I sent the link to some fellow Arizona gardeners and one replied that it isn't as important here to have mature compost... supposedly the desert makes things different? Here is what he said exactly: eh, i disagree, if you are putting the right things into your compost, ie, not cistrus in this climate, you can use non mature compost no problem in az, if you burry it under your soil, it will decompose quickly and helps growth! this is supposing of course you are not box gardening, which is less than ideal here anyway, ive also heard this can be good way to revitalize "bad soil" in less than a year.

Hmm, it might go as high as 25% if you don't have any hardscape at all. That's always the biggest expense, in any region. Otherwise, the usual figure is 10%. Others are right that the West Coast is much, much more expensive than that. In 1989 we bought a small cottage, large urban lot 40x147'. More than half the hardscape was already installed, including a backyard with a small concrete patio, terraced brick retaining wall, and 10x12' well-built roofed shed. An article in the local paper that same year, had a very relevant article on installing a garden and a bit of additional hardscape. The parameters of the landscaping were almost identical to the property we'd just bought. Cost of a moderately priced, "nothing fancy" landscape, all professionally installed, with a simple deck (this was relevant to us because our backyard is so large, we needed to have another deck area in addition to the patio already there) was.... $50,000+ - and remember, this is 1989 prices! The article pointed out that DIY would save tremendously on this cost, PROVIDED the work done was good looking and well planned - not just from a design standpoint, but from a drainage/engineering standpoint as well. Our home cost $180K, which was a stretch for us at the time. So yeah, it took us 12 years and quite a lot of DIY, although we did get some pro help, before we finished landscaping all 5000 sq.ft. of outdoor space. Total cost was somewhere around $15K. We're in a starter neighborhood so things didn't have to be fancy, which was a relief. So even with about 70% DIY and half the hardscape already there, the 10% of value figure was just about correct. Of course, the house is worth a lot more money now, but so is the landscaping!

Agree that you can live with this for now. But I understand the feeling of being in someone else's kitchen unless you can pesonalize this. Curently the countertops are so strong a visual feature that no other feature can stand up to them. They have too much power so your task is to defuse that strength. Agree that a window valence will help--this could be first thing you would see when entering the space and it would draw eye away from the squares.. Don't choose anything that reinforces the grid of the countertop (no plaids, stripes, linear stuff)--choose a vaguely floral pattern or abstract blotches or a textured solid. The black appliances lack echoing blacks elsewhere and have to fight with so many whites; overcome this by integrating black and white with a lot of other colors in the valence. Look for a print that has some gentle splashes of black but also generous amounts of wood color, small doses of white, and plenty of the colors that are accents in your kitchen area (the colors of your dishes or tablecloths or canisters or whatever). Consider fabric that also has a warmer brown but also includes the existing brown. Repeat the fabric on chair seats or napkins or something else, to integrate kitchen and eating area. You don't need to be an ace seamstress--this is not difficult sewing and your work will be good enough for now. Consider paint as an accent color--to the right of the outside of the pass-through, around window, above refrig. Imagine brick-red... or mustard yellow... or celery green...or warm gray or.... Bring in some good happy colors in small items--textiles, houseplants, rug at the sink. Be sure to keep the scale of items small. No big prints or large items. Don't use "ancient" to describe these appliances--it colors your opinion unfairly and it's inaccurate. They aren't ancient. (You want ancient? These could be much older! When we moved into our kitchen the dishwasher was one of the oldest models made for household use. We stored cat food in it until we could afford our first remodel.) A new lighting product on ceiling would be good but I understand that the existing one works and might be a bit tough to replace. If it is inside a plain ceiling niche you could replace the light with something affordable yet mod and play up the niche as a feature; but if there are ugly or difficult features in the niche that you can't remove, live with the lighting for now. Undercab light is cheap and good--get some at Ikea or Home Depot or .... ! If you like severe & mod, consider multi-color blinds--bands of 3 or 4 consecutive slats followed by the next color (black + warm brown or tan + brown of the cabs + white that matches countertop). Otherwise get wood blinds that match the cabs. In time, if you can somehow integrate the color and/or texture of the fireplace stone in the kitchen, that would add to the kitchen aesthetic because the fireplace will always be a visual feature of the kitchen. If you are determined to remove the cabs over the pass-through consider open, backless shelves that will still define the separation of kitchen and adjacent spaces and will add colors of dishware on both sides. New cab knobs are sometimes a good way to banish the old owner. I congratulate you for restraining yourself, for living with functional existing stuff, for thinking harder and better and more ecological. Have fun!

I second the vote for eBay for both original art and prints. There are some amazing deals there. Don't forget to check your local Craigslist too. Do you have little ones? When my daughter was a toddler I gave her two colors of tempura paint and a very good quality nice sheet of watercolor paper and told her to make us a pretty painting. She did, and I matted it and framed it and we had it hung up in the hall for years as "modern art." It looked cool and it made her feel important. I'll second the idea of your taking an art class. That way you'll have fun and have the skills yourself to make what you want now and in the future, and for gifts, too. Then find frames at garage sales. An even more cost-effective way to tackle this is get a good "how to paint ___fill in the blank____" book from Michaels, or online (amazon.com often has fabulous deals on used books for $2-$3 or from your library (free) and practice your painting on cardboard boxes. You may amaze yourself at what you can learn to do. Flowers and plants are pretty easy, IME. It's pretty hard to make a mistake on them. Of course, you can also cut up those cheap books you find on amazon and frame their pretty pictures.