1985 Kaufman and Broad Double Wide Remodel

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This 1985 Kaufman and Broad double wide remodel is a real treat!

Usually I write the article but since Katheryn did such a great job of writing the answers to my interview questions I’ll let her tell the story of their remodel. 

Name: Arthur and Katheryn

Location of home: Plumas County, CA

Make and model of the home: 1985 Kaufman and Broad Double-Wide
Manufactured Home with 1568 square feet.

Arthur and Katheryn’s 1985 Kaufman and Broad double wide was completely original when they bought it. It had good bones and great potential and the couple surely saw that.

You can scroll through (left and right) to see what the home looked like before the remodel. 

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Tell us a bit about yourself, your project, and your home:

We have been married for over 30 years and always dreamed of owning a place on the water.
After searching for several years in Northern California, we found the property of our dreams with a river that runs through it. The 8 acres also had an existing home on it, a 1985 Kaufman and Broad double wide. We didn’t pay much attention to the home when we looked at the property because it was only the land and location that interested us. 

We had a choice to make after closing on the property. Our first option was to bulldoze the double wide and replace it. The second option was to keep the manufactured home and make it work. We chose to move in and begin cleaning. As soon as we started cleaning we immediately realized that the bones of the home were in great condition. It was filthy, however, and had an indescribable smell. We knew we had to remove all the flooring and paint at the very least before it would be livable. 

We have done other remodels and I have a pretty good eye for it so the idea of
making some changes and bringing it back to life was exciting.

As luck would have it, the selling realtor’s husband was a contractor and had done some pretty extensive mobile home remodels. He was able to give us some great ideas (such as the pine ceilings and wainscoting) and helped us transition it from the tired original status to our dream cabin.

Installing tongue and groove on the ceilings and walls.

Tips Learned During the Project

We learned that it is just as straightforward to remodel a mobile home as it is to remodel a site-built home.

We had read articles about painting mobile home walls and found out that it wasn’t hard to do, even on the vinyl wallboard as you can see in the before pictures.

We used Kilz Oil-Based White Primer and a white paint with primer (Kelly Moore #KM4569 Clear Sand in Eggshell).

We were surprised to learn that you can replace the wallboards with thin sheetrock if you have any damaged walls or if you don’t want to deal with the seams. However, we chose to leave the seams and just paint. We like the look.

After noticing that all the cabinets were in good shape (just very greasy and dirty), we decided to take the cabinet doors and hardware home to clean, sand, paint and refinish. We used Kelly Moore #KM4571 Cobblestone Street for the Cabinets in Satin.) We only had one drawer front that was missing.

Since we were adding a dishwasher, we removed one cabinet door and my husband used it to make a replacement drawer front.

Proudest DIY Moments

Too many to pick just one!

It was a great feeling when the kitchen walls came down. We were surprised how easy it was to remove them.  

Read Can You Remove Walls in Mobile Homes? here. 

Also, the home had an elevated dining area off the kitchen that divided the kitchen from the great room and made space planning difficult. I was so excited when I arrive one weekend to see that my husband and niece had already been working and were able to remove the elevated area. It looked so great and the plywood underneath looked new. They said there we “so many” staples they almost gave up but with a lot of hammering and the crowbar they were finally able to knock it out.

Cabinet Hardware Refinishing

I was very proud of the result of my refinished cabinet hardware. It was a nice 1980’s style and none were missing. They just needed to be cleaned up and spray painted.

I soaked them in vinegar and water overnight before I wiped them down. When they were completely dry, I used Satin Bronze spray paint as the base, let it dry then sprayed Oil Rubbed Bronze over it. While the Oil Rubbed Bronze was still wet, I used a rag to rub and expose the Satin Bronze underneath in the areas desired – to bring it back to the original look.

Ceilings and Wainscotting

The ceilings and wainscoting turned out better than we could imagine. We bought a bulk load of pine tongue and groove for about $1k which covered the walls and the ceiling. With the light pine, the dark faux beams that were existing became a focal point and the jumping off-color for the rest of our trim paint around doors and windows. 

Related: Learn more about ceiling replacement options for mobile homes here. 

The deals you can get on Facebook Marketplace are incredible. I felt it was safer than Craigslist because you can see the seller’s profile, mutual friends, etc.

Challenges During the 1985 Kaufman and Broad Double Wide Remodel

Finding the right flooring for the mobile home was a challenge. We needed something durable that would complement the pine and wouldn’t be so noisy when the dogs walk across it.

We chose Floor & Décor Hydroshield White Grove Hickory Hand- Scraped Water-Resistant Laminate with the highest grade pad they had available.

Favorite Room in the House

My favorite room is the great room because of the size and the French doors that we added to take advantage of the view.

Advice About Buying and Living in a Mobile Home

As I previously stated, remodeling a mobile home is so much more straightforward than I ever thought.

 – Start by doing little things like repainting the walls and cabinets. It makes all the difference.

 – Replacing the exterior doors, painting the interior doors, and adding new door hardware gave the home an instant updated feel.

 – Take the time to focus on the little things like the trim.

 – Try to re-use as much as possible by painting or refinishing. We even re-used the 80’s brass light fixtures in the bathrooms by spray painting the brass with Oil Rubbed Bronze. We substituted the oak trim with the same stained pine we used as trim on the windows and doors, and substituted the light-bulbs with a new LED clear Edison-style.

Total Cost of the 1985 Kaufman and Broad Double Wide Remodel

We spent around $65k for the entire project including all of the furniture and appliances, which I purchased used from Facebook Marketplace. We figured it was about the same (or less) than if we had purchased a new 5th wheel to put on the property. The home had a metal roof, new plumbing within the last 10 years, and relatively new windows.

Favorite Tools and Materials Used

The most helpful time savers were the paint sprayer and Sawzall. 

Summary

Huge thanks to Arthur and Katheryn for sharing their gorgeous home. The tongue and groove ceiling is probably my favorite but those floors and wainscoting is just as beautiful. 

Thank you for reading Mobile Home Living®!