We're Making Progress

Thought you might be interested to know how the construction is coming on our upstairs since the hurricane we had in September.

It took a couple weeks for the insurance money to come, then a few more weeks til the roof was done. Derrick started working on Alyssa's room, probably mid to late November. Her room had the most damage, so he had to tear out a wall and replace it with a new one, and put up a new ceiling. He did it mostly by himself, with a little help from Alyssa and me. Since it was his first time doing dry-wall, and he could only work on the weekends which are busy anyway, it's taken a while to get done. He's also spent a little time prepping the "kitchen"/storage room, which is going to become a family room. But, he finally finished his part of Alyssa's room, and on Saturday Alyssa and I primed all the walls and the ceiling, and yesterday we got a LOT of painting done. I'm REALLY hoping to get done this week, get carpet in, and get her moved back into her room... this weekend would be really nice, but probably a more realistic goal would be for sometime next week. (I was hoping to have her moved in by Christmas, then by New Years, and... here we are). SO... here's a close up of her colors... pink and brown... she wants me to paint brown polka dots on the walls, so wish me luck with that.here's a doorway view, so you can see the room better...
I mentioned that Derrick has been prepping the soon-to-be family room. I know this is kind of a weird angle, but - this is the door to Alyssa's room. To the left (not pictured) is the doorway to Sage and Jayna's room (which will be our room eventually), and to the right is a WALL. Tonight, that wall will no longer be there.
On the other side of that wall is 2 more doorways (you have to go through the girls' bedroom, the bathroom, and the kitchen/storage room to get over there). Tonight (hopefully) Derrick's dad, Bill, will be coming over to cut a doorway into this wall, so that all the bedrooms and the family room will be right at the top of the stairs. No more long windey house-that-never-ends. I have been waiting for this day for a LONG time. I will post a picture of the finished project tomorrow - well, it won't be finished, but there will be a big hole in the wall. YEA!
So, you see, we are making some real progress here. It's taking some time, since we're doing the work ourselves. We do plan on hiring someone to put in the carpet. There's not as much work to be done in the other two rooms, and since he has some experience now, hopefully it will go a bit quicker. After the door is cut, insulation will be first, then ceilings (no more new walls), paint, carpet, and finally... moving in. Sage and Jayna will be moving into the other bedroom (it's the same size as Alyssa's room). We will have a family room - it will also be a kind of play area for now, while the kids are little. And, like I said, Derrick and I will be moving into their current room, but it needs some work too. It wasn't damaged by the rain, but as long as we're moving everything around, we plan to insulate, paint, and re-carpet that room too before we move in. THEN our room, downstairs off the living room, will become the OFFICE!!! I CAN'T WAIT to have an office. Currently my office is this computer desk in the dining room. It's cluttered and messy and I can hardly stand it. The office will also function as a guest room (aka, Grandma and Grandpa's room). I said "currently" way too many times in this post. Forgive me.