Four Dollar Face-Lift

I attacked another area in the kitchen that had been driving me crazy.  The goal was to do something with the ugly wall in back of the counter.  A tile back-splash would be too involved and cost more than I wanted to spend.  Then I started to consider either painting a pattern myself or going with wallpaper.

I settled on a really cheap solution: a four dollar roll of contac paper.  While I was hoping to find something like a black check, I saw this pattern in Big Lots and the price was right.  If it didn't turn out OK, it wasn't a lot of cash to kiss good-bye!

I cut down the roll so it was as wide as the area to cover.  This was easily done with a pair of scissors.  I did use a blade around the outlet.  The cover came off before I started because it needed to soak clean.  Applying the roll was different than wallpaper because the run of the pattern was for a horizontal surface -- this is, after all, shelf liner.  Rather than remove the sticky backing top to bottom, then press out bubbles, I had to work left to right.  My application was not perfect, but that's because the kitchen isn't exactly level.   And I'm not a perfectionist!

Once the appliances were back in place, the pattern pretty much looked fine.  I actually like the grey pattern as it plays well off the cabinets and we have grey tiles on the counter in our other corner.  I'm going to buy more of this stuff and do that area too.

The area on the other side of the sink was a bit easier to do since I learned from my first effort.  This side looks better because the chrome finishes blend well.

I like the wall area much better with this covering.  Best of all, it cost under five bucks to do! Once the other wall is done, I should have enough left over to maybe do the walls on the back of the shelves in the upper cabinets. 

While I don't like the abundance of white in the room, this touch did brighten the area up quite a bit.  Definitely worth the price!