How far should one person go?

The Shoppe is finished. And when I say finished, I mean the all the modeling. There is still a lot of little things that need to happen, before I close the door on it. But, I'm not sure if I want to go there?

With all my previous models (except the Primitive Apple), I was not pleased with their finished look. I accepted this at the beginning because I didn't have the experience to make them look great. Not to mention, I was more proud that I was able to create a viable model, that I didn't care how they looked. However, I realize that nobody cares what the base model looks like, they just care how it looks to the eye. So for the past year and half, I've been doing my best to raise the quality of all my models. I have to admit that it's not going well. My modeling skills have improved, but the presentation has be mediocre at best. The Blender Shoppe was to be an exception. It was to be a gallery of my previous work, so it should reflect the quality of my skills. So, I watched some videos and looked into how I can really make it better. (BlenderGuru has some great videos to help explain methods and workflows on how to achieve photo-realism with Blender.) I followed through with the advice of experts, and yet I'm still having difficulties achieving the overall look I want. Even though this is not a client project, my personal deadline it three days away. With the scene finished, should if wrap it up or extend it so I can achieve the quality that I want?

As I sit here, reflecting on how I handle situations like these, I'm realizing how many times I've gave up. I'm not saying that I consider myself a failure, but I gave up a lot of things because of their individual problems. Time has been my the biggest excuse for giving up on projects. Either, I don't have the time to work on something or follow through, or I spend too much time on something that's not going anywhere but to feed my own ego. The truth of the matter is that I'm still learning and growing as an artist. Whether or not, the art and models I make is great is irrelevant. What matters, is the next piece better than the last? And the one after that? I tell my children that nobody does it perfectly the first time, and everybody starts at different skill level. Maybe, I should keep reminding myself that?