Friday, February 19, 2016

Week 7 of 2016 - (Been way too long) First remodeling project.

It has been way to long since I have posted here and I really did love it when I regularly recalled memories from my childhood and shared them. In the spring of 2014, we sold our house in Illinois, packed our belongings and moved to Harbor Beach....and through the business of it all I left this project behind. I am ready to start again..It is overdue...

It is week 7 of 2016, I am 60 years old and can hardly believe where the time has gone...in my mind...I certainly can not be 60, must be a mistake...I must be only 30. My mind says I am 30 but my body confirms otherwise.  I am in the middle of a remodel project that while I was 30, it would have been done in a week but...I will be lucky to have in completed in a month...It all started with an unusual Christmas present that I gave my husband...a new toilet...(that is for a different blog.
Romeo House that we moved from in summer 1968

Which brings me to a great idea for a post... Our first remodel project.  In 1968, we moved from a tiny three bedroom house in Romeo to Imlay City where my Dad purchased a house that used to be Dr. Brab's Office and residence with an handy in-law suite for his mother...We went from four girls all sleeping in one room which was always in utter chaos, to all having our own rooms!  Talk about heaven!
Imlay City House that we moved to in 1968


The window right underneath the eves...that was my room.  My room was on the south west corner of the house.  My windows were barely off the floor so I had a great view looking down at Almont Ave and into the parsonage window to the south. If I sat on the floor by the south window I could look down Almont Ave to the south and see the trains on the railroad tracks as they passed.
It was a pretty big room and soon after we moved in I asked Dad if we could paint it. "Sure," he said, "but I need you to help me too."  The room was a old drab yellow with an open clothing rod hanging on the east wall of the room...no closet...as most old homes lack but I did not care because this space was all mine!!! I picked pink, of course, which at the time was my favorite color.




Dad had bought this monster of a house for $18,000.00 which in 1968 was pretty cheap for a house this size but it needed a lot of work.  We did not see the "lot of work"...we saw the big house nor did we realize that "we" were apart of the "lot of work " plan until after we moved in. Dad decided to make an apartment and a master suite on the first floor out of the doctor's Office.  So he spent most evenings, Tuesdays (his day off) and Sunday afternoons with his wrecking crew (his kids), busting down walls, replacing windows and doors, running wiring and plumbing. At first, it was rather fun using a hammer to break up plaster and lathe. We did find some drugs and things in a closet size room that was Dr Brab had used as a small drug dispensary.   Dad promptly disposed of it ....down the toilet as I recall... those were the days long before we realized that we should not do that. 
We broke down most of the walls from the 6 or 7 small exam rooms and made a pretty large apartment out of it. The waiting room became the living room, 2 examining rooms became a bedroom, 2 became a kitchen and then a bathroom/laundry and finally the large back bedroom which had been the Master on the first floor.  Dad took the drug dispensing room and parts of hallways and the front desk area and that became their bedroom downstairs in the main house.

 My Dad would just love all the HGTV/ DYI shows on TV today.  He was an early example of buying some that needs work and fixing it up.  He did it with every house he every lived in!


After we complete it the following fall we rented it to a wonderful couple who came to Imlay City from Minnesota.  Gregg and Sharon Jewett.  Gregg got his first teaching job in Imlay City fresh out of college.They did not rent from us for long but we have remained friends with them ever since.  The apartment was always rented. I think it was a two bedroom but it might have been three...one being very small.

Enjoying memories....

Love, Jan



2 comments:

  1. Thanks, Jan, for pulling memories out in the open so we can all keep the brains working. I,too, will get some more posts written.

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