This has been the most exhausting week. What we expected would take two days to complete, turned into five days and counting. In between we’ve been packing up the tools to help my sister fix up her new condo. The family is so worn out and we’ve only just begun. But, all the hard work has been worth it. I love my new space. It’s even better than I pictured.

I’ve learned a lot about how a room goes together. I had no idea this would be such a big project. I thought we’d put up a couple pieces of wood for a ceiling, paint the walls and call it a day. No, my dad (the foreman) does things right. No little step was missed in constructing my office, right down to the caulking on the baseboards.

Here’s my mom, she was there every day way too early to even say. She always says, “You have to get up pretty early in the morning to get ahead of me,” so we don’t even try. She’ll do any job and attacks the grungiest jobs no one else wants to do, like cleaning the disgusting bathroom and scrubbing the floors.

Here’s Tyler, my sister’s fiance. He came on the first Friday to help my dad move the wall out and put up the ceiling. Wow that sheetrock is heavy. The gals held it up above our heads while my dad and Tyler got it to fit. The two existing walls were put up by the former tenant and were not square. This made everything from the ceiling to the floor that much more difficult.

Mom and my sister, Elizabeth painting. Everything got painted. It’s amazing how much soap, water and some paint can really clean a place up.

My timeline since last Sunday has been lost. It’s like one really long day that will never end. I know it was Sunday that we moved all the product in. Good news, it all fits. I think it might need to be stacked a bit higher for when the next shipment comes, but I’ll worry about that later. Here’s Elizabeth just after we unloaded the all that product. I promised her I wouldn’t post this picture, but she looks so happy to be done.

Here I am painting peg board. This one was taken the morning of the first day. I can tell because I don’t have any paint on me. The peg board was hung in my shipping area. My dad built two tables of the perfect height for me to ship at. I will hang my tape gun, stickers, etc on the peg board.

The bulk of the work is done. My mom and I laid the floor one evening. We are really proud of ourselves. I even used the chop saw to cut the pieces. All the electrical and painting is done. We just have little jobs left like hanging pictures, installing the new sink and moving all of my office stuff.

The keys are mine.

I visited the new JP Headquarters (I love saying that) today to take measurements. Friday the crew, more lovingly known as the family, will turn this room into my office. The plan is to clean, move the wall out to make it large enough for two desks, add a ceiling to accommodate more storage, paint, lay a floor, add outlets and install lighting.

Here’s the window in my “window office.”

The view to my left isn’t so cute but on the right there is a little potted garden. Oddly, there’s also a hot tub and lounge chairs. It’s part of the warehouse’s property, but I don’t know who tends to it.

Sunday we will move all the product in. I am so looking forward to organizing it by color and style. Right now it’s all randomly jumbled. The color I need always seems to be the bottom box with four more stacked on top.

Notice how the warehouse is dock level. This will make it much easier when I have a delivery. No more up and down with a lift gate. Now the pallets can be rolled right in.

Yes, it’s just a simple warehouse, but having a warehouse and office is a dream come true. I anxiously await getting to hang my sign. I am so overwhelmed with God’s blessings and where He has brought me today. Let’s face it, when I started this business at 18 years old I had no idea what I was doing.