Our Mobile Home Remodel — Tara Vander Dussen

This is a sponsored post by Ace Hardware. Read below for the full details of our mobile home remodel. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on my personal view.

Everything you need to know about a mobile home remodel. From preparing an empty lot to renovating a mobile home. All the before and after photos and details of our experience remodeling a 20-year-old mobile home.

History

A little bit of history about this project before we get into the renovation details.

The lot

We bought an empty lot on a nearby lake in December 2020. Buying an empty lot came with some challenges, but a lot of opportunities. The first thing we had to work on was creating a pad for the mobile home. This consisted of adding two retaining walls to increase the size of the lot since it had two ravines on each side. We brought in a lot of dirt to level out the land. Then we also had to think about installing electricity, water, and sewage (yay! the fun stuff).

The Mobile Home

We bought a 20-year-old mobile home from my parents that we had to move two streets down. We learned a lot about mobile homes in this process. What to do and what not to do when moving a mobile. My biggest piece of advice? Hire a company that knows what they are doing. There are so many regulations and permits and hoops to jump through. You do not want to mess this up!

Demo

It’s DEMO DAY!! We did almost all of the demo ourselves to try to save some money. The way we saw it, we couldn’t mess up too many things during the demo. So we went for it. And it was easier than we thought. We took (almost) the whole house down to the walls. Removing every cabinet, light fixture, sink, shower and tub, and more.

Popcorn ceilings

We also removed all the popcorn ceilings. This was probably one of the largest and most intimidating parts of the demo. But, again, this was honestly so much easier than we thought. We wet down the ceiling using a garden sprayer and then scraped it off with a large trowel. Check out this video on my Instagram for a better visual.

The Kitchen and Laundry Room

In the kitchen, pretty much everything went except the appliances. And we cut one wall in half. This made such a big difference! It opened the whole kitchen up to the family room. Since we kept the bottom of the wall, we didn’t lose any countertop space and we kept the cabinet storage on the bottom. We added all new cabinets, countertops, sink, faucet, lighting, and pulls. In the laundry room, we installed up and lower cabinets in this side space and cabinets all the way across above the washer and dryer. We also included the backsplash.

Before and After of our Mobile Home Reno

The Master Bath and Guest Bath

In the master bath, we removed the giant soaker tub and the original shower. The original shower was extremely small. We turned that space into a closet and put a new, larger shower where the tub was. This made a huge difference in the bathroom from an aesthetics perspective and a functionality perspective. And we were able to get the shower and shower door at Ace. In the bath, we installed new cabinets, countertops, faucets, and sinks. We also included a sliding barn door to cover the new closet (previously a shower).

Renovation

Once the demo was done, it was time to renovate! This entire renovation and all the supplies came from Ace Hardware. I will be sharing more details about all the products we used in the sections below.

The Inspiration

For this renovation, I wanted to be in the white, gray, and blue color scheme. I wanted the house to give the feeling of escaping to the water. I found a backsplash that I absolutely loved at Ace Hardware called Night Sky. It was my inspiration throughout much of the project. It reminded me of the ocean with different shades of blue and hints of gold and silver.

The Paint

One of the things we debated the most was whether or not to tape and texture the walls. The original walls had mobile home wallpaper with seams. So our options were to paint over them, do a faux texture or bite the bullet and tape, and texture everything. We went with the latter. Tape and texture everything! (Except the closets, we just painted them.) And I am so glad we did. It made everything seem fresh and new. We did primer the walls with Kilz before we taped and textured them. And we used all Purdy paint supplies. A great paintbrush and roller can make or break your painting project. Purdy paint tools will last forever and swipe on paint like a dream.

For the paint, I selected: Wedding Band (for the kitchen) and One Horn White (for the rest of the house) by Magnolia Home. I wanted to give the kitchen a little bit more color than the rest of the house because of the white cabinets and countertops. In the picture below, you can see the Wedding band (gray in the kitchen) and the One Horn White in the background (white in the family room).

One thing we learned about Ace’s paint department during this project is that Ace Hardware can match any paint color. So if you prefer a different line like Benjamin Moore paint, Ace's paint experts can make any color in the line you want just make sure to bring in your paint chip as a reference.

the Cabinets

We also debated whether or not to keep the cabinets and countertops. Keep them and paint them or replace them. We went with replacing them. There were a few with damage from normal wear and tear and sun damage. So we felt like replacing them would make a big difference. We also added cabinets in places there weren’t cabinets before to increase storage.

We selected the basic, standard white cabinets that our Ace had in stock. It was so nice to be able to go and pick out exactly what we needed/wanted. And the quality and design were perfect and simple.

The Flooring

For the floors, we originally had laminate floors in the kitchen, laundry room, and bathrooms and blue carpet everywhere else. We tore out all the carpet. And then we were able to lay the new flooring right over the laminate and the flooring under the carpet.

We went with Coretec in Galveston Oak. The Galveston Oak was a great gray color. And the Coretec is super heavy duty ie waterproof, pet-proof, and can handle wear and tear. And it’s easy installation and easy to maintain/clean. Perfect for a lake house. It also came with a cork unlay which was great to add some comfort and sound dampening. And finally, it was very affordable!

This was another item that our Ace Hardware was able to special order for us. One thing to remember, Ace will always research if an item can be brought into their store or special ordered in just for you if they do not carry a product you're looking for - they always go the extra mile for their customers.

The Lighting

For the lighting, there were a lot of gold brass fixtures. Those all had to go (sorry mom!). We incorporated some mixed metals for the lighting, using brushed gold, black, and brushed nickel. I was super nervous about having different metals throughout the house but ended up loving it. It added a lot of dimension and character. And Westinghouse had so many lighting options. Two of my favorites were this chandelier above the kitchen table and the pendants above the island. All the lighting and fans were purchased through Ace Hardware.

The Finishes

With the finishes, I decided to try something new. I went with brushed champagne aka gold hardware for the cabinet pulls and faucets. My husband was hesitant at first. He didn’t quite understand going from gold brass handles to brushed gold pulls. But we loved how it turned out!

For the faucets, we really wanted a gold finish. So the team at Ace was able to special order the Delta faucets. They were the perfect finish in the bathrooms.

We also added some wood details throughout the house that went really well with the gold accents including a wood beam in the family room, the front door, and a barn door in the master bath. We added the distressed wood beam to cover the mobile home seam and add a little character and color to the family room/kitchen. Win-Win.

Outside

On the outside of the house, we repainted the entire exterior using Magnolia Homes Duke Gray. We wanted to do something a little more bold and dark. This color was a great option for a gray, blue look. We also carried the wood detail outside with the wood shutters.

We also poured concrete for sidewalks and steps and installed a front porch. And we replaced both the front and back door. These doors were a bigger process than we expected. Mobile homes don’t have standard-sized doors. So when we replaced the doors, we had to reframe them to fit the new doors.

We had to add new siding to the bottom of the mobile. We purchased Texas Stone from Ace Hardware for the siding. The stone looks amazing and adds color and dimension to the outside of the mobile. *A note on the siding…Since this was an old mobile home that had been moved, we could not get the electrical hooked up until the siding was finished.

And finally, we added crushed asphalt to the driveway. This was available locally which saved money. And asphalt is a less expensive option than gravel.

Final Comments

The entire process, from purchasing the lot to completing the renovation, took a lot longer than we anticipated. We closed on the lot at the end of December 2020 and completed the renovation in October 2021. The actual renovation took about 4 months. As we quickly learned, renovations always take longer than expected. In the future, I would have planned on more time throughout the process.

Overall, we are so happy with how this project turned out! It looks like a completely different house! I am so thankful that we worked with our locally-owned Ace Hardware on this renovation. Working with a team we knew and trusted, they were able to help us through the entire process. Saving us time, energy, and a lot of headaches. They also went above and beyond to find exactly what we were looking for even if that meant special ordering something. And they were always conscientious of our budget. Helping choose the perfect product within our budget.

Udderly renovated,

New Mexico Milkmaid

To see more behind-the-scenes content from our renovations in my Instagram highlights.