Going neutral

We covered our red wall last night. It has provided a "pop" (or something like that) to our living room for over 7 years now. I asked Graham last night, as we layered on the primer, who's idea it was originally to go with such a bold color. He said it was his. Because he'd seen a picture of a cute English library that was painted red. Too bad our room is neither English nor a library. But the wall has served us well and we've loved it through the years. It has only been recently that I have been wanting to repaint it, to go with something lighter, to neutralize. To make it seem like we have more space, actually. Even though this is a desired change, it is definitely bittersweet! How is it that even wall color holds so many memories? 

Painting that wall red was one of our first newlywed "home projects." Then baby Isla joined our family and she was obsessed with that wall. This may sound awful but she could stare at it for hours so sometimes we would just turn her bouncy seat toward the wall it just seemed to make her so happy. Then there were Christmas times, the best time of year for the wall. Our living room always looked so festive with the red backdrop for our green tree. Some might have thought we were super ambitious and painted it just for the season.

Gag me lest I get all too emotional, but I must confess that as I made the first stroke with the paintbrush last night, there was a knot in the pit of my stomach. There's no turning back! Ack! Change! 

A lot has been happening in our household already this month and we're only 9 days in. After much talk and so very little action (let's be honest - we've had a lot going on the past 4 years!), we finally contacted a realtor. He came to look at our place on Thursday and we are beginning to take the necessary steps to get our place ready to list (hence the painting of the red wall...) There are a LOT of unknowns and we have no clue what is next. It is so exciting and totally paralyzing all at once. We never ever anticipated our 1-2 year plan of living in a town home would turn into 7 but God obviously had different plans for us. This place has served us well and it's where we have built our family. Now we are praying the pieces will come together and we will have a new Home Sweet Home someday soon! (And no, I will not be painting any of it's walls red).