Not to mention that of others. Though that first Christmas makeover was a hit with the family as well as Sister Parish, the Travoltas eventually tired of living in all white and brought in an expert, Christopher B. Boshears, to help turn their hotel-size house into even more of a home. “It's one thing for the Rockefellers or Vanderbilts to dive into a project like this,” says the man who pulls twenty million dollars a picture, “but quite another for your…,” the actor pauses and then laughs, “your average rich person.” “They couldn't quite put their finger on what they wanted, but when I showed up with lots of color, they went nuts,” remembers Boshears.

“We presented Chris with pictures torn from books, fabrics, tables we loved, and left it to him to make it a reality,” says Preston, whose film credits include Jerry Maguire and whose next movie, For the Love of the Game, will be released this summer.

Boshears, for his part, credits his famous clients with being “trusting and very easy to communicate with.” He describes Travolta as “passionate.” “He gets an idea and says, 'This is what I want it to feel like.' Then I interpret it. If they have the time, which they usually don't, they like to be involved. But often I get a call from their office, and it's, 'Let's do it.'”

One such instance came ten days before Christmas. “John called me up and said, “I've been thinking about the reception hall,' which at the time had only a billiard table in it. He said, 'We have this huge room, I want to be able to eat in there, have drinks, seat at least sixteen people.' So, in ten days, I designed sofas, club chairs – antiqued from here to Maine. Thank God for Federal Express. When John wants something, nothing gets in the way. The day he arrived in Maine, everything was in place.”

"What we wanted was a feeling of complete comfort and warmth, for it not to seem like a really large home," says Preston, who, having grown up in Hawaii in a "typical American home," thought she would never be able to live in a house of that size. "I thought it would be too cold or I'd feel dwarfed," she says. "Well, I've gotten rid of that idea." (The Travoltas also have residences in Los Angeles, Hawaii and Florida.)