Wallpaper Backsplash d.i.y. part 1

Let me give you a little background on our house.  We bought it about 2 1/2 years ago, just before we got married.  We have continued to make changes/upgrades to it since we have been here.  Now the house is not that old; it was built in 1998, but it was so "cookie cutter".  We wanted the charm of an old house, without having to worry about the real stuff like plumbing, electrical, etc. so we decided with our skills, we could give it a little charm of it's own! 

Starting with the kitchen we painted the boring oak cabinetry a light, creamy white.  We bought all new stainless appliances and installed wainscoting.  Charm factor...starting to go up!  Since then, I haven't done much else to it aside from the usual:  paint, window treatments, wall art, accessories. 

I have been wanting a backsplash for a while but couldn't quite figure out what exactly.  Eventually we want to replace the not-so-charming countertop, so I didn't want to invest in a nice tile backsplash without having the funds for a countertop as well, and the idea of doing the wainscoting on the backsplash is just too  much when it's on the lower half of the walls as well.

Enter:  Ikea!  My friend Elizabeth took me to Ikea last month for the very first time(Yes, i know!  Can't believe I have never made the trip before!).  In one of their display kitchens there it was...my future backsplash!   

So here goes, part 1 of our DIY wallpaper backsplash:
BEFORE

The walls are a creamy yellow.  Can't remember the name of the paint off the top of my head.

Wallpaper from Lowe's.  Self pasted so the only other supplies we needed were a sponge, an exacto knife, and a smoothing tool to get rid of the bubbles in the paper.

Now this might look a little weird, but we used sheets of legal paper to make a template.  I ran the wallpaper horizontally, rather than vertically so I didn't have any seams.  We simply taped them together and cut out around the outlets.  I *highly* recommend doing this if you want to run your wallpaper horizontally, it saves a lot of headache!  Once this step was done, we laid it out on top of the wallpaper and cut it out.  Easy, right?

Last step was to wet the paper with a sponge, fold it into itself for 5 mins and hang!  Smooth out any bubbles with the smoothing tool, and you have an easy, inexpensive backsplash!

I plan on painting this tomorrow since it is a paintable wallpaper.  I'm going to paint it the same color as the wall was originally because I wanted it to be a subtle backsplash since I already have a lot going on in there.  Will try to take better pictures of the entire kitchen also!

Total cost of this project $30!!
SO affordable!  Even better, we had a couple of gift cards from Christmas, so nothing beats FREE!