This Damn House: My Subcontract With America - Softcover

Kaufman, Margo

3.68

28 ratings by Goodreads

9780440507963: This Damn House: My Subcontract With America

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440507960 ISBN 13: 9780440507963

Publisher: Dell, 1997

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When your dream house turns out to be a nightmare, the only thing you can do is laugh. That's the tack Margo Kaufman and her husband Duke took when they attempted to remodel their ninety-year-old Venice, California, bungalow. A humorous chronicle of their costly trek through renovation land, This Damn House! tells of contractors, subcontractors, and sub-subcontractors; thousand-dollar doorknobs and unbearable bearing walls; and everything else that can go wrong when you try to remodel a house.
Once you read Margo's Rules of Remodeling (contractors NEVER clean up despite what they say "The more you fix, the worse everything else looks"), you'll think twice about picking up a hammer--or a contractor's bill. Witty, wise, and more fun than spackling, This Damn House! presents the flip side of "home sweet home."

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From Kirkus Reviews:

The usual mix of architects, contractors, and building inspectors is scrambled with two pug dogs and a location in socially dysfunctional Venice Beach, Calif., for a witty entry in the library of diaries about the nightmare of renovating a house. The house, a short walk from the Pacific Ocean, was charming on the outside, cramped and dark on the inside. With neighbors like Elise, a ``seriously unbalanced nymphet'' who attacked the Kaufmans' trees in an attempt to scour their driveway free of plutonium, it was questionable whether the house was worth renovating. But Duke and Margo Kaufman (she is the author of 1-800-Am-I-Nuts?, not reviewed) plunged ahead, interviewing a parade of architects in the hopes of bringing light, air, and steps that didn't wobble to their bungalow at a cost under $20,000. They dallied with Tex, whose first suggestion was to bulldoze the house and start from scratch, and settled on Brandon, a compulsive listmaker. Work began, after the house survived a major earthquake and Margo survived an operation for a broken hip. The Kaufmans and the pugs moved out, and the contractor--both reasonable and humane, a real find--moved in. As the tower of debris in the yard mounted, so did the decisions to be made: lights, cabinets, knobs, chimney, colors for the interior (White? ``Of course. It's called Swiss Coffee,'' said the salesman) and exterior (``If you want to sell 'er, paint 'er yeller''). Actually, the house was renovated with a minimum of pain and so successfully that it was put on the market immediately. As Margo wraps up this book, she is eyeing another fixer-upper with an ocean view and no neighbors. Lively and amusing, with a cast of characters that calls for its own sitcom. (Author tour) -- Copyright �1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

Those seeking to renovate their homes would do well to consult this amusing saga in order to be forewarned of the pitfalls. Kaufman, an author (1-800-Am I Nuts?) and radio commentator, together with her husband, Duke, consulted for nine months with a variety of architects and contractors to plan the renovation of their dark and dreary beach bungalow in Venice, California. Then they endured 10 harrowing weeks of chaos wrought by construction workers, painters and building inspectors, and spent twice as much as they originally budgeted. Although Kaufman's beleaguered tone and judgmental attitude toward her unconventional beach neighbors occasionally wear thin, many of her anecdotes have wit and bite. After the remodeling, Kaufman decided she was too uncomfortable with the neighborhood to remain and sold her "perfect little jewel." She and her husband now live near the Santa Monica beach?in a house that needs to be remodeled. Illustrations. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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