Final reveal; mini kitchen makeover!

Well, a few weeks ago I had hinted at a super exciting project that I had in the works and now I can finally reveal what it was.  I updated the kitchen with a little mini makeover!  It took me a few weeks because I under estimated how much tile I needed for the back splash and had to wait 2 weeks for it to be shipped!
So this is what our kitchen looked like when we first moved in, if you don't remember:

yucky, old and dated looking:

When Ricky was away and I only had 2 little kids I painted all the cabinets and the walls to brighten it up and it made a big difference:

After a few weeks I decided I didn't like the bottom cabinets white because they showed dirt very easily and I had all white appliances and white counter tops and it looked funny.  So I painted just the bottom ones grey and was very happy with that look and that is how it's been for the past 3 years:

But I still hated my white, old Formica counter top that was stained and scratched and just plain ugly.  And plus the ugly back splash to match!  I had seen a kit to paint your counter at a hardware store when I was redoing Chase's room but it was $200+ and I thought you may as well buy a new counter top for that amount of money!  Well the other day when I was at walmart I saw the same exact kit for only $80!  So I quickly snatched it up and hoped and prayed and crossed my fingers that I would be able to figure it out without too much trouble.  It took a few days to complete the painting process.  First the primer:

Then I had to wait 7 hours until I was able to sponge on the minerals:

That was probably the longest process since I had to sponge on 3 different mineral colors in layers and then wait another 7 hours until I could roll on the top coat.  I ended up doing 3 top coats, also having to wait 4 hours in between each one of those.  And was Soooo happy with the final product:

It's super shiny and smooth and just plain awesome looking!

I also happened to find this peel and stick vinyl back splash tile from homedepot.com and created my own pattern to cover up that ugly white stuff.  I know real tile is not that hard to install but I had no idea what I would find if I tore off that other back splash and was scared to find out.

I like how this looks though.  Up close you can still see some gaps and cracks so I got some vinyl spackling and will be working on filling in the spaces over time.

I also updated my curtain and made this from a fitted bed sheet:

Big difference and big impact!  I think I can live with this for a while :)

Oh and another little addition and pinterest inspired of course, for flowers next to my sink: