Mobile Home Living® is America’s most popular resource for mobile home remodeling and decorating ideas. We share expert advice on mobile home improvement and repair, too.
Living small is nothing new. Mobile homes were the original tiny home and started the simple living movement decades ago. Mobile homes can be just as beautiful as any traditional home and we are proving it with every home we share. We’re so glad you’re here and hope you join our little mobile home movement. We are Mobile Home Living® and we are mobile home proud!
About the Creator of Mobile Home Living®
Hello! I’m Crystal Adkins, the creator of Mobile Home Living.Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope Mobile Home Living is a welcoming and informative resource for you. I hope it is a place where we can all be proud of our homes, share all the great things about manufactured housing, and support each other with positivity and love. I try my best to offer articles that are relevant and helpful to all manufactured homeowners. I take the advocacy of manufactured homes seriously because our homes, and all of us living in them, deserve to be respected.
About Crystal
I was raised in southern West Virginia by a single father that worked in the same underground coal mine for 39 years. Yes, I’m a coal miners daughter named Crystal Gail (all ya’ll country music fans should get that reference)! I’ve been with Joe for 21 years and we have a daughter named Livingston Grace. Here she is hanging out at the New River Gorge Bridge in Fayetteville, WV when she was around 8:
Why I Started Mobile and Manufactured Home Living
I started MHL after we bought a 1978 single wide. I wanted to see how other homeowners had remodeled their mobile homes so I looked online for ideas and examples of mobile home remodels but I didn’t find much. I saw a void and figured I would try to fill it. The only problem was my complete and total ignorance about websites, blogging, and the internet in general.I didn’t even know how websites worked, really. Fortunately, I was able to Google my way through but there were a lot of hiccups along the way. Luckily, I have lived in manufactured housing my entire life (except for 7 months as a college freshman) and my husband is a master plumber. We have helped with many mobile home repair and improvement projects so I have basic repair knowledge and I can pick the brains of our many construction friends when needed. I can’t help but think this was meant to be. Somehow, Mobile Home Living evolved into what you see today. This site is now the most popular manufactured home repair, remodeling, and decorating resource online! I think it’s important that manufactured homes be seen in a positive light and their advantages are known so that keeps me motivated.
Our 1978 Single Wide Mobile Home Makeover
Here’s our mobile home in West Virginia before we gave it a very affordable makeover. We still have a lot of work ahead of us but I’m very happy with it so far! We don’t have a mortgage and that is AWESOME! Here’s the kitchen and dining room when we first bought our home:
We built the deck quickly after we moved in:
Then we painted the siding, you can read about here. We have lot more great plans!
Here’s our living room now. I joke that my favorite style is ‘Pinterest’ cause there’s just so many great ideas there!
Izzy, the Boston Terrier wonder dog, is a sweetheart! The kitchen needs a lot more work. New paint and floors made a huge improvement.
We have about a half an acre on the outskirts of a small WV town. Here’s our backyard:
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Our front yard and neighbor:
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Mobile Home Living’s Mission
The mission of MHL is simple – to provide mobile and manufactured home remodeling and decorating ideas, home improvement help, and other relevant information for all makes and models of factory-built homes. Affordable housing is needed more than ever and these homes are not the tin-cans that some people think of – they are real homes built with the same framing and roofing that stick-built homes have. They just happen to be placed on a steel chassis with wheels.
Summary
I hope Mobile Home Living has helped by giving you inspiration, tips, or ideas for your own mobile home update or remodel. If you don’t own a manufactured home, I hope it’s given you a closer look at the homes and a better understanding of them. I want Mobile Home Living to become the go-to site for all things mobile and manufactured home. I would love for us to start a movement that shows the world what real mobile home living is all about. We can get rid of those stupid stereotypes and stigmas once and for all! I would greatly appreciate it if you told your friends and family about us and share our articles on your favorite social media. Also, I’m always looking for homes to feature so please allow me to share your mobile or manufactured home remodels and makeovers, whether it be the whole home or just a room. Just email me at crystaladkins@mobilehomeliving.org Thank you so much! I’m so glad you found us and I look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you so much!
Thanks for the heads up, Jan! I’ll google it now!
Please read an interesting article about manufactured housing and the housing crunch in the Boston Globe, 10/5/2018. Very applicable for your newsletter
Hey Chuck,
I think we fixed the problem (thanks for letting us know – tech issues are not our strong points..lol).
Hello,
I just finished the guest room and attempted to send you my pictures. I used your e-mail that we used before but it came back – if you would like to use my guest room please send me an e-mail.
Chuck
Thanks for the warning Leo! Appreciate you taking the time to let us know!
Crystal,
Can’t find your email address so posting here so all can see. Rust-Oleum recalls counter top coating due to violation of Federal lead paint ban. Sending because I know many look to your site for remodeling ideas. Link below.
v/r
https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2018/Rust-Oleum-Recalls-Countertop-Coating-Due-to-Violation-of-Federal-Lead-Paint-Ban
Hi Sandy,
Check the screen in the pressure reducing valve. New lines mean lots of dirt and it could have entered the line. Remember, most pressure reducing valves are the opposite of “lefty loosey, righty tighty” so make sure you actually opened it up instead of reducing it.
Best of luck!
Hi Brian,
I rarely let links stay in the comments (we get tons of irrelevant spam even with spam blockers) but you have a really neat product and I like it! I think you have a great idea. I’d maybe work on the hardware, it’s a little bulky for the smaller mobile homes and RV’s but for a regular house, you have a winner. Maybe an inner cabinet system where you don’t have to see the scale unless you open the cabinet door?
I love seeing people fill voids and fix problems. Best of luck to you!
Hi Barry,
We don’t take any clients. We’re just a blog about mobile and manufactured homes. Sorry!
How do I reach your company?? I want to do a full remodeling of a single wide trailer in Columbus Country NC
Hi Crystal, just discovered your site was hoping you could give me some insight to whether or not you feel a product I’m developing (not in stores yet) would be beneficial to the mobile home industry. I haven’t ever lived in a mobile home, but my wife and I are considering moving to Florida and getting one when I retire in a few years.
The product I’m developing I call “UpScale”. My whole life I’ve never had a place to keep a bathroom scale where it can be used and not tripped over. I think UpScale is perfect for mobile homes where you may not have a spot in your bathroom to keep a scale. I show on my website and video that even the smallest 1/2 bath has from for one. In fact, I show that I could even fit two in there (the back of the door is very usable space!).
I’m just not sure what the demographics for the average mobile home user is. Do they have a need for a bathroom scale? I’m curious to hear what your opinion on the idea is. Also, if you have any other comments or suggestions I’d love to hear them.
Thanks for any insight
Brian Wood
http://UpScaleYourBathroom.com
Your website is an wonderful encyclopedia for those of us with manufactured homes.I have a question which I’ve yet to find a real answer . Our home was built in 1995 amd we have the gray polybutylene water pipes and while we were on our well we had “decent” water pressure. We refinanced and FHA said we had to connect to the county line. The good point was having a pressure release valve installed close to the house so we have immediate access to water cut off if we need it. The problem is the water pressure is generally lower and when one toilet is flushed the pressure in the adjoining sink pressure goes down as does other faucets in the rest of the house. I’ve increased the pressure at the valve”slightly” but it did not help much. Other than a complete water line replacement, do you have any suggestions as to what to do or references I might check to figure this out. I would like to have consistent “decent” water pressures throughout the house. Thank you for your help. Again, your website and the simplicity of your explanations are great. Sandy Redfern