The Lisa Haas Design and Paint team beautifies homes with exuberance.

Wood beams in the kitchen sport distressed finishes. An acrylic painting of an anatomical woman with wings, modeled after Nirvana’s In Utero cover, covers the door of a bedroom. A closet appears to be layered in copies of Soviet-era Russian newspapers, but it’s a painted pattern. And in Lisa Haas’ garage workshop, sample stencil patterns appear on boards propped up against each other – floral, tribal, and geometric. Hanging above a paint-stained table used to measure and cut those stencils is a chandelier made largely with Barbie-like dolls in bright clothing, a glowing pink mothership of plastic body parts.

In short, Haas’ penchant for decorating can be seen in every corner of her Monterey home. Soon she’s pointing out current projects for her Lisa Haas Design and Paint, like a 10-foot trompe l’oeil style mural of a lake.

“Everyday’s a new challenge,” Haas says, and it’s worth it to make someone’s room or home more beautiful.”

That includes massive gated community homes, small rural cottages and restaurants like Old Fisherman’s Grotto. She has also directed decoration for events like Big Sur Food & Wine, stringing strands of corks between trees and stenciling hogs on signs. When now-defunct Alternative Cafe rotated art shows at its location in Seaside, she masterminded the patterns on the walls that helped set off the framed works.

“I see potential everywhere,” she says.

On a recent afternoon at an upscale Pasadera home, Haas works with Maryia Hryharenka and Kali Rock on a Spanish-style pattern on a hallway wall. They chat while adding a layer of darker paint on a previously hand-painted pattern. The three perform ladder acrobatics, balancing on edges of steps and stretching on two ladders at a time to get the perfect angle.

Haas points out a spot of paint overlapping blue painter’s tape.

“I’d say I’m responsible for most of the mistakes,” Rock says. “Lisa teaches you to be a perfectionist.”

She also teaches a range of skills.

“There’s no repetitive routine,” Haas says. “On any day we could be doing free-hand painting, stenciling, or portraits. There could be several styles we do within the same property.”

Then there’s the style with which they do the work. Once in awhile they sport Bernie Sanders boxer-briefs (with his mug on the rear), frequently they blast a boombox while Haas and her two painting proteges groove in a hallway. Workplace slang such as “wetwags” (a wet rag) and “chiqadeas” (a small design) flies around, and can seem cryptic to the untrained ear.

“We should have our own dictionary by now,” Rock jokes.

“We have to make the best of [the job],” Haas says. “Because what we do is hard work.” The youthful exuberance is part of that plan.

“Young people are full of energy,” she adds. “And most importantly, they’re excited to learn.”

Haas hired Kevin Short when he was just 18, back when she founded her business in 2001. Fifteen years later, Short, now a painting contractor, remains a close colleague. Along with three other painting contractors, he’s responsible for preparation and clean up.

“I learned to paint with Lisa,” Short says. “It’s been quite a journey.”

As it turns out, most of Haas’s employees have grown in their craft alongside her business. Hryharenka is a long-time family friend who Haas thinks of as a daughter, and Rock’s parents were former clients of Haas who became friends.

Haas builds on client’s visions by providing consultation on everything from interior colors to exterior fencing and doors. She fields requests for painted figures like a calming koi pond in an office or a pirate’s skull for a child’s room.

“We take time in considering components clients want,” Haas says. “It allows us to transform their spaces while building relationships.”

Haas, Hryharenka and Rock collect their pasta sauce jars filled with mixed paints and take them to Haas’s slick pine-green work van. Inside the vehicle is a stockroom of paints, brushes, tarps, and other tools.

Hryharenka takes a seat on the passenger side and kicks her feet up on the dashboard. They’ve been working since morning and now the sun is setting. The artists commend each other for the productive day and make plans to meet again tomorrow.

“I’ve been doing this for a very long time,” Haas says. “And it’s still so fulfilling. Decorating will always be my biggest passion.”

LISA HAAS DESIGN AND PAINT, 21 Pinehill Way, Monterey. 595-2819, www.lisahaasdesign.com