Remodeling a mobile home can be difficult, especially if you are on a budget.
If your budget is anything like mine, you simply can’t afford a complete home remodel all at once. Instead, you do small projects as time and money allow. With each new project, you get a little closer to having your dream home but this process seems to take forever. Three years feels like three decades – trust me!
Remodeling a mobile home takes a good deal of planning but there are basic remodeling projects that always seem to be included in home remodels. Whether you are trying to fortify the home and save energy costs or just make your home more beautiful, you’ll want to consider the following home updates:
Windows
Windows will absolutely change the look of your home for both the interior and the exterior. Not only will it completely change the look of the home, but it will also lower heating and cooling bills.
Depending on the style you are going for (modern, cottage, etc), your window design can help you achieve the look faster than any other update.
Let’s be real though, windows aren’t cheap. However, you can buy one window at a time and if you aren’t going for the top quality name brands like Anderson Windows, you can replace a standard window in a manufactured home for around $150 each (some cheaper mobile home windows can be bought for around $75 a piece).
Notice the windows in the remodeled single wide below? The owners went with minimal window design and it gives the entire home a minimal style.
Siding
New siding is a great place to start remodeling a mobile home. Remodeling a mobile home isn’t always about the aesthetics, you want to spend money on things that will help you with heating and cooling as well. Siding can do that.
There are so many different siding materials. There’s an article here on Mobile Home Living called The Ultimate Mobile Home Siding Guide that goes over several mobile home siding options that you may want to take a look at.
Siding doesn’t have to be vinyl. You can use wood that’s stained or painted and there’s also some great metal options on the market.
The beautiful single wide below uses a dark charcoal siding with a highly trimmed edging. The edging really sets the home apart from other single wide homes and puts the focus on the nice lines the home has.
Landscaping
Most people don’t think of landscaping as being part of a home remodeling plan but it’s a great place to start. Remodeling a mobile home should not only make the home look fresh and modern but it should help save money by lowering energy consumption. Landscaping can do that easily, properly placed trees can help shade the home and cut the path of the wind.
Related: Landscaping Inspiration for Your Mobile Home.
Adding a few accent trees or flower beds can change the entire look of a home too. Different landscaping styles such as Asian, cottage, or natural can help you establish that style for the entire home.
Kitchen
Remodeling the kitchen in a mobile home can make the entire home look more modern. If you are trying to decide where to spend the bulk of your remodeling budget, the kitchen or bath is a great place to start.
New appliances are smart because they can save a lot of energy. Even the appliances made 7 years ago can’t beat today’s energy saving appliances and the same will be said 7 years from now. New technology is awesome sometimes!
The owners of this single wide focused on their kitchen by adding recessed lighting, new appliances, and what looks to be marble countertops and backsplash. Dark cabinetry grounds the room and allows the lightly colored, but highly textured walls, to pull it all together. It’s a gorgeous room!
Regardless of where you start remodeling a mobile home or where you finish, you can completely change the look of a home with relative ease. The more expensive projects usually have the most impact so you may be better off focusing on those first.
Budgeting for the larger projects like windows, siding, and appliances can be a pain but luckily you can buy one or two items at a time. Eventually, you’ll have your home looking exactly how you want – all you need is a little patience.
The single wide featured in this article sits in Paradise Cove Mobile Home Park in Malibu, CA. The images are courtesy of the Realtor’s MLS listing.
As always, thank you for reading Mobile Home Living!
Hi Steve! It’s great to hear from you – thank you so much for the kind words! I’m thrilled to hear you like MHL! Maybe one day I can feature your Broadmore? I’m always looking for homes to share!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I appreciate you!
Hi Crystal,
Happened upon your website surfing mobile home remodel websites since I just recently bought an ’89 Broadmore. It’s in very good shape although eventually I’d like to remodel the master bath area to enlarge the shower and possibly remove the garden tub. Your site is great and I’m creating a favorite on my tablet to stay updated on remodling ideas. Just wanted to say thanks for a great site and looking forward to more articles.
Steve
Hi Wanda!
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the color. Sherwin Williams has a nice little program that you may want to use called Chip It. You upload or give them the url of the image you like and they will provide you paint palette of the colors in the image. It could at least narrow down the color enough to help you. Here’s the url: http://letschipit.com/
Thanks so much!
just wanted to know what is the color of the deck showing with the dark charcoal single wide mobile home…thx
Thanks for the great ideas. We are starting a bathroom remodel come Monday. Paint is one of the things I have concerns about. We are replacing the shower and toilet. Making the room lighter and brighter without harsh lighting. Any comments or advise would be welcomed.
Thanks,
Hi Marisa! Thanks for commenting! I’d love to feature your home after you get finished remodeling, hope you keep MMHL in mind!
Love all the great ideas I my self is also remodeling my home on a budget love ur site
Hi Debbie!! We live in a Homette too! I love them – they have good bones and great layouts! Glad you like MMHL! Maybe when you get finished you’ll let me feature your home? I’d love to have as many Homette’s as possible! Thanks for commenting!
We are new to mobile home living. We went full-time RVing/workcamping about 2 years ago so we have a lot more room now. Our home is a fixer upper so to speak, we do live in it and everything is ok just needs some TLC. We have a 1974 Homette 12 x 44 in a great park with lots of great people. I happened upon your site here and am enjoying it a lot. Thanks for a great site!
It’s great to hear from you, Dreama! You guys have been busy, busy! I can’t wait to see (and share) your beautiful home!
Pex and sharkbites are the best inventions ever – they make plumbing possible for the rest of us. Thanks for stopping by – I hope you have a wild and wonderful WV day too!
Thank you so much for the info Jeni! It’s always great to hear from you!
Thank you Crystal for this post! I agree that a small budget can afford great remodeling – over time. Yesterday I was pricing windows and a sliding glass door for my wish list – not bad actually, from $100 for windows and $399 for the slider. However, I’d like to add that when retrofitting, there are some great windows and doors at local re-purposing outlets, like the Habit for Humanity ReStore thrift shops.
Thanks again for all your helpful posts for us mobile homers!! 🙂
Hey Crystal! Havent chatted for a while. We are still working on our mobile and have made some recent progress! Rick got the water lines dug and the sewer lines!! Still need to hook all the plumbing back up. That will definitely be a job since a lot of it had been disconnected when we got the mobile. But we want to add shut off valves at every sink and toilet and we’re using ‘shark bite’ connectors to make sure we have no leaks. Rick also got the power hooked directly to the pole so now I can do a room by room check to make sure we don’t have any overloads on any of the breakers. We got an atrium door for free, as Rick says, new in the box. LOL Gonna put that in the back livingroom wall and take out those tiny little windows. That will give us tons of light in the livingroom! Ive set a move in date for Labor Day, which might be wishful thinking, but a girl can dream, right? I’ll send you some pictures real soon! Have a wild, wonderful WV day!
I love It <3