Put down the paint brush, sit on the couch and talk to me…

In the 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally, Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby play Mary and Jess (the side story to the title characters’ drama), your typical young couple struggling with cohabitation. At issue: a wagon wheel coffee table that Jess can’t live without and Carrie can’t live with. She even goes so far as to call it “this stupid, Roy Rogers, garage-sale coffee table!” Ouch … sounds like somebody needs some design therapy.

Wait a minute, design therapy? I can live with TV reno shows weaning me off wallpaper, and glossy magazines zoning in on what’s trendy. I can even handle the idea of color therapy (how certain colors resonate with our bodies and affect mood, health, emotions, etc.—it’s actually kind of cool). Hey, I like psychedelic music. But design therapy?

I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but it exists. But before anyone (me) writes it off as New Agey renovation excess, perhaps there’s some merit to it. After all, if feng shui has earned a place in home renovations, then maybe design therapy can, too.

We all know how stressful a home renovation can be, especially when there are two head chefs: the couple, the Mary and Jess. Disagreements and blowups can happen over light fixtures, let alone overall design. Design therapists, or “coaches” as they’re known in the biz, help clients work through the decision-making process, negotiate with contractors and architects, set a budget and timeline and mediate conflicts, between the clients themselves and the people they hire.

Former This Old House TV show executive producer-turned-therapist Bruce Irving helped a Boston couple negotiate changes with their architect, something they were struggling with. After all, who were they to argue with years of architectural education? Dealing with experts can be terrifying, and if help is available these days for everything from walking your dog to personal shopping, why not hire a professional to mediate your home’s future?

But design therapists don’t just help with conflicts; they also guide overall design so that it’s in line with your personality, which is especially critical when it comes to wagon wheel tables, beer can collections and (ladies, you’re not exempt here) a drift toward floral and (gasp!) mauve.

Design therapy: it’s only a matter of time before Woody discovers it.