This week we put in lights in our kitchen. When we moved in we had this funny light that didn't work so lights were on the list of things that had to be done sooner than later. So we put in two pendant lights and a few can lights to brighten it up before winter comes. It makes a huge difference.
A while back we also put in white subway tile on the backsplash. We got lucky with that. Brett had a patient that wanted to do some trade work and he does tile for a living. And he had leftover subway tile from another job he had done so it was all free. I was pretty happy. It's what I would have picked, a simple, white glossy blackspash to brighten up the room. I feel like it makes my kitchen look so clean!