Mobile Home Kitchen Update

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A little paint and a few things from the home improvement store is all you need. As you might know, we live in a 1978 Homette single wide mobile home. This is what it looked like the day we bought it:

 

This is what I had to work with! I saw the potential – I just didn’t have the money needed to reach its full potential, so I did the next best thing – an affordable mobile home kitchen makeover!

We were still saving up for the new flooring, ceilings, and windows but I did have enough for some paint and brushes and even a couple of low-cost extra’s that would update the space.

This single wide itself is only about 12 feet wide, the kitchen and dining area is about 14 and a half feet long. The pantry/closet combo on the right side takes up approximately 16 sq. Ft. and the counters are very wide at around 2 ft, so it’s a roomy space to be in a 696 square foot home. 

What to Buy

The cabinets are, of course, the cheap particleboard with a very thin paper veneer printed with an image of real wood. I bought Kilz Primer and the premium Valspar paint at Lowe’s, along with premium brushes and rollers. Painting kitchens and bathrooms are not the time to go cheap! Good brushes reduce the lines and help give a smoother and more even coverage. 

What to Do

Clean

Once I sanded everything down to get the loose paper off and smooth the particle board edges, I cleaned it all using warm water and industrial cleaner that we had found at Big Lots. I wiped everything down two times and let it dry overnight.  

Sand again!

Once the cabinets and frame dried overnight, they were ready to be sanded again! Nothing much, just some touch-ups. I found a little courage and figured out that the grittier sandpaper worked fine on the edges of the doors, where the particleboard looked like the Appalachian Mountains, instead of a smooth table top.

Clean it, again! 

Once the sanding was finished and I was happy with the edges – I cleaned it all again. Uck! I let it dry overnight again, too.  

Prime it all

Using Kilz, I laid down the first coat of primer. It was a very thin, very light coat. 

I sanded again and painted again.The cabinets look great with my appliances, as the white gives a very clean look all around. Appliance repair parts will be really easy to find, without mismatching from the cabinets. I also painted the pantry door and the little wall that stands where the cabinets end with blackboard paint. The area of the wall around the windows were painted with green apple. I think thinner coats and more of them is the way to go when painting. (I am not a professional, I’ve just painted several times in my life.)

The next step in the update was adding some shelving. I bought pre-made shelves that were very long to span the two windows over the sink. Then I added paper shades and then added all my pretties.