Funny, if you live with something long enough, you no longer notice it (family members excluded). You may have heard the saga about my coffee table–I inserted a second-hand placeholder until I could find the perfect one: large enough for scrabble and jigsaw puzzles, casual enough to plop your feet on and preferably in a pale, rustic wood. Sounds simple, right? Ha! Seven years later, the vaguely colonial trestle table was still ensconced in my living room.

Then, one happy day, I saw MY table in a magazine. I ripped out the page and sent it off to Chantal, interior designer and owner of Total Design Source in Old Saybrook. She found it (or an extremely reasonable fascimile) plus a few side tables to complement, in a flash and at a decent price. She’s got great taste and brings expertise, not ego, to the project.