As I was writing an article the other day I came up with an interesting conflict that could cause all manner of confusion if more than one person is working on a project. It has to do with the perception of what is the right side and what is the left side of an object.

To test my theory (and see if I was the only on eon the planet to have stumbled across this) I called my wife over, stood her in front of our computer table and said, "Where is the right side of this table?" She reached her right hand out and laid it on the edge of the table in front of her right hand. Then I took her into the living room and stood her in front of a swivel-rocker there and asked, "Which is the right side of this chair?" She pointed to the arm on her left this time. Why? She explained that when you are sitting in the chair, the right side is on your right.

So, with a chair, or a sofa, or a car, right and left is determined by your perspective when you are occupying the object. With a table, armoire, or entertainment center, right and left are perceived as you face the object not as if you were inside it.

When I'm building a piece of casework, *I* will label parts from the 'inside' perspective, which could prove very confusing to someone like my wife should I say, "Do [this] to the right side of that piece.", she would grab what I think of as the left side.

It IS possible that I'm just weird in my habit of always viewing perspective from the vantage point of being inside, and a psychologist would probably be able to finance a new boat from the cost of finding out why I see things this way, but it has at least taught me to be sure and compare notes with any shop helpers on which is the right and left sides of something.