Q: I feel like a '50s wife out of TV's "Mad Men" who's afraid for her husband to bring his boss home to dinner. I know where the knives and forks go, but after growing up a latchkey kid, the idea of setting a pretty and proper dinner table still scares me!

A: Relax. The rest of the world already has when it comes to dining tables. Your fears sound similar to a hangover from the gadget-mad Victorians, who delighted in complicating the art of eating. They devised "proper" tools for everything, from grape scissors to oyster forks and finger bowls, and adored piling them up like an obstacle course on the table.

By contrast, today's dining table is all about elegant simplicity — all you need are a crisp tablecloth, beautiful dishes and flatware, and maybe a few flowers in a good-looking vase.

Here's an inviting case-in-point: The pictured dining room in the penthouse that designer Elsa Peretti calls home in Rome. We borrowed the photo from a sumptuous new book, "Tiffany Style," by John Loring (Harry N. Abrams Inc.).

You may recognize Peretti's signature crystal pieces on this table, including the "thumb print" bowls from her collections for Tiffany. The porcelain plates were inspired by another designer, artist Claude Monet, who famously overflowed his kitchen at Giverny with everything yellow and blue.

Peretti's deft touch makes a few pieces add up to the perfect, spare luncheon setting. Notice how even the flowers are on the serving table in the background. For another table setting, also shown in "Tiffany Style," she simply sticks a handful of Queen Anne's lace in a crystal bowl and a tall, black candle in a silver holder.

So, we repeat, relax. When roadside weeds and single candles look that wonderful on the best-dressed tables, there is nothing to fear.

Q: Have you read the handwriting on the wall?

A: Thanks to the new, kid-oriented wallpaper from WallPOPS, you can write on walls without marring the paint; it includes 13-inch circles of dry-erase dots with a dry-erase marker. Peel and stick them to any wall near the telephone, the refrigerator, or wherever you need a renewable message center.

Check them out at www.wall-pops.com. Approximately $10 for three dots and a marker, the manufacturer, Brewster Home Fashions, recommends them as novel stocking stuffers to those who plan ahead.

Q: Need to win the indoor space race?

A: Since "no one in his right mind is building a new house in this economy" (to quote industry savant Jerry Epperson, speaking during the recent North Carolina Furniture Market), smart people are finding ways to make the utmost use of their current homes.

Out to help, furniture manufacturers are being highly creative by introducing smart, space-saving pieces. At French Heritage, for example, you can buy an entire home office for about $4,000. The "Notary's Bureau," inspired by a late-l9th century design, is a home organizer's dream in cherry wood with black and red lacquer on the exterior. More than 7 imposing feet tall, the artisan-crafted bookcase has a hidden desk that slides effortlessly out when you need it, back in when you don't.

French Heritage also introduced space-making bunk beds for adults — handsome two-story sleepers with extra-long mattresses to accommodate grown-ups. The idea came from upscale second-homeowners, who needed smart sleepover space for their adult friends, according to our French Heritage tour guide.

There's no kidding about the price — $5,085. But remember, you practically get an extra bedroom. To see both space-makers, visit www.frenchheritage.com.

Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Hampton Style" and associate editor of Country Decorating Ideas. To find out more about Rose Bennett Gilbert and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.