Kitchen before and afters

So this used to be in our kitchen.

 In case you can't tell, those are quaint little churches and schoolhouses, with the phrase "God shed his grace on thee" repeating over and over. Not exactly my personal taste in home decor. This border wallpaper has been bugging me since we bought the house, along with our cracked, pitted, peeling, off-white kitchen ceiling (I really wish I had gotten better "before" pictures of the ceiling), and I finally decided to take care of business.

After the border came down. You can see how patchy the ceiling was on the left.

The wallpaper actually came down pretty easy, thanks to a new trick I learned - fabric softener! You peel off as much of the front paper as you can, then mix equal parts fabric softener and very hot water in a spray bottle. Spray on the backing paper and let it soak for a minute or two, then the whole mess peels off really easily. Plus it makes the house smell nice in the process!
I scraped the peeling parts of the ceiling, caulked the cracks, and patched the pits. I also caulked along the top of the moulding, since it was gapping in some spots. Then I painted it all white.
I was going for a really pale, crisp, icy blue for the walls, because a beige kitchen just depresses me... it turned out a little more nursery blue than I was going for when the light hits it wrong, but it reminds Paul of his kitchen growing up, so I think we're going to keep it. It's better than it was, at least! I'd really like to eventually do something with the cabinets, but that's a project for another day.