A 2011 Resolution: Finish What I Start

This year I'm going to try something new. I'm going to work on following through and finishing things instead of flitting about, room to room, getting things in my house halfway completed before moving on to the next shiney object project. Sure, starting new projects is a lot of fun, but at some point it becomes much less gratifying than having even one room that you can walk into without wincing at spackle spots, unpainted trim or hideous light fixtures.

Honey, are you reading this? Plug your ears... or close your eyes... whatever.

Ahem. I realize that I will probably never, ever walk into a room in my house and say, "Wow! It's DONE! It's perfect!" And I'm okay with that... truthfully, that sounds so boring. I just want to reach the place where my house tweaks take a room from fabulous to more fabulous... not crazy unfinished mess to 'less-crazy-still-unfinished-can't-you-focus-on-one-thing-for-more-than-two-seconds?'  'Cause that's pretty much where we're at in my little world right now.

My first room to finish(ish)? My living room.

Here is the room when we bought this house 1 1/2 years ago:

Oooh pretty, isn't it?

Except it's not. This room was so very unfortunate.

Here it is now (or several months ago, but it's pretty much identical because all improvements have ceased which is why I have to create a new year's resolution to get my backside in gear...gah! I'm such a slacker!):

In the next day or two I'll be sharing exactly what we've done to get to this point, and what I still want to accomplish.

I'm excited to turn over this new project-finishing leaf, even if it does mean I used my Home Depot Christmas gift card to be responsible and buy trim for this room instead of material for board and batten in my front room (sob).

PS: When I said the after photo was taken 'several months ago'? I really meant Christmas 2009. Yes, my living room redo has been at a standstill for a year now. I'm hanging my head in shame right now.