One Weekend Warrior and One Grunt

We finished our kitchen backsplash a few days ago. It took much longer than I had anticipated, but it came out cute! Overall the project was a bit time-consuming (grout has to cure for three days before being sealed, etc.) and very messy, but it wasn't difficult at all. Of course, Clint did most of the actual labor...I just did grunt work (like filling buckets with water and doing his "Diversity in the Classroom" homework). Now that we're finished, I feel so eager to start the countertops, because the new backsplash is making the tile on our kitchen counter look blinding white. Luckily, we already have the supplies to start the countertops. About two years ago, we purchased soft gray granite tiles to install in our kitchen, but then wound up moving before we got around to installing them. So we're going to begin installation of those tiles this weekend. I'm thinking it's going to take us at least three weeks to finish, since we really only have time to work on this project over the weekends.
~

It's frustrating because when we first moved into our house, I took lots of "before" pictures, but now I can't figure out where I stored them. I did find two random pics that "sort of" show what our kitchen looked like before we began renovations, so here they are:

Unfortunately Elijah is taking center-stage in that second pic, but it was the only photo I could find that shows what our our kitchen looked like before we started attacking it with paint, etc. The kitchen cabinets used to be an oak-brown color, and there was a long row of cabinets blocking the view between the kitchen and the living room. Since we've moved in, we have torn out that row of cabinets, installed an island light, painted all the cabinets a cream-white color, installed pulls and knobs, installed a microwave over the range, and now, finished the backsplash. We still need to do the countertops and replace our sink. Here are some pics I took yesterday to show how everything is coming out so far:

The flash on my camera made the kitchen look a lot whiter than it actually is...in real-life it's not as blinding. Plus the gray granite tiles, once installed, will soften up the room. We still have a lot of work left to do, but I'm so proud of what we (and by "we," I mean "Clinton"--LOL) have accomplished so far, and I can't wait to see the end result!