Look what $45,000 can buy you in Palm Springs, California!
This 1966 mobile home may be small on space but it is big on style. It’s a smaller home measuring in at only 10’x40′ with 400 square feet of living space but would be perfect for a wannabe CA beach bum like me. The price of this colorful retro mobile home seems very reasonable as does the rent:
Mid Century Mini-Mod” Vintage 1966 10′ x 40′ mobile home completely re-imagined to reflect iconic Palm Springs mid-century design. Fun, funky, located in an eclectic Palm Springs mobile home village. Located only three miles from the Palm Springs airport and vital downtown. SOLD FULLY FURNISHED. Private front yard includes a fire pit, hot tub, gas grill, and fantastic mountain views. The park has a swimming pool, heated year-round a gym with ping pong tables, hiking literally steps from the rental and amazing views with close proximity to so much. Amazing yard and interior. HOA land lease is $ 620, Dog-Friendly. Read the entire listing here.
The original asking price was $57,000 but after being on the market for over 60 days the price was apparently reduced. There is a pending offer for $45,000.
Vintage mobile homes are known for having open space floorplans where the living room, dining room, and kitchen are one large space so it’s important to distinguish the spaces. The designer did that well in this vintage mobile home.
The small butcherblock counter is perfect for kitchen prep and breakfast but it also acts as a divider for the living room and the kitchen.
Notice where the octagonal tile ends on the long wall? It’s a subtle design that helps to distinguish the kitchen from the living room and breakfast area.
Smart Stylish Storage
Every inch counts in a small home. The designer of this home used an IKEA storage system for their living room necessities. Colorful baskets discretely holds those odds and ends that tend to accumulate in the living room.
This colorful retro mobile home has a great mixture of modern function and bold color. Crisp white walls create a perfect canvas that allows all the colors and shapes to take front stage in this home.
The wall and window coverings in this colorful retro mobile home help distinguish one functional space from another. The bright yellow accent wall frames the end window with sunny brightness.
The furnishings and light fixture choices in this retro mobile home is more fun and funky retro than mid-century. It lacks the mid-century furniture look of warm wood with curvy lines. Instead, it leans toward hard lines and simple materials which is more indicative of the ‘retro style.’
Retro Style Defined
It’s not easy to find a definitive description for ‘retro-style’ in the interior design world but here are the most common elements of the popular design:
Sleek Synthetic Materials
Texture is important in interior design regardless of the style. For a retro look, you want to hold back on texture.
After WWII, petrochemicals became a staple in our everyday lives but especially in housing construction. In fact, mobile homes created for full-time living probably wouldn’t be what they are today without lightweight and affordable petrochemical-based products.
The petrochemical products are smooth and can be dyed bright bold colors during production. This gave home design and fashion the ability to produce sleek futuristic decor and that sleek futuristic decor is what we now consider retro.
An Emphasis on Shapes
Another characteristic of the retro style is an emphasis on shape, both basic and abstract. You can find just about every shape in this colorful retro mobile home. Circles are on the living room walls and side tables. Triangles, octagons, rectangles, and squares also make an appearance.
For a true retro look, you need to add some abstract shapes. Thick lines that ebb and flow and starbursts are also retro-style staples.
Stir clear of elaborate decorative shapes or trims and go with low, plain, and sleek shapes for a truly retro style. This bright blue wallpaper in the hallway is a perfect representation of the popular retro design.
Colorful Creations
Everywhere you look there is a new color or pattern to see in this home! However, it’s not as easy as it looks to mix so many colors and patterns together. Whoever designed this colorful retro mobile home knew what they were doing.
There’s Nothing Boring in this Home!
The small mobile home has just one bedroom and one bath but the homeowner/designer made the best of it. Layered hues of the same color along with similar shapes are repeated throughout the home.
In small homes, it’s a good idea to use the same colors and decor style in all the rooms because it helps create cohesion.
The colors, shapes, and textures in this retro-style mobile home look so simple but it takes an eye for design to know how to layer colors and re-use and repeat patterns without going overboard.
Subway tiles are not a new trend. In fact, they’ve been used for over 100 years. Their versatility works well with any style: farmhouse, cottage chic, industrial, or retro. They are as functional as they are stylish.
The exterior is just as awesome as the interior! If you drive through the cool Palm Springs park you’ll immediately notice the bright yellow and lime green trim with hot pink scrolls.
The Colorful Retro Mobile Home is the Happiest House in the Park
It is truly amazing what paint can do for an older mobile home. Fortunately, it’s super easy to paint metal mobile home siding. You can spray it, roll it, or even brush it.
Plenty of light can enter the home through the new windows and sliding doors.
Installing an awning onto a smaller mobile home adds living space and helps protect the home from rain and snow.
Learn more about mobile home doors here.
The outdoor living space has everything you need to whether you want to party or relax. You can grill out and then relax in the hot tub or have a beer by the fire pit.
You can do so much with an older mobile home. If you don’t take life too seriously and the park allows it, why not bring a little color into the world? I mean look at this home! I swear I’d buy it if I could.
Special thank you to Steven Hardy for sharing this beauty with us on Facebook and a special thank you for reading Mobile Home Living®!
Brent,
You need to be writing articles for Mobile Home Living (especially about the Kropf you’re restoring, assuming I’m not mixing you up with someone else). We should talk!
It looks like a delightful frozen treat of some sort, that somehow fell to earth in one of the hotter places in the US (although winters in Palm Springs are tops). The designer has pulled off the nearly impossible. A lesser designer using the same colors would have ended up with garish instead of playful. Kudos to the park owner for allowing this decidedly unorthodox treat for the eyes. And that shower curtain? Gotta have one of those.