The destruction continues

We are still mostly in demolition mode. In a couple of weeks we will have our new cabinets so there is still plenty to be done so that we are ready to get those installed. A lot of the kitchen has been ripped apart and we're hoping that it goes back together without too many headaches. The first task this week was to try scraping the popcorn texture off the ceiling. We are going to have to patch the various holes in the ceiling and we don't plan to mimic that 80's look, but rather go with a smooth painted finish. It turns out that with a few sprays of water and a scraper on a pole, the paint peels off quite easily. You can see in the photo below that Jen has finished about half of the ceiling. (click photo for large version)
The second task was to dismantle the triangular island. It will be replaced with an L shaped island and removing it gives us better access for rerouting some electrical and the central vac system.The triangle was an inefficient use of space. The new island will have twice the cabinet space.The toughest task of the weekend was going to be the removal of the old ceramic tiled floor. Jen suggested we rent a power demolition hammer to speed the job up. It made everything much more manageable. Dust curtain up, dust masks, eye and ear protection on and we were good to go. Keeping Sophie out of the kitchen was a task too. If you look at the large version of this photo you'll see her sneaking in through the curtain.Two hours later and we had six boxes of broken tiles. It was warm work and we were glad to get the masks off. Although, when we saw how much dust was on the outside of the masks we were glad we had them. Sophie was happy to be allowed back in the kitchen after the dust had cleared and all the shards of tile had been cleared. Next we'll be doing some electrical work before we remove the rest of the old cabinets.