Buying an older single wide manufactured home and remodeling it as your budget allows is a great way to live debt-free. The sky is the limit with single wide remodeling and the homes below prove it!
Related: Planning a Stress-Free Home Remodel.
Finding a used manufactured home that has been maintained properly is fairly easy wherever you are. Families outgrow their space and often trade in their single wides for a larger double wide. An older single wide with good bones can often be purchased for less than $10,000.
Figuring out how to update and remodel the single wide home is the difficult part!
Here’s some great single wide remodels that will surely inspire you.
Sensational Skirting
This single wide has great curb appeal!
The addition of cedar along the skirting and corners gives the home great visual appeal. The contrast between the white metal siding and the softwood is a perfect combination!
By only installing wood onto the bottom and corners you save a lot of money while still creating a huge visual impact.
This exterior siding project would be perfect for those of us that have to do a little work at a time, as our budget allows. You can see more of this home here.
Excellent Exterior and Intimate Interior
This next home is a great example of remodeling and updating a single wide.
Adding an accent to only one end of your home’s exterior is a great way to add appeal and still keep within a budget.
Below, you can see the updated kitchen. The owner used several popular kitchen materials such as a mosaic tiled back-splash, white cottage styled cabinetry, dark laminated wood floors, and stainless steel appliances.
New windows, painted paneling, laminated flooring, and wide trim combined together to create a modern and welcoming living room in this single wide.
The bathroom carries some of the same stylish features as the kitchen. Making one material work for two or more spaces is a great way to reduce your remodeling costs.
Great Grey
New siding combined with new windows and a simple deck creates a welcoming home!
The interior received a complete makeover as well.
Sheetrock was installed on both the wall and ceiling to create a clean canvas. Boldly painted accent walls are used in each room to provide visual appeal.
Paint will always be the most affordable thing you can do to change your home’s appearance.
The kitchen remodel is remarkable!
Sleek and simple is how I would describe this kitchen. Stylish accents are used throughout the room: Long-handled cabinet hardware provides lots of visual appeal and bright white cabinetry provides contrast to the black countertops.
The bathroom is beautiful!
Dark grey is a popular paint color but it can be difficult to work within certain spaces. This small bathroom gets it right!
This is a perfect example of mixing dark and light colors to create an inviting space. Adding expensive materials with more affordable materials can provide a great space at a great price.
The bedrooms were transformed into cozy spaces using paint.
Even the laundry room was given a modern makeover.
You can see more of this single wide remodel, including the before and after photos, here.
Cozy Cottage
This last home has a great cottage appeal and another great example of single wide remodeling. The popular cottage style is perfect for a small single wide manufactured home!
White walls and ceilings and modern grey flooring creates a perfect canvas for this home. The eclectic furnishings and humble wood stove complete the space with style.
Summary
A single wide manufactured home can become a beautiful home in any style you want with a little creativity! Any style you can imagine can work in these small homes and because space is smaller you can splurge on higher-end materials.
The sky is the limit with a single wide!
Thank you so much for reading Mobile Home Living!
I was wondering what kind of trim did you use for the top of the walls. My mobile home has gaps under our trim, where the drywall didn’t go to the ceiling. I’m remodeling myself and am stumped how to cover mine.
Hi Marla,
Great to hear from you! Your home sounds awesome! I would love to feature someday. If you’d consider please email me at [email protected]. I hope to hear from you – it’s always fun to see new homes!
I purchased a rental 1974 14×70 single wide and within 4 months had a nice warm home. My family and I tore out the old dark paneling, found the fiberglass insulation was full of mold and wasp nests. We completely took that out to the outside walls, sealed the gaps with spray foam, then installed stiff styrofoam insulation while rewiring as we did each wall. We installed new lighter paneling. Next we redid the floors with treated plywood, sealed the floors and used peel & stick tile throughout the mobile home. On the end of the living room were windows all across leaving no wall space. We put window film on the windows then filled with styrofoam insulation and paneling. The ceiling was in terrible shape so we did the same as the walls, and installed a small ceiling fan. We installed a smaller sink/vanity in the bath, leaving room for narrow bookcase for storage, or covered litterbox. Going to install bifold closet doors in the 2 bedrooms and paint the kitchen cabinets soon. One comment i get a lot is my windows, my trick was to hang the curtains 12 inches above the top of the windows, making the ceiling look higher than it is. Found this site today, and glad I did, lots of new ideas for me.
Hi! I am getting ready to do some remodeling soon in mine, mostly cosmetic, just curious about how much it cost you to do yours? Just so I can get an idea! Yours is AMAZING!!!!!
Please take lots of images along the way! I’d love to feature your home when you are finished – it’s gonna be gorgeous!
We just purchased a 1973 single wide mobile home for $5,000. It needs a LOT of work but has good bones! We are planning to do a total overhaul. We are starting with the floors, then ceilings. The house needs to have some adjustments done underneath (it seemed to have sank on one of the piers) but luckily my husband knows how to jack houses and fix foundations 🙂 We are going to put in hard wood floors, replace the tiled ceiling with sheet rock, paint the paneling a dove gray and replace all the windows and doors with new ones in white. I may also do crown molding. Not sure about that one yet. Bathroom will be bamboo tile with new vanity (seems like everything is original, yikes!) Needless to say, we have our work cut out for us! Wish us luck and I’ll send you photos when we are done.
Elicia, in our home we started with walls . Then we put appliances in place. We were happy we did it this way. Good luck!
Hi Anel,
I’m sorry but I can’t really answer that question. It all depends on the condition of the home. If the home just needs basic cosmetic improvements it shouldn’t be too difficult to recoup the costs. That calculation improves if you can do the work yourself. It’s a cost vs return on investment situation and those are always the most difficult to determine.
Best of luck!
we are on a single budget we bought under a lot of pressure for 5,000 totally not worth it but we need to live here. so now we want to remodel and sell. noy my quetion is…shoul I do this? about how much do I need to remodel will another 5000 be enough. I want a open flooring.
Hi Susie,
Congratulations on your new home! I’ve not been around a lot of ceiling projects. I’ve only seen panel replacements with bead board or new paneling. From what I understand, a manufactured home derives its structural integrity from the roof so you’d want to be extremely careful not to disturb or modify the trusses at all. Likely, the ceiling panels are going to be as high as the architects could get them.
I would focus my attention on projects that make a ceiling appear taller without actually doing any structural changes. Taller windows are a great way to do that.
Best of luck!
WE are moving into a 30 year old (really bad shape) single wide. The previous couple who lived in it, pretty much gutted it and now we have to step in and almost start from scratch. But we are thankful it’s free and we have a roof over our head. I love pinning and looking at mobile home redo’s and I love your site. My question is, the ceilings are really low. However where the living room is, it was cathedral (not much, but you could hang a ceiling fan). We thought about tearing the ceilings out and making the whole house cathedral. Has anyone ever done this and if so, how hard or difficult was it. We have gathered lots of old rusted tin and 1×8 old house boards to redo our ceilings, wainscoting, etc. Help!
Hi Kimber!
There are tons of great homes on here that are rustic! It’s one of our favorite decorating styles. You can click on the search icon on the menu bar or on the sidebar (or bottom if you are on mobile) and type in ‘rustic’ and they will be listed. You can also click on single wide or double wide and have all the homes listed for each category. There are over 500 articles so you’ll find some great inspiration and ideas – promise!
Hi I’m currently in a 2000 model single wide and putting up new Sheetrock n paint I’m planning on extend in out my Kitchen/living room its a big open space so I hate it I have kids so I’m looking for idea for a wall to separate the conjoined rooms n keeping it look up to date n moderate also a Lil bit of a rustic look
Congratulations Elicia! Take photos so we can feature your home when you’re finished!
I just purchased a 1991 single wide 3 bed 2 bath 14×80. Im so happy about remodeling an making it look great. Will start with walls or should i do appliance replacemen
Have you ever removed flooring in area with a step up? My kitchen and laundry entrance is on a platform. It also has a wall that sticks out in a V one side kitchen, one side faces living room. No clue what is behind the wall. I would like it all level and to remove V wall. Husband hesitant as wall attached to ceiling and no subfloor under platform
Hi Morgan,
Usually, just buying a tub surround will be your easiest choice for tub and shower walls. They can come in one piece or three and can be ordered to the size you need. You just pop them in and glue and seal. They start at around $100 and go up. Here’s a link to some at Home Depot: http://www.homedepot.com/b/Bath-Showers-Shower-Walls-Surrounds/Glue-up/N-5yc1vZbzbsZ1z0zprx
Stone, sheet metal, and even fiberglass panels will work if you seal properly. I’m a big fan of the faux stone around tubs and showers too but you have to be extra careful when caulking and sealing around them.
PS: The tileboard that you can find at Lowe’s for $20 a sheet (looks like fake tile) may look like it can withstand water but it cannot – don’t let anyone tell you it can..lol
Best of luck! If you can take lots of photos of the project I’d love to share it on here!
Hey Crystal!
I am currently getting ready to redo my master bathroom. What did you use as your shower walls? I don’t want the expensive of tile but I also don’t like the ugly plain white walls!
Congratulations Jennifer! I was exactly in your shoes 6 years ago – the excitement of all the possibilities is so fun! Tackle one room at a time, get the new flooring in before you move any furniture in (if possible), and make it all yours. Of course, take lots of photos throughout the process so I can feature it!
Best of luck!
Hi Crystal!
I just purchased a single wide 1980 mobile home, and I’m anxious to start remodeling it. I feel like I stepped into 1982 when I walk in. Dark walls, dark ceilings, dark floors. I came across your page and it’s great! I’m on disability, so money is tight, but I got a lot of GREAT ideas! Thanks so much, and looking forward to more!
Hi Connie,
This is a difficult question! Because granite is so expensive, there’s a good chance that you’ll create a situation where you ‘over-improve’ and cannot recoup the cost should you ever sell the home. At the cheapest end of $50 per square foot, you’re looking at almost $3,000 for granite counter tops (a lot of improvement projects that will increase your home’s value can be done with $3,000). It would definitely be a selling feature but it would depend on your market if buyers are willing to pay for granite. However, if you’ve always wanted granite and not concerned about recouping the cost, it would be worth it just to be able to enjoy granite everyday.
You may want to look at other counter top options like solid surfaces. There’s some man-made materials, like Corian, that look just like granite but is more affordable. Soap stone is another beautiful material. Here’s a Houzz article I found that may be handy: http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/7779702/list/your-guide-to-15-popular-kitchen-countertop-materials
Best of luck! Let me know how it goes!
Hi Crystal,
My question for you is can granite or marble be used safely in a singlewide mobile home for kitchen countertops? My husband and I are preparing to remodel our kitchen and laminate countertops are easily damaged. I love the look and shine of granite. We would need approximately 57 square feet. Thanks so much for your valuable advice.
This gives me hope after all!!!
Hi Joy,
Adding a bathroom to the single wide shouldn’t be too difficult, especially if it’s just going to be a toilet and sink but no bath. You’re going to want to pay special attention to get the right slope for your waste pipe from the toilet and make sure there is proper ventilation (either via connection to a vent stack or an auto vent). If you hire a plumber to just run the pipe and you install the toilet and sink yourself you’ll be able to save quite a bit of money.
Best of luck!
Do you know anything about adding a half bath inside a single? It about a 1994 edition. Thanks!!! Beautiful work!!!!
Hi Becky!
I’m so glad you like MHL! It means a lot to me to get comments like this so thank you so much for taking the time out to write it!
I bet your home is gorgeous and will only get better! I’m always looking for homes to feature, maybe once you get the interior finished you’ll consider it?
Thanks again! You made my day!
i have lived in a single wide home for many years. we have put new siding,windows,doors,and decks on it. now i would like to remodel the inside. this is great seeing pictures of other remodels to help me get ideas. thank you so much. i think this will become one of my favorite sites.
Hi Vikki!
You can put a window just about anywhere you want! You just have to be aware of the wiring and water lines but with manufactured homes most of the wiring and water lines are under the home! As long as you frame the new window properly you can add it!
Good luck!
MLV is great, so you can put a window where there wasn’t one?
Love single wides! These are just great!