STYLE: HOME DESIGN : Rooms With A Point of View : One white room. Six distinctive furniture stores. Two hours to furnish it.

White walls, an eight-foot ceiling, a window, a fireplace and no discernible style. Where do you start?

Get help.

With carefully edited stock that includes everything from sofas and beds to pillows and teacups, an increasing number of stores are transforming the task of furnishing a room into one-stop shopping. By offering in-house decorating advice, they help customers sidestep the services of a professional interior designer, thereby saving them the traditional decorator markups. And because wares are often on-hand collectibles rather than manufactured items, instant decorating gratification is possible--no more waiting six months for the Italian leather sofas to hit the dock.

So, we invited six owners whose stores epitomize distinctive design styles to have their way with a simple white room--in two hours. What we learned is that in today’s global village, there are no hard and fast decorating rules. Interesting “stuff” adds character and charm. Country has become more sophisticated and less kitschy. Modernist looks feature more round corners than hard-edged ones. Furniture no longer hugs the walls but floats, while houseplants are making a comeback to fill empty corners (kinder to pocketbooks than an extra chair). Everyone is warming up rooms with color (we didn’t allow stores to paint walls--but imagine the possibilities!), sensual fabrics and more furniture and accessories than in the past. It seems the demanding perfectionism of ‘80s home decor is finally past; comfort and things we love now take priority. What a relief.

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The following is a sampling of items and prices from “Home Design: Rooms With a Point of View.”

Hemisphere, pages 32-33: Caucasus Mountains kilim hanging at left, $3,000; reproduction Monterey chair, $2,100; Peruvian corner cabinet, $2,300; wrought-iron floor lamp, $900; hand-carved mirror over fireplace, $1,000; iron candlesticks, $35 each; Moroccan vase on cabinet, $55; mosaic jar, $360; antique andirons, $1,200; Bernard Colin hand-forged coffee table, $1,100; Zambian basket, $85; small Moroccan pot, $15; Afghan-Uzbek weaving (hanging at right), $2,800; pillows, $45 to $700; South American leather box, $150, and trunk, $650; iron gate window table, $475; Tibetan singing bowl, $140; assorted rugs and weavings on floor, $350 to $2,000.

Buddy’s, page 34: 1910s Arts & Crafts corner cabinet, $1,450; 1940s ceramic cowboy bookends, $325; Charles Stickley upholstered settee, $5,500; Lifetime Furniture bookcase, $4,800; Spanish Colonial Revival bronze floor lamps, $9,500 a pair; L. & J. G. Stickley high-back rocker, $3,850; 1920s monumental Art Deco floor vase, $9,500; Philena Lang oil paintings, $1,500 and $1,800; 1920s dragon fireplace set, $5,500; Gustav Stickley “Morris” chair, $7,500; Stickley Brothers table, $1,250; 1910s Duffner & Kimberley stained-glass lamp, $3,800; 1930s toy steam engine, $950; Roseville, Weller and Bauer pottery, $95 and up; 1920s Navajo rugs, $350 to $650.

Modernica, page 35: reproduction of Florence Knoll love seat, $1,550; Franc Novak contemporary four-panel screen, $2,000; new Art Deco-style aluminum torchieres, $495 each; globes from 1935 to 1972, $45 to $575; 1950s ball clock, $225; new-issue Kem Weber Air Line chair, $2,750; Vladimir Kagan triangular table, $750; 1970s JVC Videosphere TV, $375; 1970s geometric area rug, $750; Bruno Mathsson bent laminate lounge, $1,950; 1950s wool area rug, $275; reproduction Isamu Noguchi coffee table, $595; Bauer bowl, $27; blue fish vase, $135.

Dialogica, page 36: Rugby maple floor lamp at rear, $1,750; Tyles maple bookshelf units, $4,000; multicolored glass plates, $195 each; cotton velvet chaise lounge, $3,600; assorted pillows, $150 to $210; Quilt maple desk, $1,800; Orata maple armchair, $955; Bali cotton velvet ottoman/coffee table, $2,950; Dream Screen of carved maple and rush frame, $3,500; Cerchio wool area rug, $2,400; Oom cotton velvet lounge chair, $2,090. Company, page 37: slipcovered sofa, $2,500; vintage sofa throw pillows, $75 to $245; late 19th-Century oil painting, $3,500; antique Chinese wall hangings, $500 a pair; antique French door screen, $500; paisley throw, $375; oil paintings on screen, $85; Italian urn, $145; leopard chair, $950; faux-leopard ottoman, $255; tramp art ottoman, $250; vintage walking sticks, $45; chandelier, $495; vintage telephone, $125; Stark wool area rug, $1,600; 1920s iron-stand coffee table, $375.

The Blue House, pages 38-39: Irish pine dresser, $8,600; assorted Wedgwood Fallow Deer china, $90 to $450; 1860s original lithographs, $400 each; 1870s hayloft ladder, $700; mohair throw, $200; English pine case clock, $5,800; mid-19th Century candlestick holders, $500 to $900 a pair; 1860s Irish shutters, $1,200; English oil paintings, $2,600 each; antique Chinese urn lamp, $750; pillow shams pinned onto back of sofa, $130 each; cane travel trunk, $680; 1860s “Transfer Ware” foot bath, $5,300; Orkney Islands chair with rush back, $1,600; needlepoint area rug, $1,200, from Aga John Oriental Rugs, Los Angeles.