Press

 

 

 

 

* Incorporate personal style. Try to make rooms reflect you, whether that means warm tones and plush upholstery or stark lines and spare features.

 

* Work out arrangements. Define the functions of different parts of the room. Once you know that, it's easy to figure out where your furniture and accessories belong.

 

* Work with light. Kitchens and baths want bright "task" lighting, while in bedrooms and dining areas need softer, more romantic lighting.

 

* Embrace color and texture. Look to nature for inspiration. Think of some of the colors you liked on recent vacations and reproduce them.

 

* Find the devil in the details. The heart of speed decorating is using art and accessories to give your home uniqueness and attraction.

 

What it costs

A consultation with Vegas costs $500 to start. Often, that's all the homeowners need. Others do the actual work themselves but have Vegas consult, paying $2,000 to $6,000 for those services.

 

A job like she did for the Micauds, where Jill and her team did all the work, can cost from $5,000 to $25,000.

 

Micaud thinks he'll make back the money he spent when he sells his home.

 

He might. The results of the redecorating, which took a couple of weeks, mostly to prep and paint, were dramatic. The tone and feeling of the loft had changed -- for the better. The lighting was more stylish. The kitchen had become a sleekly seductive asset rather than a liability.

 

The foyer area looks so much better with a curvy modern table replacing the old tired sofa. The look is completed with a tall vase of flowers reflecting in an ornately framed mirror.

 

The living room seems larger and more welcoming even as it retains its simplicity of cool lines and minimal clutter.

 

The loft is now being marketed through Sotheby's International Realty with a price tag of $1.895 million.

 

Micaud might not get that much in today's down market, but he now has a much better chance.