Each Monday on the DesignQuotient™ blog, DesignCoach™ Los Angeles interior designer James Swan answers readers’ questions. Post your design dilemma. DesignCoach™ can help you find the solution.

This week on the DesignCoach: What Can We Learn From Sarah Palin?.

Q. Our family has managed to find ourselves, in spite of the economic downturn, halfway through a major addition/expansion to our home. Work began before things fell apart and we’ve been able to keep things moving forward with fairly good success. We’re at a point where we must make decisions on everything (stone, tile, wood stains, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, etc.). In fact we’re holding up things because we (my husband and I) can’t agree on anything. We’re at a point it seems, where if he says “white” I say “black.” I’m afraid we will never make it through the growing list of items without a divorce. Why is it so hard to agree on things? How can we find things we will both like?

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A. : “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” is a saying attributed to Joseph P. Kennedy father of US President John F. Kennedy. In light of last week’s political brake-slam by Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska its truth seems to sting in a particularly fresh way. And sting it should. Nobody likes a quitter and even when things get really bad (and yes, I know of which I speak) it’s never a good time to walk away.

It sounds to me like the disagreements you are experiencing with your husband need to be filtered through an industrial reality check. How fortunate are you to NOT be in the ranks of those loosing there homes due to the economy but instead are building and expanding? Wow. That’s big! Count your blessings before you light into each other over which white toilet to purchase for the Guest Bathroom!

As I get older I have much less patience with people who can’t make up their minds. It seems to me, when we step way back and look at the really big picture, that you and your husband need to “make up your minds” to reach realistic compromises on this “growing list of items” OR come to terms with the fact that you will never finish your home, you will see each other in divorce court and probably will live extraordinarily sad lives as a result. If a paint color, tile selection or faucet design are really that important to you then I’m sure one of our readers has the number of a good lawyer they can share with you.

Let us know if we can help with your design dilemma. Send us your questions.