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Mobile Home Living is America’s most popular resource for mobile home remodeling and decorating ideas. We share expert advice on mobile home improvement, repair, buying, selling, and, well, living.

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 and I hope it makes you feel proud of your factory-built home. You should be proud be proud of your home!

For the last 15 years, I’ve tried to share all the great things about manufactured housing and provide helpful articles that make remodeling, repairing, and decorating your home easier.

It’s no secret that the 18 million people living in factory-built homes in the US have been stereotyped and/or completely neglected by all the major media outlets. That’s why I take the advocacy of manufactured homes so seriously. All of us living in manufactured homes deserve the same respect given to traditional homeowners.

About Crystal Adkins

I was raised in southern West Virginia by a single father that worked as a miner operator 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 have a 22 year old daughter named Livingston Grace that is a store manager for an Auto Zone in South Carolina. I met my soulmate in 2024 and said yes when he popped the big question in August 2025.

Why I started Mobile Home Living

I started MHL after my ex-husband and I bought a 1978 single wide in Oak Hill, WV in 2010. I wanted to get ideas to update our new home so I searched online for mobile home remodeling ideas but didn’t find much at all.

I saw a void and have been trying to fill it. I think learning over 18 million Americans live in a factory-built home fueled a fire – I still don’t understand how millions of people can get completely overlooked by mainstream media?

The first problem to overcome was my complete and total ignorance about websites, blogging, and, well, the internet in general.

I didn’t know html or php or how websites even worked at first but somehow Mobile Home Living evolved into the most popular manufactured home repair, remodeling, and decorating resource online. It’s not all fluff either – this is a respected and trusted resource.

Press

My articles have been cited in publications from ivy league universities like Harvard and Stanford.

US Federal Government Agencies like HUD and Fannie Mae cite our articles often. You can find more information on our Press page.

Our 1978 Single Wide Mobile Home Makeover

Here’s the mobile home that started it all in Oak Hill, West Virginia before a very affordable makeover. I still have a lot of work but I don’t have a mortgage and that’s allowed me to travel and give my daughter a decent childhood.

kitchen before makeover — The 1978 Homette single wide we bought on a rent-to-own contract for $6,000. Oak Hill, WV. August 2010

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!

1978 single wide living room after makeover

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 [email protected] Thank you so much! I’m so glad you found us and I look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you so much!

13 Comments

Hi Crystal:

I really enjoy your Mobile Home Living website information – very informative, extremely useful, and helpful. I often forward them to friends.

My concern is for people living on a fixed income, including me. Are there any parks anywhere that give long-term leases to tenants? I know there are Resident Owned Communities, but they are few and far between, and usually difficult to get into.

I am in the Portland, OR area and there are lots of Mobile Homes available in parks, but I also realize that the land can be sold at any time when there is no guarantee or protection for renters.

Any ideas?

Thank you so much, and please keep up the good work; you are doing a wonderful job.

Bridget Santos

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

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