Remodeling is like pulling a loose thread on a cheap sweater - the job keeps unraveling.
Margo KaufmanHouse guests (I don't care who they are, how much I like them, or how long it's been since I last saw them) are pests, much like roaches and mice. But there are differences. You can trap roaches and mice. And they don't want you to drive them to Disneyland.
Margo KaufmanRemodeling defies the principles of modern commerce. You shell out great sums of money to people over whom you have no authority or power, yet these same people are constantly insinuating that you're cheap. (It reminded me of medicine, another area where you shell out great sums of money to people over whom you have no authority or power, who make you feel guilty for questioning a bill.) Construction workers are the blue-collar version of the snooty salespeople at Gucci who make $8 an hour but look down on you if you balk at a $400 alligator wallet.
Margo KaufmanIt seems to be a rule of life that the less qualified you are to give counsel, the more counsel you give.
Margo KaufmanBesides, the only thing you can control in life is your wardrobe. Cars break down when you least expect it. Boats eat money and gas. Your house, your mate, your friends, your family, even your career, are beyond your control. However, you're in total command of what you put on your back each morning.
Margo Kaufman... blueprints are like pets and children -- difficult to appreciate or understand unless they're yours.
Margo KaufmanCall me an alarmist, but there are certain words I don't like to hear together: cheap fireplace, discount brakes, cut-rate surgery.
Margo KaufmanProbably is not a word I like to hear when I'm talking about our chances of recouping a huge investment.
Margo KaufmanI asked my vet what kind of dog he'd get. He told me, 'I'd get a Chihuahua, because when it died, I wouldn't care.
Margo KaufmanA book collection is a cross between a Rorschach test and This Is Y our Life. It marks your life clearly like rings on a tree.
Margo KaufmanAnyone who believes that men and women have the same mind-set hasn't lived on earth. A man thinks that everything he does is wonderful, that the sun rises and sets around him. But a woman has doubts.
Margo Kaufman... trying to control construction costs is like trying to control the cost of a hospital stay. You may not realize that when you sneeze and the nurse hands you a box of tissues, it generates a $5 charge on your bill. But you still have to pay.
Margo KaufmanWe are living in the era of the busybody. In ancient Greece, if a person wanted guidance, it involved a long, arduous expensive journey to consult the oracle at Delphi. Today, if you want guidance, all you have to do is unplug your ears.
Margo KaufmanMy husband says that I'm afraid of heights, but that's not true. What I'm afraid of is falling.
Margo KaufmanAt the beginning of a remodel, money is everything, but as you go along, it becomes secondary to the vision. You can't have the house looking like a glorious jewel and leave the cracked linoleum or the icky light fixture, so you spend and spend and spend. Then one day it suddenly occurs to you that all that play money you've been throwing around is real - and it's in someone else's bank account.
Margo KaufmanIn my experience, Cupid's arrows rarely strike two people with the same definition of cleanliness. One partner usually feels like he or she is being asked to live in a furniture exhibit in the British Museum. The other partner remains convinced that he or she is forced to contend with the human version of Hurricane Gilbert.
Margo Kaufman