Well, due to a little windfall, we can do (not DIY, mind you, I mean hiring a contractor) a couple of jobs in our old house. When we bought it, I swear every room was blue or plaid or both (plaid wallpaper in a bathroom and in the kitchen). I got a fast lesson in living in a small town one time when I was at a neighbor's party and complained about the kitchen (plaid wallpaper with heavy curtains, almost drapes, in a coordinating floral. The kind of curtains you can't wash yourself, have to go to the cleaners. First act as owner was to take them down and give them to Goodwill. Drapes in the kitchen?). Turned out a woman who was in the group I was conversing with was the "interior designer" for that room. My heavens, what was she thinking of? I'm pretty sure the previous owner didn't really cook. Anyway, the drapes went first, and now, after 11 years, I've saved enough and got the aforementioned windfall and just had our favorite general contractor come in. I want tile backsplashes and just paint on the rest (from the waist down it is beadboard wainscotting painted white, and I like that). The thing is when we had the dining room painted, we discovered that the plaster is directly on the bricks in the additions (the first two rooms are plaster on lath, circa 1854; don't know about the age of the dining room). So I'm afraid that the plaster will all come down with the wallpaper. This is what I mean about DIY. You have to be a serious craftsman to replaster an entire kitchen. A part of me thinks it would be neat to just go with the brick, but not practical.
Colors are an issue. The counters are Corian made to look kinda like stone in a light sage green. Don't want to make the entire house green (front rooms are). Cabinetry, beadboard, and all other woodwork are white. Husband is thinking of yellow walls, which I would like; sunny in the winter which would make me happy (yes, I'm one of those who is affected by color). So what color and type of tile? We're debating the glass tiles that are popular now, or something maybe a light terra cotta in color.