr. Williams said. Otherwise, it all goes away after the sun sets.

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How to Create an Outdoor Room - The New York Times