"We've developed a concept to use vertical height," Lebensburger explained.

A cantilever frame will allow the stores to stack sofas or dressers, and a "Hollywood Squares" style fixture will put nightstands high off the floor.

Ashley hasn't announced a name for the new chain yet, but the first prototype has opened in 3,800 square feet of space in a mall in Pottstown, Pa.

First-time buyers rushed to complete deals before the $8,000 government incentive was due to end, pushing sales up 28 percent in the three months to November. The subsequent extension and expansion of the credit to include closings through June signal demand will strengthen in the first half of 2010, while raising the risk the market will then slow anew should jobs remain scarce.

"We'll see a pickup in existing home sales in the next couple of months,” said Adam York, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, who forecast a 5.4 million sales pace. Although "we're past the bottom," he said, "I don't think there's going to be a lot of buyers out there looking for a home outside of the tax-induced effects until they feel more comfortable with the labor market."

The increase was the fourth in six months, as buyers take advantage of falling prices. It appears new-home sales reached a bottom in January, at a level of 329,000, and that the market is beginning to recover slowly. The level of 384,000 in June was the highest since 390,000 last November.

Home construction unexpectedly rose in June, the government said July 17. Housing starts increased 3.6% to a seasonally adjusted 582,000 annual rate compared to the prior month. The starts data also showed building permits surged, and single-family starts made their biggest climb in four years.

May new-home sales rose 2.4% to an annual rate to 346,000, Monday's data showed. Originally, the government said May sales fell, sliding 0.6% to 342,000. April sales climbed 1.8%.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast home resales to slip to a 4.70 million-unit pace from a revised 4.71 million for February, which was initially reported as 4.72 million.

The inventory of existing homes for sale fell to 3.74 million from the 3.80 million overstock reported for February. The median national home price rose 4.2 percent to $175,200 from February, boosted by seasonal factors. However, prices fell 12.4 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

The two-story, 7,300-square-foot (700 square meters) English manor-style personal residence was built in 1929 and purchased by Hefner in 1998.

It has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a library and commons for staff. Some of the walls are hand-painted, and there is a hand-carved staircase.

The home sits on 2.3 acres (one hectare), borders the Los Angeles Country Club and has a pool.

Second kitchens tend to fall into three categories: those still-rare high-end restaurant-style kitchens for personal chefs and caterers, lower-cost functional kitchens for home cooking too messy or smoky for the luxury show kitchen seen by guests, and small auxiliary kitchens used primarily for religious holidays or for entertaining.

"This is the new thing," says John Kean, a luxury home builder based in Cold Spring Harbor. "We really didn't get much call for it until the last few years."

His clients want restaurant-style kitchens in their huge vacation homes in the Hamptons, Palm Beach, Fla., and Vail, Colo., for their personal chefs and caterers to use. "Now we're starting to see it more on the North Shore of Long Island," he adds. "Some clients suggest it to us, and others, a light bulb goes off in their heads when we suggest it to them."

Shawn Elliott, broker-owner of Woodbury-based Shawn Elliott Luxury Homes, says big elaborate butler's pantries (which may have every appliance but a stove) and separate kitchens become more common the closer the home's value is to $5 million-plus. But in any case, whether and how it's done depends on local rules and regulations.

"The plans have to be approved; there's no hiding a second kitchen," he says. "But it definitely can be done. Where there's a will, there's a way."

Local builders say many of the homeowners opting for a basement or underground garage are transplanted Northerners accustomed to having a subterranean space.

"As land gets more expensive, you have to either give things up or try to find a different way," Mr. Moore said.

"It costs less to put part of your house underground than by buying another lot."

That's why Ed Abraham started putting underground garages in all his company's residential projects three years ago.

It adds about 10 percent to the cost, so a $400,000 house costs closer to $440,000.

"It gives them the ability to have at least a five-car garage," said Mr. Abraham, president of Park Cities Custom Builders. "All my houses have five-car garages; some have six. Plus, it gives them room in the basement to do like a media room."

"In the homes of the future, it's all going to be about technology," says Gopal Ahluwalia of the National Association of Home Builders in Washington, D.C.

He stresses that high-tech items mostly are being installed in upscale housing today. While the buyer of an average-size house doesn't want to spend more than 3 percent to 4 percent of the purchase price on technology, purchasers of million-dollar homes don't worry about tech costs, Ahluwalia says.

House size is a determining factor. "In a small house, there's no room for a separate media room with a 64-inch TV," he says.

One reason for the increased popularity of technology in the future will be its acceptance by younger homeowners -- Generations X and Y, born after 1965, Ahluwalia says. They are more at ease with technology and have more use for it, he says.

Irrespective of age, today's luxury homebuyers, seem to share pretty similar tastes. Kitchens are loaded with cabinets, granite countertops, Sub Zero refrigeration systems and other top-end appliances, in addition to butler's pantries. Such pantries are used to stack dirty dishes during dinner parties, store silverware and china and provide a bit of extra, concealed room for food preparation and clean-up. In today's luxury homes, main floors include offices or family computer rooms. Three- or even four-car garages are becoming increasingly common.

"Bonus rooms are also very popular," says Beckman. "It's the space over the garage where a room is built. They're often used as an extra playroom, an office, or home theater."

Hardwood floors are still "definitely what's happening," according to Beckman. Laundry rooms are back in vogue, while louvered doors in front of a washer and dry are out.