I wish I had a "before" picture to show you but, alas, our kitchen was never pretty enough to photograph and, at the moment, the old kitchen table we inherited from my cousin is lying on its side in my bedroom, waiting for me to lug it over to Goodwill or something.

The problem: We had a small, round table in a small kitchen. The smallness of the table meant a lack of surface space for cooking (as I already had the napkins, coffee pot, etc. on it), and the roundness of it meant that it jutted out too far into the rest of the kitchen, making things a tight squeeze. I longed for a long, rectangular table, but the (buzz-kill) hubby insisted that it was "a want, not a need," and that we didn't have the money to spend.

But then we found this:

[$49.99, Target] 

It may look cheap but, with an even cheaper tablecloth, it turned out looking nice. Plus, it offers way more surface space, and the kitchen feels way more expansive, allowing us to cook as a team, and host fabulous brunches and whatnot.

Now if only I could find something for those walls...

Related: Both Practicality and Pizzazz