dining room: meet pottery barn

One more look at before...

And here it is: the new dining room. Although I've been known to crack on "pottery barn" decor and colors, I have to reluctantly admit that our freshly painted dining room (color: barley by Benjamin Moore) is a nice departure from the previous garish blue. I understand the psychology behind keeping your interiors neutral to keep from distracting potential buyers with your own decor, and I concede that this color will be more attractive to anyone who looks at the house. My stubbornness to keep the house the way I want it has waned as I've grown more anxious with the rapidly approaching arrival of baby #2 and the feeling that our house is never going to sell. I'll miss the blue--even though my mom once referred to it as "Carolina" blue--but I'm ready to put all emotion aside to get this house sold.

Here's a quick look at the transformation: from bold to beige.

My "assistant" Alex removing the last of the nails that anchored our gallery of random photos--people, places and things--to the dining room wall. We'll be leaving the wall blank now to eliminate distractions for potential buyers. Honestly, the room feel bigger with the neutral walls.

A little Spackle to cover the nail holes; sanding and taping, and we're ready to paint.

Hello, barley; goodbye, blue. There's no turning back now.

Since the dining room project worked out favorably, this weekend we'll tackle the living room. I've picked out another suitable beige for the space (actually, it's very close to the color that we currently have on the walls, which really just need some freshening up). Stay tuned for more before and after looks...