You’re gonna love this farmhouse-inspired single wide manufactured home makeover!
Amy K. and her family have live in this 1995 single wide for four years. They were supposed to move into the Florida manufactured home for just a bit while their site-built home in South Carolina was on the market. As soon as the home sold they planned to buy another site-built home in their new state.
After living in the home for a just short time, the previous owners offered the family a deal they couldn’t refuse: the home, an acre of fenced land, and a new water well, all for the same price that some pay for a new vehicle.
Of course, they couldn’t pass the deal up! The beauty of manufactured homes is their affordability. You can buy a manufactured home at half the price per square foot as a site-built home with comparable construction. Building a home in a factory and on an assembly line cuts costs significantly.
It was a smart decision for them to buy the home. They will be completely debt free in just a few years!
The single wide manufactured home was clean but outdated. Cosmetic things like the blue carpet, vinyl-coated walls with those infamous strips, outdated blue counter tops, and thin linoleum needed to be updated so the family rolled up their sleeves and got to work.
Black Kitchen Cabinets
One of the farmhouse trends we’ve seen over the years is kitchen cabinets painted black or dark grey. It can be scary to paint your kitchen cabinets a dark color but if you have black appliances it will look great!
Dining Room Gets Perfect Farmhouse Inspired Manufactured Home Makeover
Shiplap walls are another huge farmhouse decorating trend. Amy and her husband painted their shiplap white. Dark accents such as the black farmhouse clock and EAT wall decor stands at attention. A simple hanging chandelier swings above a round farmhouse dining table.
Thanks to their hard work, determination, and creativity they have accomplished most of their farmhouse inspired manufactured home makeover with a very limited budget.
Farmhouse Inspired Manufactured Home Makeover Homeowner’s Interview
Amy shared a few details about her farmhouse inspired manufactured home makeover with us. We asked her what the hardest part of the makeover was and she replied, “The hardest part of this ongoing renovation was definitely having no money!”
I think most of us can relate to that!
Amy used joint compound and tape to create a faux farmhouse inspired wall covering over the VOG wallboards in her master bedroom. Learn more about updating VOG walls here.
DIY Projects Save Money and Teach a Lesson
Amy proclaimed that she and her husband were not handy when they started this farmhouse-inspired manufactured home makeover. Her exact words, “I mean NOT handy! We have had to learn every step of the way, borrowing tools and people along the journey. Thank Goodness for Youtube! I will say though, I can lay a floor like no one’s business now and my husband can remove a tub!”
There’s no better way to learn how to do something than to just do it!
“The things we have learned throughout this process (aside from learning to be handy) is to get creative. Think about what you want and if you can’t afford it, either save or look for alternatives that fit within your budget.
“For example, I wanted butcher block countertops but we settled on making our own wood countertops for $100. The brick wall in our bedroom was an alternative to the real brick wall I wanted, it cost $18 and was made with joint compound.”
Our mobile home bathroom guide can help if you are thinking about remodeling your manufactured home bathroom soon.
“In fact, most of our walls were textured with a thin coat of joint compound and a textured roller. It’s a very cheap way to get rid of those strips. I love older farmhouses (really love them!), so to give our kitchen a little flare we tore apart wood pallets and used them on our walls. I love the way my kitchen feels now!” See 80 affordable DIY pallet projects here.
Here’s one of the shiplap walls in the middle of the process:
Most of their projects are ongoing and no one room is completely finished yet but that’s the great thing about owning your own home. It’s a constant process that never ends. For now, Amy and her family are living comfortably in their affordable and beautiful home.
Check out more Great Ideas for Remodeling a Mobile Home.
Thank you for sharing your manufactured home makeover, with us Amy! And thank you for reading Mobile Home Living!
Just darling. But a word of advice. NEVER cover a window with a big screen TV. There is always another option.
Thank you. Deanne!
We asked around and found a local retired carpenter, which worked out great. Also, you can usually find a local “handyman” advertising in your newspaper, craigslist, or facebook-marketplace. Of course it is better if you can talk to someone who has used them, but if you start with a small job for them, you will know soon if it is going to work out. There are some really good retired people with handyman skills, and time on their hands. The local senior center is a good place to ask around for that. They might not be an expert on everything, but usually know something about just about everything having to do with repairs, and can be a huge help. Teenage boys are great for helpers if you are doing most of the work yourself, because they have strong backs for carrying lumber, and are limber enough to crawl under the home. We have always done lots of remodeling ourselves, but now are getting a little older stiff knees and backs, and tend to use more helpers than we used to!
Hi Tally!
I think it may be butcher block or laminate but it’s kinda hard to tell in the photos. Hopefully the owner will check out the comments and answer you! Thanks so much!
Love your kitchen. What are your counter tops made of? They look like concrete
What a warm and inviting home. I especially like the faux brick wall. I never thought to use joint compound for something like that. What a truly fantastic remodel Amy! Thanks for sharing.
Very nice! Did they paint existing cabinets black or replace?
Amy and her husband did a great job updating their home and tackling DIY even though she mentions that they were not handy in the beginning. I love the planked wall in her dining space, very clever way to use old pallets.
Hi Carol! Thank you so much for your comment – it means a lot to me to hear readers enjoy MHL! I bet your home is gorgeous – I’m always looking for homes to feature – maybe we can work together and get yours on here!
Thanks so much for your support and for reading MHL!
Hi Crystal, you are wonderful! So is this site! I have wanted to show people like forever that a mobile home can be lovely and unique without a ton of costs. Most of the problems with an older mobile are usually cosmetic and as we all know…that can be fixed! Upgrades are great too but already I have folks coming into ours and saying wow, this doesn’t feel like a mobile home (not sure what they expected but hey, it’s ok..I don’t mind ignorance) and they love our floor plan. Keep up the photos, they are very inspiring to see!
Hi Kelli!
That is so smart of you! We always had a little nagging dream to build a small A-frame in the corner of our land but once we got settled and realized how affordable living here was we gave up the A-frame dream real quick! Why build a whole new home when you have a perfectly good one that can become anything you want?
I would love to see your home when you get it finished! We don’t need before photos!
Thanks so much for commenting – I hope to hear from you lots more!
Thanks Karen!
I wasn’t sure what they were called but knee kicker makes sense! I have not been around too many carpet installers but whenever I have been I always wanted to ask if I could try it just once. It seems like a lot of aggression could be used up..lol
I agree with you on hiring a good installer. Some things are just worth the price to have it done right and no amount of DIY projects can match the quality you get from hiring someone with experience. My husband is a master plumber and most of his craziest jobs has been repairing the things that homeowners have done themselves trying to save money. In the end it cost them more.
Thanks so much for commenting and reading MHL! I appreciate you!
Hi Angela!
In some areas it is almost impossible to find contractors that will work on a mobile or manufactured home. I’m not sure why they are so opposed to them though – they’re easier to work on in my opinion. I’ve noticed that the larger contractor or construction companies are the ones that don’t like to take on mobile home jobs so try to stick to small but established contractors if possible.
I would try Googling your town along with the words ‘mobile home contractor’ or ‘mobile home remodeling’. If that does’t work you could call a local manufactured home dealer and ask them to give you recommendations. They either do the work themselves or hire it out so they have to know someone and even if they do it themselves you may get lucky and be able to get one of their licensed workers to do a side job for you.
There’s also Craigslist and the local trader papers. Large mobile home park managers may be able to help too. Just be sure they are licensed and check their references.
Good luck! If you want to email me your location I can try to find a couple for you. My email is [email protected]. Thanks for reading MHL!
Love these remodel photos! We bought a 2002 double wide 4 years ago after we sold our house and couldn’t find a house to rent near where we intended to build. We figured we’d live in it for a year then start building. The manufacturer we bought it from had repainted all of the rooms nice taupe and ivory colors and put in new carpet so it looked decent when we bought it. After 4 years, it is paid off and we have decided to just remodel and forget about building! Last month, we started slowly replacing all of the carpet and kitchen/dining linoleum with vinyl flooring that looks like aged barn wood. It’s looking great so far and now we are bringing in new kitchen appliances. I wish I would have thought to take before pictures. I know once we finish the floors we will be inspired to do more remodeling. I love seeing how others have remodeled their mobile homes!
I lover her dinning area , it is so lovely! The whole house is great!
You need a knee kicker or a power stretcher. You can try to get it up like you said but you won’t get all the wrinkles out. Find a good carpet installer. It will be worth it and the carpet will last much longer if you do. My husband is an installer so I know much about carpet installation.
I have a 1985 mobile home that was given to us and we are having a hard time finding someone to help us make all the necessary repairs to it. Any suggestions would be helpful, there aren’t a lot of people that feel comfortable renovating a mobile home.
She has promised to send us more photos as she finishes each project Deborah! I want to see them too!
Hi Deborah! There’s a thing I call the knee machine that stretches the carpet toward the wall and allows you to staple it around the edges (then you’d just add the trim around it).
Amy, you and your husband did such a great job! Your home looks fantastic!
Hi Karen! I bet your home is gorgeous and I’d love to add it someday! Thanks so much for commenting – I love to hear from other homeowners that are remodeling – it keeps me inspired! Thank you so much!
P.S. Do they have any advice for getting the carpet up against the walls?
Great job! How about some exterior pics of home and land? Do they have a webpage by chance?
Love the renovation! We just paid off our 1985 single wide last month. Now our renovations can begin. So far we have painted all the paneling a beautiful tan color which in itself made a world of difference. We are almost done with our bathroom renovation where we tore out the garden tub and put in a regular bath and shower. Still need to tear out the tiny shower in the corner and turn that into a closet. Next up we tackle the kitchen. It is too small with not a lot of storage. We currently have a make shift island that was a tv stand for now but hope to put in a real island and install a dishwasher. We currently have a portable one that takes up too much space. The living/dining area has an expando so that gives us extra space so we aren’t cramped. Just need to learn to de-junk. We’ve been here 18 months but moved from a 4 bedroom home and one bedroom is still filled to the ceiling so we still have much to go through but we are making progress. We will get there! Just wanted to share!