Hello, I have been using blender fairly frequently for a couple of months or so. I’ve dreamed up more awesome projects than I can count and have started more scenes than I can keep track of (well, I’m kinda’ exaggerating but you get the point ). I’ve always chosen to try to make things that are overly ambitious (a Tron Legacy lightcycle ), or so simple that they are unable to hold my interest enough for me to finish it (a tunnel ). So I was wondering if any experienced blender nerds out there could suggest a project that would be simple enough for a newbie to handle but cool enough to hold your interest. Any suggestion would be appreciated. Thx. 
How should we know what can hold your interest if you don´t know yourself?
Idk, just throw something out there that interests you. Anyway right now I’m working on Blender Guru’s “Create a Sizzling Title Intro” tut. Pretty cool so far.
I should probably clarify, I was having problems finding good projects to start because all the things I tried were either to ambitious or to boring. For example I don’t want to try to model a photo-realistic caricature of Robert Redford, but I don’t want to model a low-poly toilet paper tube. I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion for a project that a inexperienced blender user could do that would give pretty good results but wouldn’t be totally beyond their skill level. I hope this thread is not sounding too needy or giving the impression of some sort of wild-goose-chase with a lazy guy who can’t think on his own. I was just looking for suggestions.
Vehicles are always fun and there’s a huge variety. Find some blue prints and go.
I’d say make stuff like vases and simple character box models, then you can start moving onto edge modeling. A good place that will help you advance much faster is this site http://www.blendercookie.com/.
Thx 4 all the tips. Btw I cracked myself up so much with my “Low poly” toilet paper tube line that I had a go at it.
I´d focus on various tasks, not dive into one project, there are many things to master, especially looking at your toilet paper roll, you could have made it a cool scene, but what you did there is, well garbage… literally 
Rendering, Materials, Lightsetup, Scene Setup, Postpro and Compositing, Composition, Organic Modelling, Anorganic Modelling, Box Modelling, Sub-D Modelling, Animation, Rigging, Skinning, Basic Physics, Drivers, Using Constraint Systems, Unwrapping, UV-mmapping, Texturing, Sculpting …
Those are all things you can master, maybe should master and each in it takes quite some time. Pick a few and wrap a little project around it. For instance some archviz.
Create a small interiour szene to practice modelling, once done, focus on rendering, lightsetup and stuff, just with clay materials to get the hang of that. You could learn some different raytracers and choose one. After that you can start to work on materials, textures for that raytracer.
As far as modelling is concerned, I would continue to do simple things as well, to refine detailing skills. I have a bit of ADHD in my older years as well when it comes to certain things, and that’s why I have quite a few things/projects that I revisit from time to time. If I need to test out a modelling or texturing thing, or anything for that matter, sometimes I just use a cube or a simple shape and start messing around with stuff, before I dive into a larger project to get an idea of the theory that I will use during creating. Some things are easier to grasp when isolating it from the big scene and getting a fresh perspective on things.
When I was being taught as a draftsman, my instructor would always tell us that if we got stuck somewhere in the design process, we should sit back and think of something else, or work on a different project for a while and sooner or later inspiration would hit you and carry you though your original project. It does work, and there are times when I do something in one project and it’s just the thing that I needed in another.
Large projects are made of a bunch of smaller ones just packaged together. The simple shapes that you get tired of are the same ones that you need to build the larger objects of your most ambitious projects. And stay organized in your larger projects, or else you will be bald from pulling your hair out in frustration and eventually get tired of looking for things all the time.
That’s my piece…for now.
most likely you have a lamp sitting on your desk right? try making a model of that, accurate to the last warning sticker. making such models is a good way to improve your skills, because you have a set objective (make your model look just like the real thing).
oh and figure out how to make good looking renders, you can be a great modeler, but if you cant light/render for your life nobody will appreciate your work. presentation is everything.
I feel like I had the same problem as you a lot as well. Not really being able to decide what to model. Here’s a few of the things I made to get a jumpstart on some modeling. I feel like they each gave me a new challenge and I learned with each one.
1.Power outlet
2.Umbrella
3.Adirondack Chair
4.Spring Clip
5.Name Tag
6.Wine Corkscrew
7.Table
I made the power outlet first, a couple years ago, but stopped blender for a long time due to just not really sticking with any projects and getting tired of each one. I would show you the other models but I can’t upload more than 3 attachments. These 3 I also spent some time on materials and textures, which I had never learned until then.
Attachments
Thanks for all the great responses, I’ll definitely try to put some of them into practice. I have a two-year-old brother and he has this cube-shaped toy with little holes punched in it that you can push the matching blocks through. I think I’m gonna try to make a scene with that. Here’s a pic taken with my webcam if anyone has any suggestions. Btw I may start a new thread to dedicated to it if I make progress so any further tips and/or crits would be posted there.
