Decorating the space above kitchen cabinet tops

A few years ago, we remodeled the downstairs area of our house.  We basically moved the kitchen into the space that was the dining room and moved the dining room into the kitchen space, making one large room with the sink as the divider.  It's much more casual than it was before, but it suits our needs.  We did the work ourselves so it's less than perfect, but doesn't look THAT bad.  I'd post photos if I could get them off of my external hard drive but for some reason, it doesn't want to power on this morning.

The main difference between the old kitchen & the new kitchen is that there is space above the kitchen cabinets now.  We re-used the cabinets (they were new when we moved in so no need to replace them) but the way we hung them left 2 foot gap between them & the ceiling.  Right now, I just have random vases that came with flowers my husband has sent me.  The good thing is, there are A LOT of them :)  The bad thing is, they're all the same color & shape, not very interesting without the flowers in them.  I've been wanting to put something fun & interesting up there but I just can't think of what.

I think if I had to put a label on my decorating style, it would probably be contemporary with Scandinavian influences.  I don't really like fake plants and stuff, but I won't rule them out.  DEFINITELY not country or cutesy type stuff, so no bears, little signs that say "Bistro" or anything French looking.  I do like those wood letters that say "Home" and "Love" and stuff though.  But they're not that easy to find in my price range (which is super cheap, we're on a tight budget right now saving for vacation & trying to follow the Dave Ramsey plan).

So, right now I'm on a search for interesting "above the kitchen cabinet" decorating ideas.  While there are lots of forums discussing it, there aren't a lot of photos.  And those who do post photos mostly have, you guessed it, fake plants, Bistro signs and cutesy stuff.  Sigh.....