Dueling DIY: The Challenge Ends… The Project Continues

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For those of you who haven’t been following along until now, let’s recap: another (fantastically awesome) blogger and I have been challenging each other each week in an attempt to motivate each other to just complete one project already. As a compulsive project starter, I seem to bounce from one project in the house to another, never really “finishing” any of them (which let’s face it, is really hard to do in a top-to-bottom fashion when you don’t work for HGTV). We’ve been calling the challenge Dueling DIY, and sent out a call to action to readers to link up and join in on the fun – hopefully benefiting from the motivation of a little competitive smack-talking.

The project we chose were our staircases. And as it turns out, several of you were working on your own at the time!

(Clockwise from top left: Our Handmade Home, Little House on the Corner, House of Bing, Little Old House, Perfect Prospect)

Kit and I started with plenty of shit-talking… and it was so much more fun than painting a staircase should be.

As it turns out, this little competition of ours was just the push I needed to get on a project that’s been bugging me for years. I felt dialed in. I absolutely loved how my stairs were looking, and keeping myself accountable to you guys each week ensured that I actually progressed when my normal habits would have pushed me onto another project by now (and in some ways, that still happened with painting the entryway and living room, but they were in the same general area, so I allowed myself a little flexibility and being in the staircase’s general presence still caught my attention). And Kit’s stairs were looking amazing as well. One of our linkup bloggers even finished the project completely. So even though it wasn’t my project, I was so excited that we brought about the kick in the pants to get it done! Congrats!

But then, sometimes people adopt donkeys. And then they buy chickens on the internet. And then they have fever hallucinations (yes, in that order). So keeping things alive starts distracting you from a silly competition that was never really serious in the first place. So, despite that I haven’t actually finished my project, Kit announced me as the winner last week and will be putting her stairs on hold in favor of keeping coyotes from eating her chickens. And in my head, I can’t help but picture Kit in some kind of Looney Tunes character form.

So, what does this mean for Dueling DIY and my staircase? Simply put, the competition is officially over. But as far as I’m concerned, the project is not. I have come too far to stop making progress on those stairs now! I set out to finish, and that’s just what I’m going to do. So even though the progress will be more sporadic (no regular-ish Tuesday Dueling DIY posts), you’re still going to get more staircase progress updates. Even as soon as a bonus post today all about my stair runner. I may have found the one I’m looking for, but I don’t know how doable it is (that’s where you guys come in – give me the full “don’t do that!” or “that looks awesome!” votes).

Thank you guys for following along. Thank you to the ones who participated right along with us. And I loved adding a little competitive spirit into this project, so I plan to do it again when the stairs really are finished. It may be my dining room. Or even my kitchen cabinets (oh yes, I have plans for them this year!). So, who knows? Dueling DIY: Kitchen Edition may be gracing this blog in the near future. But for now, keep your eyes peeled for that post later today about the stairs. It ain’t quite over yet!

Want to go back and see where it all started? That post is here. Want to see the whole series in one swoop? I’ve got you covered.