The Kitchen... what were we thinking?

If you have read any of my other posts, you know I have a full plate.  I'm the primary caregiver of my son, who is severely disabled.  I homeschool (probably not very well these days).  I started this blog (which is quite therapeutic in many ways, but time consuming).  I have a house to maintain (no cleaning lady or ladies...even though I WISH!).  I'm a taxi driver to my daughter and all of her activities.  I seriously can barely keep my head above water.  So I have managed to convince R (the hubby) to help me start on our kitchen remodel.

We have not liked the kitchen set up since we moved into this house (it was brand new).  The builders put in an oversized island for the size of the kitchen.  There is so much we'd like to change about it.  R tiled the kitchen for me two years after we moved in to cover the cheap vinyl put in by the builder.  But that darn island in the middle took up all the space.  We've talked for years about the things we'd like to do, we've just never had the time.  

There's that oversized island in the messy kitchen

When will we ever get the time? With our life, NEVER!  So it was time to just stop talking and finally start doing.  A couple of days after having friends and family over to ring in the New Year we finally had the last of chasing people around that darn oversized island.  So we woke up one morning with no plan figured out how to take it out and did just that.   The problem, it left a huge untiled spot in the floor that was about 2 feet by 4 feet.  Just enough to stub a toe on.  Not to mention the pipe hole that is in the floor because of the electrical that came to the island. We found some old tile in the garage filled the spots to make them level and threw a rug over it.  

We've talked and talked about what to do with the floor.  We have finally decided that finishing the concrete would be the least expensive.  Money is tight right now for many reasons.  So we keep talking and talking about colors, acid wash, etc. I've got a Pinterest board dedicated to concrete.  So finally it's settled that's our plan.  Again, we have the problem with time.  There is just never enough to do it all.  

The start of the removal

We woke up this morning.  Began our regular duties. Then I pulled back that rug and asked R whenever are we going to do this floor?  Then out came a mallet and long screw driver.  Then he brought out a larger mallet and crow bar and we got to work.  All while managing F's care.  Poor kid watched basketball or whatever sport he chose (he didn't complain) and he gave us four hours of demolition and clean up.  Now we are left with the remaining vinyl that needs to come up and all of the adhesive that has to be removed. We still have some tile in the bottom of the pantry, behind the refrigerator, and the small strip in front of the stove.  We still need to throw the rug down to cover the hole from the electrical that came in to the island. Stage one is done.  Now we have to move into action because I can't stand the way it feels under my bare feet!  

What a mess!

Taking a moment to document. 

Trying to clean up so we can have dinner. 

Four hours later, the kitchen is clean, but the floor feels gross. 

Come back to see how it progresses.  Next step scraping the floor down to the bare concrete.  We have the remainder of the vinyl to remove and the adhesive.  I'm sure that will be more than four hours of work.