Old Kitchen, New Look

I wish I had a good before picture, but I don't, so imagine this: Green cupboards, mustard-yellow countertops, and torn white wallpaper with little blue and pink flowers on it.

When we were first looking at houses 8+ years ago, the kitchen in this one was a big turnoff for me. The yard and other things won me over, but I've spent the last 8 years not loving the kitchen. I tried to make it work. I figured the countertops were non-negotiable, so I better work around them. So I found a complimentary green to paint on the cupboards (which were previously white) and went over the old wallpaper with a more neutral tan color and a border that tied the green and yellow together. Within a month of so of re-wallpapering, it was ripped, and I had no extra wallpaper to try to repair it. So it stayed. For probably 6 or 7 years.

In my recent home improvement project binge, I couldn't help but tackle the mess I called my kitchen. Several weeks earlier, I'd gotten sick of the wallpaper on the walls and tried to remove it, but found the original flowered disaster was really put on there well. As a result, the walls were covered in pieces of ripped wallpaper in some parts and bare in others. It stayed like that till I finally worked up the motivation to fix it all. Not an easy job! So with the walls finally cleaned and primed, I decided to change the cupboards and counters all at the same time.

My inspiration was this picture of a kitchen I found on the internet:

My very helpful children:

My not-so-helpful children:

My best before picture is just before I started on the counters, but remember, used to be green cupboards and ripped, dated wallpaper:here's another before pic I found:
After a few days, about $50, and every last ounce of elbow grease in me, here is the "after" picture:

Still thinking about doing some kind of decorative thing on the walls and rustic-ing up of the cupboards like in the inspiration picture, but for now I'm tired, so it stays.

A close-up of the countertop treatment (a faux granite look with 6 layers of sealant on it - that was a stinky job!):

Time to take a 3 day nap.