Some people have the coolest stuff! Diane, a writer and blogger at the wonderfully entertaining blog called ‘Tales From a Sears House‘ is one of those people. She has an eye for detail and naturally surrounds herself with unique items. Diane, and her husband Doug, not only live in a 1939 Sears Kit House but they also own a vintage mobile home. Oh, and they have really cool collections of vintage cameras and picnic baskets along with other unique home decor and furnishings. There are neat things all around them!
Vintage Mobile Home Remodel – Beach Style
One of the couple’s cool things, the mobile home, received a complete remodel. Astonishingly, the couple somehow completely transformed the Ventoura mobile home in less than two years. Diane mentions buying the home and land for around $38,000 on June 29, 2012, and you can see by the photos that they wasted little time. The home has been completely updated and remodeled and is a beautiful example of the endless possibilities that mobile homes have.
The setting couldn’t be more beautiful or perfectly situated. The property directly borders a picturesque wetland and yet the ocean is only one block away. Diane states the property sits in Kitts Hummock, a sleepy rural area on the Delaware Bay.
Here’s the vintage mobile home before the remodel:
Below you can see the enclosed porch that sits on the opposite side of the addition.
The couple’s main priority on June 29, 2012, was to replace the shingles on the addition and paint both the interior and exterior. Of course, as in any vintage mobile home remodel, even the smallest of projects can lead to a whole lot more. Still, the couple handled the entire remodel like champs, making the impossible possible time and time again.
The Heart of the Home
Kitchens are the heart of any home, especially in many mobile home designs. Many mobile home layouts put the kitchen in the middle of the home. This layout is usually coupled with a nearby bathroom which allows for a simple plumbing system to support both rooms. Ventoura used a similar design in 1952 when they built this home.
Doug and Diane were able to gut the entire kitchen and replace practically everything in the room, including the plumbing for less than $1000.
They replaced everything; beadboard walls, countertops, sink, appliances and ceiling. The end result is amazing!
Living Room Love
The addition on the mobile home serves as a living room. A small window opening between the kitchen and living room helps connect and open up the space. Here’s the living room when they first purchased the home:
And here’s the living room after:
Dashing Dining Room
The dining room is at the end of the mobile home, where the living room would normally be had the addition not been built. Here you can see the space when the couple first purchased the home and then after they completely gutted it.
The dining room after Diane and Doug performed their DIY magic:
Beautiful Bedroom
Since this is a 1952 Ventoura mobile home space is fairly limited. These homes were built to be transported easily and conveniently. The bedroom layout is very typical of an early 1950’s model mobile home – small but with ample storage. Here’s the bedroom before the makeover:
The bedroom after the makeover:
The bathroom also received a grand remodel!
The enclosed porch also got a makeover.
Extremely Awesome Exterior
Last, by certainly not least, is the exterior of the home. As we saw in the first few images, the home was painted in a calm cream and surrounded by overgrown vegetation. The brush was cleaned up and the entire property got a couple coats of paint. The finished look is certainly indicative of the beach!
Here’s the home during its exterior transformation:
And after the home was painted and the skirting was installed:
Here are a few other photos I found from “Tales from a Sears Home.” It’s obvious this couple is very talented in photography, collecting neat stuff like cameras and mobile homes, and remodeling those mobile homes.
The vintage camera collection on display in the couple’s Sears kit home:
The kitchen inside the Sears home:
The ocean close to the mobile home:
This is such a great vintage mobile home remodeling story! Not only is the end result amazing but it’s a great example of the endless possibilities that a vintage mobile home has. Plus, this is about as close to a mobile home jackpot as one can find – fine home, great location, and was bought at a great price.
Related: Vintage Mobile Home Restoration: Sensational 1955 Smoker Aristocrat.
All images are the property of ‘Tales from a Sears Home.” Please be sure to go visit the blog. Diane posts about all kinds of great treasures and experiences. There’s lots more images and stories about the remodel over there, plus a lot of neat projects they do – there’s something for everyone!
As always, thank you for reading Mobile Home Living!
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I seem to be a bit late to the party here but I sure would love to know where Diane got that sweet little treasure chest being used as a coffee table. We have the same exact one – and use it the same way – but have no idea where it may have come from! What a beautiful remodel.
Trying to find information about a 1958 MAGNA model 50x single wide two bedroom mobile home. I can’t find anything on line about it. The make might be off but that’s what the owner told me. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
This little trailer is awesome! GREAT job!
It’s great to hear from you Diane! Thank you so much for commenting!! Both of your homes are beautiful and inspiring – thank you for sharing them with the world!
Hope to hear from you again!
Hi everyone, and thanks for all of the kind comments about our little beach place–and Crystal, thank you for featuring us! It was a lot of work, but we had fun (most of the time), and we were able to save a lot of money by doing things ourselves and repurposing things (like a door for the headboard and another door for kitchen shelving). Since the pix were posted on my blog, we added gray and white striped awnings to the trailer, which really makes it look more finished. One other comment: to the person above who mentioned carpeting… We removed the gross carpet and padding from the trailer and simply painted the plywood subfloor with porch paint (in the bedroom and dining room). It was a simple and inexpensive solution. In the kitchen, we did what Crystal suggests–we bought laminate from Home Depot. It cost us $66 to do the kitchen.
It’s so great to hear from you Sue! I’m green with envy myself! What a perfect little home in a perfect little setting!
The laminate from Lowes that costs .68 cents per square foot has impressed me and may work well for you. We have 4 dogs and the only thing that has scratched it was a chair that was missing it’s rubber foot. My daughter was sitting in it and scooted it and made a scratch. The dogs haven’t hurt it at all nor has cowboy boots or big work boots. It’s pretty easy to install but we ran into an issue where about 15% of each box was unusable due to the lips being damaged or warped, still that’s pretty close to the industry average of 10-12% damage. Good Luck with your own remodel.
Wow, comfy, cozy, jealous? yes! I live in a double wide and I just wish I had the talent and the $ to do what needs to be done! You save sooo much money when you can do things yourself. Mine right now, this minute, needs the carpet OUT and new lino or something put down. I have dogs and carpet is just not good!! EVER, when you have a bunch of pets. Anyway, their lovely trailer looks amazing and I wish them all the best!!! Great job!
Hi Christy! They did do a wonderful job, huh? I’m bordering on jealousy and straight up awe…lol…You know, I didn’t even cover a quarter of the total work they did so make sure you visit the blog and check out all the different projects and updates they’ve done to both homes – it’s so inspiring! Thanks for commenting – love to hear from you!
Hi Deborah! I agree with you – I love everything about it :)
I can’t wait to see your home (and feature it too..lol). Seeing remodels like this gives me so much motivation – it makes me want to just start painting something – doesn’t matter what, just something..lol..Hope you are doing well!
Hi Gina! It’s always great to hear from you! This is a great remodel huh? It wasn’t too awful expensive and the owners really used creativity to make the home theirs – much like another home remodel I’ve seen…lol Hope you are doing well!
Super cute! Lots of charm and character.
Love this remodel! What a wonderful job they did. I adore their choice of exterior paint colors! Reminds me of some of the older mh’s here in the deep south. It’s what we are planning with our own home!
They did such a great job ! I love how comfortable it looks.