Nest Featherings is a fitting name for the mid- to high-end retail store providing fine furniture and interior design options to feather the nests of Las Vegas area homeowners.

Last month, Nest Featherings owner LaRayn Sorenson was overseeing renovations of her 40,000-sq.-ft., two-story freestanding store in preparation for her showroom's reopening event this month. Fresh paint and carpet will set the scene in vignettes displaying products of more than 300 vendors.

Sophisticated vignettes display the breadth of product available at Nest Featherings, which is positioned at the high end of the market.

Shoppers interested in the Lexington Home Brands' Tommy Bahama Collection can also find more tropically inspired selections by venturing into the store's 2,000-sq.-ft. patio furniture section. There, they will find high-end outdoor furniture offerings from the likes of Brown Jordan, Summer Classics, Woodard and Weather Master by Laneventure.

Patio furniture sells best in the spring and fall, Sorenson said. Gazebos from Laneventure have proven popular, allowing homeowners to create outdoor living spaces.

From late June until the July 4th holiday, her store advertisements in the Las Vegas newspaper and radio focused on support for U.S. troops. A more effective marketing effort involved 30,000 product-related postcards sent to all local homes valued at $500,000 or more, Sorenson said.

Through the 26 years since she opened her first 1,000-sq.-ft. store in 1980, offering design service as well as carpet and wallpaper, Sorenson has seen her customers move away from traditional styles toward more transitional and "a little more contemporary."

The store gradually grew and moved to different locations until 1995 when she had the current store built. "Having our own building made a big difference," she said.

Surrounded by other businesses that support home building, the store draws homeowners from new developments of homes valued at $1 million and up around Las Vegas, including Red Rock, Queens Ridge, McDonald Highlands, Summerlin and as far as Lake Las Vegas.

One unusual service that keeps customers coming back involves offering custom high-end botanicals and a having a full-time floral designer on staff. The designer also provides help with selecting silk trees from such manufacturers as Aldik and Lincoln.

When asked whether she has shopped the one-year-old Las Vegas World Market, Sorenson said, "I buy some of the showrooms but I've never been to the Las Vegas market. My favorite market has always been North Carolina, but I haven't been lately because all the sales reps come to me."

In addition to having a private audience with sales reps showing new products, she finds staying in her store a successful way to review new product because it allows more time to make product decisions.

Recognizing new challenges present themselves constantly, Sorenson appreciates the ongoing efforts of her 24 employees, which include her three daughters and warehouse staff. Her two sons operate a nearby painting and drywall company. Nest Featherings' six designers visit homes of customers to measure areas and recommend colors and styles.

"We work hard to find good people and keep them," Sorenson said. In addition to employment issues in a tight local market, she feels challenged by getting the right Web site design to show off what customers can expect to find at Nest Featherings. That could be something her grandchildren will have to master, she acknowledged with a laugh.

"I used to think I was going to learn it all and then the problems would stop," she said. There are now challenges every day.