Making progress in the kitchen

My big project so far this year has been going s.l.o.w.l.y. . . but I'm excited to share a bit of progress with you!

Here's what my kitchen used to look like:

Last year I made some changes in an effort to make things lighter and brighter.

But I've been wanting a real change in this room. The bones of my kitchen are good, and my budget is limited, so my changes need to be reasonable. The first change made a big difference--painting the walls a lighter color and painting the island a beautiful green.

Next was a change that's fairly subtle, but it's made a world of difference in the way I feel about my kitchen. I've been especially bugged lately by the dark and heavy feeling of my tile backsplash, especially the area over the stove. Here's what that area looked like before:

It may be silly, but I just hated that stainless steel backboard behind my range and I was tired of the tumbled marble. Actually, I like tumbled marble, but I was longing for more of a farmhouse kind of look.

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw these progress photos:

And here's that area now:

Subway tile to the rescue! This is a crackle-finish glazed tile in a cream color. It works nicely with my existing granite, which I won't be changing (that's way outside my budget parameters!).

KitchenAid manufactures a stainless backsplash for its ranges that don't have tile backsplashes; that's what we used to have. The new tile backsplash goes all the way down to the countertop level, so there's no need for the stainless backsplash. I replaced the stainless backsplash for the "island trim," and I love the sleek, clean look.

The backsplash project was pretty involved, since it included demolition of the old backsplash and installation of the new. The other change I've made so far, though, is ridiculously simple: new canisters.

I like canisters that are big enough for me to fill a cup with sugar or flour right at the top of the canister. These 2-gallon glass jars from Anchor Hocking work perfectly for that! They're inexpensive and so cute, don't you think? I love the way the aluminum scoops work in the canisters, too.

Inch by inch, I'm working my way to more of a farmhouse look in this kitchen! I'm hoping to have all the changes made so I can do a full reveal soon!

So how do your projects go? Are you a tortoise or a hare?