Fresh from remaking a historic downtown hotel, design experts dish tips for sprucing up your own homeLast month, historic downtown hotel the El Cortez invited four Nevada design teams to each make over an outdated suite with a $20,000 budget. The results were spectacular, ranging from Urban Design Studio's mob-themed "The Big Sleep" (complete with pinstriped carpet and bullet casings in a dish), to Worth Group's "Rec Room" (boasting vintage cocktail bar and a classic black-and-white wall photo of '50s-era El Cortez).

How one neighborhood got fired up, cleaned up andpowered up to become a tight-knit community - and how yours can do the same Sick of the perpetual garage sale or auto repair business going on at the house next door? Irked by the graffiti and dead lawns left on your street by the foreclosure crisis? You'll find inspiration in the story of the John S. Park neighborhood, to the south and east of Charleston and Las Vegas boulevards.

In a city mired in musicals, a new uprising of playwrights and actors is shocking! thrilling! inspiring! the theater sceneDimly lit bars, backyards in seedy neighborhoods, junkyards and living rooms - these unlikely spaces are fertile ground for a new wave of local theater talent. This isn't some fresh-faced thespian community, either.

This spring, the sumptuous '70's make a comeback -- this time with a modern touch A playful print gives a cheeky bent to a game of "Strangers at a Hotel." Nanette Lepore Boss-Zilla blouse in blush multi, $248 Nanette Lepore playing skirt in white, $298 Available at Nanette Lepore at Crystals in CityCenter [left] Pair bold patterns and bright colors with a dark solid suit, and you're set - and a little mobsterish in the best of ways.

Who will bring eco-friendly living to the masses? This guy with the $20 power bill might be the oneRick Van Diepen wanted to become an architect since he was 5. "I liked drawing, so I thought architecture would be a cool job," he explains.

I know things are tough, Vegas, and I know that most of the resolutions you made a couple of months ago have gone out the window. I know you took a long hard look in the mirror, told yourself it was going to be different, it was time to make a change, you really meant it this time, and now you're pretty much back to doing what you've always done.

It sounds like a title out of a David Foster Wallace novel. In 2008, Michele Diener was hired as MGM International's Director of Corporate Sustainability Strategies.

Ever wanted to take a peek behind the curtains of your developer's, designer's or decorator's home? With their magic, they turn the mushy domestic visions of the masses into art you can live in. What's it like when they unleash that power on their own dwellings? Stunning.

One of the valley's hottest design stores isn't a store. It's the colorful Roberto Leyva's seductive Living PenthouseWith all the seriousness in the world, Roberto Leyva says he could absolutely die the next time he walks into a $10 million house where the owners have spent only $50,000 on furnishings.

Habitat for Humanity's ultra-efficient new homes save families money - and may spark a new wave of green housing for allHabitat for Humanity helps put budget-strapped families into affordable homes - but that dream can suffer a few dents when those families later face $500 power bills in the notoriously hot Vegas summers.But now Habitat, a nonprofit that sells homes at-cost to families earning less than 80 percent of area median income, plans to help families save even more - with an ultra-sustainable house.