It's all progress.

Remember when we put the new staircase in?
It was 2010. Before we tore the second floor apart.

After the new stairs went in (back in 2010), Dave spent a day and a half planing down the floor joists at the top of the stairs to make the floor level. He felt the plywood sub flooring that he put down initially wasn't strong enough so last month he pulled that up and installed unfinished 3/4-inch hardwood to blend with the rest of the existing (ie: old) floor.

Now the floor at the top of the stairs is nice and solid.

After he got the old linoleum floor tiles up and finished the heinous job of scraping old tar and pulling nails

he put down 12 sheets of plywood sub flooring - each sheet required 325 staples to hold it firmly (and forever) in place.

325 staples per sheet x 12 sheets = thank goodness for power tools

We also painted the ceilings. Twice. The first paint we used, although it is suppose to be a very good brand of paint, did not cover well at all. The finish was blotchy and Dave was not happy. So he bought different paint and did the job again. Now he's happy.

And now I have to choose colors for the walls.

I get a little overwhelmed. I am not good at choosing wall color. I need someone to just come over and tell me which colors to use. And I'm not allowed to argue with you. Providing your advice is within reason.