Best of Boston

Proprietor Jeff Diamond is an unabashed Francophile who even acquired his sheep dog, Aramis, in the Pyrenees. Although a few provincial antiques find their way into the five or six jumbo containers he ships each year from France, most pieces look as if Diamond had plucked them from a Paris drawing room. The Charles Street store emphasizes art deco classics, popular these days on Beacon Hill. The Brookline branch has both deco and more formal items with marquetry and intricate decoration—and a huge assortment of antique beds, most of them cleverly altered to king or queen size.