First, Dete and Paul Meserve's Los Angeles, Calf., English cottage was built for the birds--well, it's full of them anyway. They find bird-inspired artwork everywhere as they explore the elaborate details of the home's arts-and-crafts design. Little do they know, these birds are worth big bucks. Then, when Rick Widman bought this 18th-century antebellum Colonial in Charleston, S.C., he had no idea that the house itself was like a time capsule preserving the legacy of a great American. Finally, little did Gayle and Gerry Cormier know their Plainfield, Vt., country home once housed a radical member of the Chicago Seven and an actor from the Magnificent Seven. But what makes this home really special are the secrets hidden inside by the woman who designed it.