Okay, I've decided to abandon the dime store psychology...   After some more joint remodeling trial and error with LadyBeck, I think I'd sum up the situation as follows: if you keep the lines of communication open, and realize that it's not just about you and your vision (ego), and furthermore accept that there will be disagreements and focus on solutions, there's no reason that your project cannot be enjoyable and successful.

Our latest remodeling adventure is a kitchen update!  Pre-visualizing our design (in SketchUp) was instrumental in helping us come to agreement on all the various decisions!

Stay tuned for "Beckerson" kitchen remodel updates.