Project Design show house benefits Ronald McDonald House

Project Design 2013 isn't your typical decorator's show house. For one, its New Hyde Park rooms are open to the design-loving public for four days only, atypical of the usual months-long events. Often, decorator's show houses are in luxury homes for sale for seven figures.

This one opens Friday at Ronald McDonald House of Long Island, a temporary shelter for sick children and their families. Usually the children are receiving medical treatment nearby and need a place to stay with their parents.

"You see how much this house is appreciated and how it becomes a home away from home," says Anthony Baratta, creative director and the original designer of the home that about 1,000 families stay in each year.

Eighteen bedrooms in the 42-bedroom house, as well as a kitchen, breakfast room, five common areas, first-floor bathrooms and three laundry rooms, got a makeover by stars in the design industry.

Here's a peek inside.

The house has always had a Mets room, complete with a comfortable space for kids to watch a baseball game, but nothing like the one created by Manhattan designer Matthew Patrick Smyth. The orange and blue pops with lots of white -- wainscoting, picture frames, tables and chairs. Whimsical details abound, from wainscoting incorporating the design of a baseball diamond to the team's logo patches tastefully woven into the design.

Long Island's own Stephen Fanuka, star of the DIY Network's "Million Dollar Contractor," collaborated with Manhattan designer Eric Cohler on a Moroccan-themed bedroom. Fanuka's hand-carved wooden headboards -- the shapes of which are inspired by the kingdom's arabesque rooftops -- are built into one wall of the room.

Manhattan designer Bunny Williams tackled the playroom, creating a magical, mystical space where children can watch TV, play video games, raid the dress-up closet, make art and just hang out. The peach walls and light blue curtains are serene against the brightly colored beanbag chairs, carpet, storage bins and handcrafted mural.

Manhattan designer Jon Call says his bedroom is meant to embrace the families who stay there, from the charcoal walls to the indigo sofa. He says he used dark colors to help create a "cocooning" effect.

Geometric patterns combine with herringbone and stripes to create the light blue bedroom by Port Washington's Anne Tarasoff Interiors. Despite the hodgepodge, the result is peaceful, which most of the designers say they tried to achieve for the families that stay there.