Saying Good-bye to Yellow Walls

We’ve had yellow walls for almost 18 years.

Now, granted, they haven’t all been in the same house. When we first moved to Oregon in the winter of 2000, we looked and looked before finally finding the perfect home for us. And I knew exactly how I wanted to decorate it. I wanted yellow walls in all of the main rooms. I wanted to add little accents of blue and white and have it look oh so cottage-y. And I wanted the office to be painted red because I just knew that would make it seem so much more office-y.

We lived in that house for 9 years. Both of our babies were brought home to that house. I cried my eyes out the day we drove away from it for the last time. We moved into a home that I was anxious to put my stamp on but, admittedly, I was a bit overwhelmed. It was considerably larger and hadn’t been updated since it was built in 1992. AND I was trying my best to be as frugal as possible. The new house had green carpet. Lots of green carpet. And it simply wasn’t in our budget at the time to have it all replaced. So I tried to work with it. I hung up the drapes from our old house and yep…you guessed it…painted the walls yellow.

(Found an old picture of how it used to look!!)

It was familiar…comfortable. And, you have to remember, this was before the whole ‘paint everything gray’ trend had hit the decor world.

So the yellow walls made their appearance in our new-to-us house but were relegated to the living room, dining room and entry.

And there they stayed. For nine years! It was about year 4 that I realized I was really, really over the yellow. But, we had other things to do to the house.

Like a deck in desperate need of replacing. Cabinets in desperate need of painting. Flooring in desperate need of being replaced. And lots, and lots of green carpet that needed to go bye-bye.

I also tend to put off things that I know are going to cause our household to be in upheaval. Even the thought of having to move everything out of those rooms and taking everything off of the walls made me feel exhausted. But, this summer, we finally reached the point where we realized that it was no longer a matter of simply wanting a new color on the walls. After all of those years, the paint was definitely starting to reflect the wear and tear of family life.

So I made the call and as I type these words the painters are here and the new color is going on the walls.

I’ll admit, there is this little part of me that is feeling kind of nostalgic as I watch them roll the new color on top of the yellow.

But as my kids head off to school (one in his last year of middle school and the other in her last year of elementary school! #holdme) and summer slips into fall, I’m embracing the changes happening in my family and my home.

I used to be so incredibly change resistant. And honestly it’s still not my most favorite thing in the world.

But as I’ve gotten older I’ve finally learned that change is going to come whether I want it to or not. And I can either follow along behind it kicking and screaming or I can march along with it knowing that while it doesn’t always bring sunshine and lollipops, it always leads me to a destination that is better than where I started.

In the publishing world, this season is known as the “second new year” mainly because it’s back-to-school time and we are also heading into the holidays. Vacations are over and kids are out of the house giving us time to regroup and having a minute to think without being asked for a snack every five minutes. And that’s what I’m doing. I’m taking some days to really reflect and regroup and tackle some areas of my home and my heart that have been neglected

So, here’s my question for you this week my friends. In what areas of your home AND your heart do you feel the nudge to make a change? I’d love to hear from you!

And, as always, thank you for meeting me at the fence today,

P.S. The yellow paint color is by Olympic Paints and is called ‘Dusty Yellow’ 😉