Choosing Furniture for Small Mobile Homes

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Remember the overstuffed sofas? 
They were not made for a small single wide mobile home!

My first home, outside of the college apartments I had been living in, was an older single wide right outside of Huntington, WV. I was attending Marshall University, working 2 jobs and had just married my sweetheart. The home was 14′ wide and had 3 nice sized bedrooms (I can’t recall the length).

I was so excited to buy furniture for it. I saved up and shopped around for the best deals. This was in 1996 and the overstuffed furniture trend was in full swing. I found and bought an off-white and cream colored 3 piece set that was gorgeous, grouped with it was the matching sized coffee table and end tables. They were beyond overstuffed, they were huge! I never paid any attention to the size though, all I saw was ‘pretty’.

Never mind that I was living in a 14′ wide single wide at the time. I didn’t think a thing about space or proportion or the fact that I was trying to put all that furniture in a room that couldn’t have been more than 14’x16′ until they delivered it weeks later. I messed up big time. We barely had room to walk!

Lesson learned. You can’t have large furniture in a small home. Large pieces waste what little space we have in our homes and make it next to impossible to organize. Now I have properly sized pieces and room to move!

Related: Smart Multi-Function Furniture That’s Perfect For A Small Mobile Home.

Ideas for choosing furniture for small mobile homes:

• Round tables work best in small rooms. They work great for dining and for coffee and end tables. Although ottomans work great as coffee tables because you can use them for seating, too.

• Sofa sizes should be less than 82″ with minimal pattern. Save the patterns for the pillows. If you like a comfy, overstuffed look, apply it to a chair and ottoman and keep your sofa simple or just pick out a fluffy loveseat and skip the sofa altogether.

• Keep symmetry, flow, contrast, and balance in mind. You don’t want all your furniture on one wall. You need at least 18 inches to comfortably walk.

• Corners sofas for your home are a great way to maximize space. They work up against the walls or out in the middle of the rooms.

There’s plenty of great ideas for your small home found online. One site that has plenty of great ideas for all homeowners is called HomeCareIdea.com.

My last rule: Don’t follow to many rules! Yes, read up and learn from designers but it’s YOUR home. Do what you want with it. If it doesn’t work you can always fix it.

I read that you couldn’t paint walls a darker color in small spaces because it will make it look like a cave. I beg to differ, my medium-dark teal walls look great! I guess there’s just enough white to make it work.

Related: Using Accent Walls in Your Mobile Home.

Have fun, enjoy life and don’t sweat the small stuff…oh yeah, and it’s all small stuff!

Thanks so much for reading Mobile Home Living! 

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