The top picture is of the kitchen when we moved in. The fluorescent light was so big and obnoxiously bright! (we eventually removed the light) It's hard to see in the picture, but there is a wallpaper border at the top that has little country houses on it.
The bottom picture is of the eating area just off of the kitchen. The country house border continues through the eating area and at one point (we removed it the day after we had possession of the house!) there was a border at the bottom of the wall too...ick.
The light was hideous, the globes had ugly flowers engraved on them and the fan spun, well at the lamest speed ever. High was more like low, and it squeaked really bad! Pretty much the fan was worthless.
As you can see in the picture below, we took down the plate rail, spent hours and hours removing the wallpaper border and added a pendent light above the sink. The new color is called Tuscan Red. We also added rope lights above the cabinets, so at night it adds a nice romantic glow to the kitchen at night.
The picture below is what happens when you set a paint can on the table with the lid not on all the way. I was in a hurry and lifted the paint can to move it but didn't get a good grip on the handle. it slipped out of my hands, fell off the table and when it hit the floor the lid pop off and the paint went everywhere! So, new flooring for the eating area/kitchen is in order!