Never put off for tomorrow...

...what you can leave for the day after tomorrow.  -Mark Twain

This week's message on the kitchen chalkboard

I, Dawn-Marie deLara have a little trouble with procrastination. Or maybe I just have a lot of irons in the fire.  It's sort of hard to tell.  Yeah, prob'ly both.  Whatever the label, the situation is the same, and the charm has worn thin.  Completing jobs for clients is no trouble, as I take responsibility to others very seriously.  Completing projects for myself?  Well, I finally chalked the above message where I have to see it every day, and then had a heart-to-heart with a friend, to get a little back up in dealing with this.  I need to make serious progress on some major projects, and for me, tackling big things is always more successful with someone to lend a little encouragement...or threats, guilt trips, and bribes.  Basically, if it works on a three year old, it'll work on me.

dresser in progress

I don't lack ambition.  I've started more projects around here than I can count.  I just find it more interesting to design them and work out the glitches, than to actually finish.  A couple of weeks ago, I moved this dresser into the dining room to hold art supplies, and last Sunday, after thinking about the design and color scheme until mid-afternoon, I finally started painting it.  Considering it's sat in just it's primer for eight or ten years, that's not so bad, but knowing I'm hosting several open houses this December, and it's not the only thing I need to complete,  it can't go unfinished for long.

The walls look finished in this shot...

...but that's as far as I got!

When I decided I needed to do this bathroom plaster project for a promo piece, I painted just enough of the walls to do the plaster around the mirror and get photos.  The areas above the tub and toilet never got finished, and I still need to sew curtains for the shower, window, and a shelving niche.  I seriously gotta get a move on!

Fabric stair treads I started a little over a year ago.  Eleven done...

...six to go.

I ran out of upholstery tacks about the time life hit a rough patch last winter, so I never did finish attaching the stair treads.  I think it's time to spend an afternoon with the hammer and get it done.

There are lots more things I would like to do before the holiday season hits, but Thanksgiving is a week away, and decorating a house the size of Belle, with enough style for December holiday tours, will take up all my "free" time the week after that, so I think I can be content with completing this much.  There are of course client deadlines to meet this week (no problem), and some writing ones as well, but Sherry promises to hold me to those, and now that I've written this here- not just that I've started, but that I must finish- you can hold me to completing these three projects.  Can you do me a favor and provide a bit of incentive?  If I finish by Thanksgiving, I want a big "Huzzah!" in the comments here, on facebook, or in my email, from you, dear readers.  And if by chance I don't?  No need to say a word, as the shame of failure will do me in... for about a day.  I'm resillient that way. ;)

Do, by the way, feel free to keep me too busy working on your house to have time to finish mine!  Check out my website for all the information on how to hire me at theartofthehome.com. 

If you are trying to finish projects of your own and have questions I might be able to answer, click on the word "comments" below, or email me at dawnmariedelara@gmail.com.