We spent most of the day improving my childhood home in Caspian, Michigan. Our big goal for the day was refurbishing my brother Jimmer’s former bedroom. I remember when my dad created that bedroom for him on the second floor, probably around 1978 or 1979. Jimmer and I slept in bunk beds (me on the top bunk) on the ground floor when we were little. I moved upstairs I think in grade 6 or so. The second floor originally was a separate apartment when my parents first bought the house with a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and living room. My dad converted the kitchen into a larger living room and added a wall to create a bedroom for him to join his big brother on the second floor. This also created space for my youngest brother, Andy, to occupy our former bedroom on the ground floor.
Jimmer’s former bedroom was basically used for storage. We hauled out an old television and furniture stand, an old futon couch, lots of clothes, a filing cabinet, etc. Some of the items will be dumped at Waste Management on Wednesday, the clothes donated to Goodwill Store, and the rest was stored in our basement. I found my vintage 1973 Scooby Doo Lunch Box which I’ll give to a friend to sell on E Bay. We took out the old carpeting, removed old glue and carpeting, mopped the floor, and painted the room. Nadia and I went to Home Depot for supplies and Walmart for an area rug. We should have taken a before photo, but in the cleaning frenzy, we didn’t do it. Ocean now has a bit of privacy and we have an extra room where someone can stay. Prior to this, we put mattresses in the living room. Much better!
For another project, Oliver and I removed a portion of the old basketball court concrete between our house and the garage. We found a place to dispose of the large concrete chunks. We also replaced it with top soil and turf and bought a Northern Red Oak tree to plant nearby. I ordered another Northern Red Oak , a Sugar Maple, and an Eastern White Pine, the state tree of Michigan, to plant. They should arrive this week.
We are slowly improving the house over time. I would like to use it as one of my retirement homes. It holds so many fond memories of my youth and my family. Caspian is so quiet and peaceful as well. The UP is boring for teenagers and young adults, but for families with young children and old people, it is great. I want to put the planned projects we are thinking about before I forget. I don’t think we’ll be back here next summer.
- Renovate the second-floor bathroom. Buy a new toilet and sink, install vinyl flooring, and figure out what to do with the old bathtub, a second shower would be great. The plumbing probably needs to be replaced and this could be an expensive renovation.
- Remove the carpeting on the second-floor living room to expose the wood floors underneath. Replace the couch, too and install 4 new windows.
- Build indoor/outdoor back and front porches to create two more quiet spaces on the ground floor.
- Install vinyl flooring in the kitchen and dining room on the ground floor.
- Remove the rest of the old basketball court, plant trees, and put in a picnic table and fire pit.
There is so much more that needs to be done. We still have about 4 or-5 large dumpsters worth of old stuff that needs to be removed. My goal is to create a comfortable place that we can use for family gatherings with the grandchildren. Right now it has four bedrooms and with the two porches, it could have 6 bedrooms.
Bill's Blog 
Did you find my INXS t-shirt?