Finishing Sahara's room

Sahara Aldridge relaxed on a colorful new daybed Sunday afternoon and watched an NBA playoff game on the flat-screen television in her made-over family room.

The new television is Sahara's favorite part of the room. She also likes the stripes of bright fuchsia, orange and ice blue -- which she helped pick out -- that line the main wall.

"It's like being in a new house," said her mother, Amy, who swept up a dustpan worth of debris left over from the family's extreme room makeover over the weekend.

"This was all I had to clean up -- I can't believe it," she said.

Volunteers worked until the early morning hours Sunday transforming the basement family room at the Aldridge's home.

"I can't believe how hard they worked -- they were here until about 4 a.m.," said Shannon Aldridge, Sahara's father. "They couldn't find a hotel room in Cape last night and there was only one room in Perryville, so most of the volunteers ended up sleeping in their cars."

Workers put the finishing touches on the room by noon Sunday and left the Aldridge family to relax in their new family room. The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Missouri granted the extreme home makeover for Sahara Aldridge, who was diagnosed with brain-stem cancer last summer.

The idea of redecorating her family room came from watching home decorating and home makeover shows like the ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," which Amy Aldridge said the family would watch together later Sunday evening on their new flat-screen television.

Another addition to the family's new room is a custom-made table with a tiled top that reads, "Aldridge Family."

"Sahara said she really wanted that," Shannon Aldridge said about the table. "That's probably my favorite part of the room."

jfreeze@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246