Check out colors that have a "tangerine" kind of base. That is, colors that are very warm, golden orange-ish. since Fir is so warm and golden, they will mesh really well. and those kind of colors are both "modern" and historic for a 100 year old house. avoid the temptation to contrast the warmth of your newly cleaned wood with a cool or dull color - it will totally kill that beautiful glow that old wood has. Now, Choosing yellow-based colors shouldnt eliminate blues or purples. Those can be very warm, too (think peacock blue or wine-like purples). and finally, there is a green that I call orange-green. its lovely. It may be referred to as olive, too, but most olives are too grey. this orange-green is unusual since when you see it, and look at it for a while, you can easily see the orange hue beneeth the green. Ill find a paint sample that is similar and post it here for you.

The 2" backsplash could be expensive as a temporary solution. I didn't want a backsplash but had to have one because the gap between the granite and wall was too big for caulk. Try to make sure you get a tight fit. By the time I saw the gap on mine (it was covered with brown paper during construction) it was too late to fix it. In a previous kitchen I didn't get around to the backsplash in eight years. There was no caulk and the cabinets were fine. I guess I don't throw buckets of water at my wall.

I had put ‘temporary’ fencing around my patio so that the HOA could not object to the manner in which I managed controlling my dog so I didn’t have to worry about going out to do laundry and having the dog escape when I opened the slider door. I had a couple of pots with plants still after removing from their containers and planting the majority i had, in ground the year before. I also had a lattice trellis which served as a middle section of my ‘temporary’ fencing as support for the star jasmine off the approved plant list and blended with the plants that the black ornamental panels supported. When the house was staged the only change to my additions out on the patio was a chair and table set, the removal of the old bbq we were getting rid of, and moving the two pots with plants still in them to a back corner under the patio light. It’s the inside of the house that underwent substantial depersonalization for us, which the staged insisted on. We moved all furniture out other than our bed mattress (the actual bed went into a POD with the other furniture). Clothing, shoes, tv, my computer, dishes, pots and personal care products were the only thing in the place while it was on the market, and allowed to remain out of our stuff. Those things we packed up over the 3rd day of the final week we were living there, the remaining 2 days we were in a hotel with the dog before boarding the plane to go to our new home. We listened to the real estate agent who listed and sold our home. I’d known her since I was 6, she was the one who I used to buy the place back in 2002. She tapped into her network of professionals to deep clean and make minor repairs/changes for us to make sure we got above asking and sold in under a month.

I've lived in several houses with no kitchen backsplashes, except paint, all with the integrated 4" laminate backsplash. I had washable wall-paper in my current kitchen, before the update to beadboard and marble. I kept a spare roll of the wall-paper, and replaced the section above the sink whenever it became grungy--maybe every couple of years. I loved that wall-paper so much I'd used it two kitchens, and after I remodeled the current kitchen, I used the left-over paper to line the shelves and drawers in the new cabinets. I doubt there are any pictures available after the Photobucket lock-out, but if you search for 'trailrunner' you might find info on her painted backsplash, which, IIRC, she said was fine, even behind her built-in deep fryer. [ETA, one GW disucssion (not trailrunner's kitchen).[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/any-problems-with-painted-backsplashes-dsvw-vd~2573677?n=20)