Revitalizing our backsplash

Being newlyweds and tight on money, we had to get a little creative when it came to updating our kitchen.  No carrara marble for me :(  But I knew I was not going to look at this ugly brown tile for long, whatever it took.  

So we primed it....

We painted it (in a soft pearl color)

and we poly'ed it.

And now we love it. Easy peasy.

New Countertops!

I have realized that making quick decisions isn't my strong suit, and choosing which countertop I wanted was proof of this. This was one of the most important decisions I had to make so far regarding our house because the kitchen is my hub and a girl can't cook with ugly countertops :-)   I love the look of concrete countertops but being budget friendly, we had to choose from laminate which cut down on my options. 

 It took me a good two weeks to finally decide on which counter top sample I felt would look best in my kitchen, but it took me all these, (and a stack the same size not pictured).....

...and some help from my friends to finally figure it out. Asking for help and an opinion was one of the smartest things I could have done because they helped directed me to a more cement like look (which is much more my style). Before that I was almost going to choose a faux granite laminate... oh no no no. Not for me.

 (The sample on the left is the one we chose; Wilsonart Laminate in the Mercury Glass color)

They took 3 extremely long weeks to get to my kitchen but they finally came.

Here's what they looked like before... beautifully yucky cream.

Middle of the process. Painted the cabinets white and removed the old countertops...

And the new ones.

(I'm not as cool as Tami Paige so my pictures are kinda crappy)

Close up

One thing down, a thousand more to go :-)

Progress so far...

I think we've come a long way.

After a whoooole lotta paint...

Not pictured are the dark bamboo window treatments we just put up last night :-)



Almost done!   ...almost.

It's amazing what a little paint can do!

Before: outdated and stained

Reminds me of the Brady Bunch :-(  No good.

Now: clean and pretties

I primed it and painted with a white semi gloss.