Owning a mobile or manufactured home comes with many appealing benefits, including the capability to live simply or minimally. More so, many people are drawn to mobile homes because of their affordability. In terms of cost per square foot, manufactured homes offer greater value for your money on average when compared to site-built homes, according to Homes Direct.
A single wide home priced at $43K per square foot cost less than half as much as a single-family, site-built home retailing for $107K per square foot. The drawback, however, is that a single wide offers less than half the average square footage of a site-built home. But don’t let size-reduction scare you from purchasing or staying put in one of these amazing manufactured homes. There are a variety of clever remodeling ideas to get the most out of your mobile home. Check out some of these top transformation tips for enlarging small spaces:
Adapt Your Cabinetry
Across the board, kitchen remodels are known as one of the most worthwhile home improvement investments. Aside from enhancing the appearance of the home’s most common gathering space, remodeling can also optimize available kitchen space—especially in an already small-scale mobile home.
One affordable remodeling solution that will enlarge your mobile home’s kitchen is to customize the cabinets by extending or building them from the floor all the way up to the ceiling. The cost of kitchen cabinets in a remodel can range based on which features you opt for (i.e., semi-custom or custom cabinets), but you can achieve this project for as little as $100 per linear foot.
For even more room in your kitchen, try swapping out a bulky kitchen table and chairs for an island with a few bar stools. Islands are freestanding pieces of cabinetry that can provide more versatility in a mobile home by offering extra storage space in addition to more surface or countertop space.
Reclaim Wasted Space
If properly executed, a remodel will change the flow of a given room for the better, although it may come with a high price tag. However, there are ways to save money on mobile home remodels and still create more spacious living quarters. The key is to optimize your available space while making as little modifications to an area’s original layout as possible.
For instance, replacing a bathtub with a mobile home walk-in shower can save you money while maximizing your existing space so long as you keep the plumbing layout intact. Bathroom fixtures for mobile homes, such as shower pans, tend to be relatively cheap; It’s when plumbing needs relocating that remodeling costs begin to soar.
An average shower pan for a mobile home walk-in shower occupies roughly seven square feet, while a bathtub can take up over ten square feet. By freeing up nearly a quarter of your bathroom, you can add a new vanity cabinet with additional storage space as well as install hooks, towel racks, or shelves on the wall.
Get Creative With Functionality
Seeing as most single wide homes cap out at an average of 1,300 square feet, and double wides at 2,500 square feet, it’s critical to make every inch of space count. To do so, you should keep functionality at the forefront of your design plans.
When you create a functional room, you are forming a space that is practical and comfortable. Functionality can continue to maximize space throughout your mobile home through efficient layout and proper placement of furniture, appliances, and other household belongings.
An excellent way to make a room more functional is to utilize as much vertical space as possible. That said, if you’re in the market for new appliances during your mobile home remodel, you may contemplate purchasing a stackable washer and dryer set. Stacked washer and dryer units can be ideal for those without a finished laundry room as they can fit perfectly in a closet.
If you’re not quite ready to replace appliances, you can still take advantage of vertical space with items you already have, like using a wall-mount for your television or other electronics. Not only does wall mounting your TV create a modern look, but it’s also a relatively inexpensive solution to free up valuable real estate as it allows you to get rid of unwieldy furniture like TV stands.
As it turns out, there are ample options for establishing a greater sense of space in any mobile home. Between minor construction projects, simple storage solutions, and a little furniture revamping, you’ll be able to shift your home’s ambiance from cramped to comfortable with ease.