Entire Upstairs Repaired, Remodeled, FINISHED!

While the two older boys were gone for a few weeks over the summer, we decided to scramble and get their rooms, and really the entire upstairs, done while they were gone. We wanted to surprise them. They've been so good throughout this whole ordeal of the house fire, never complaining and always offering to help. They deserve to finally get their rooms back. 

We hung insulation as we hung the sheetrock. 

We'll soon be pros with all the practice we've had over the years!

The stairwell ceiling will have to have it's tongue and groove wood put back. 

There was so much blistered paint to scrape from walls and doors. 

The little guys helped paint Kilz on every surface. 

The smell of smoke was finally gone!

This wall had been burned out pretty badly and had to be repaired. 

A new access door into the "attic room" was also built. 

Oldest son's room is a dark blue. 

It's amazing how nice trim around windows makes the room look. 

Younger older son's (I guess I should come up with some better nicknames!) room still had a lot of salvaged items and debris left in his room. His room was the most damaged. 

Covering the ductwork. 

Looking good!

More blistered and peeling paint to remove. 

Repairing the ceiling in the stairwell. 

Younger older boy's room is green. 

All their old furniture, as well as some new furniture to replace what had been burned in the fire, got a fresh coat of paint. 

More Kilz. 

Look at the stark difference here!

Stairwell is looking good!

Finished!

Finished!

The stairs will get a beautiful fresh coat of paint too!

This is the closet that adjoins both bedrooms upstairs. 

Attic access. 

It all turned out so nicely! 

We made a video to show the boys' reactions. Here's the link to that if you'd like to check it out: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rVRKZTqBEM

Or watch it here:

Master Bedroom BEFORE, DURING & AFTER

As you may recall, in the course of repairing our home after the fire, we decided to swap out the family room and master bedroom, so that the master bedroom is now where the family room used to be. Here are the pictures of that transformation.

The room where it all started. If I could go back to that night, Christmas Eve, and NOT make that fire burn so hot, I would in a heartbeat. But really, it was probably inevitable... who knows how many near fires we had over the years, that we were blissfully unaware of. The rafter wood that was butting up against the stove pipe was so old and dried out, it was just a matter of time before it could no longer take the heat. 

See the smoke coming off that beam? This was the next day, following the initial fire, and we had to call the fire department back out to put out more smoldering that we found in the attic spaces. 

It's almost enough to make you want to just walk away. 

But once the worst part of the debris was removed, it looked much more hopeful.

Everything was taken down to the bare studs. 

The beginning of the roof removal process. 

It's nearly gone. 

This was a crazy sight that we'll never see again. 

Love the smell of all that new lumber!

I hung every single piece of insulation in this room, and the room that became our family room, as well as the bathroom and closet. It took a few days. 

The room really started taking shape once the drywall was hung.  

This process took a couple of weeks. The high humidity made the mud very slow drying. 

The little kids "helped" me put the primer coat on. They sure love to help! 

And here it is finished. I have some decorating to do yet, but all in all, it looks pretty good. The furniture isn't in their permanent places. Since some of the other rooms are still unfinished, I have random pieces of furniture in this room. 

The door on the left leads into the bathroom/vanity/closet area, and the door on the right goes into Handy Husbands new "man room". We partitioned the huge room to make two rooms. And they're still plenty big.