It starts with a vision, continues with determination and is finished with love. That is what inspires us to tackle a renovation of a 42 year old mobile home.
The vision was a top to bottom renovation, transforming the Hodge podge of poorly done work into a "country shabby chic" home that would fit my country girl lifestyle.
The determination comes from the fact we are both stubborn middle aged women who simply do what we put our minds to come hell or high water as the saying goes.
The love comes from the fact that Sylvia, despite all the owners and bad maintenance, has good bones, and charm. We did a lot of research into the company that built this home and found out a lot about the quality and longevity of the Holly Park brand
Here is a little history about Holly Park Homes:
Holly Park stopped manufacturing mobile homes in the early 2000's . Based in Middlebury, Indiana the company first started making homes in 1964. With a network of over 20 builders the company produced an average of 500 homes a year.
Best known for the manufacture of high quality single wide homes, some with Expando living rooms the company branched out into double-wides and modular homes in the late 1990's and construction quality vs cost forced them to close. In their heyday they best served the middle to upper end home buyer.
By 1974 the company was producing a Cadillac single wide home with an expanded living room.
It took some serious research on the Internet to come up with pictures of what the interior of Sylvia would have looked like when she was new. But we did find a few.
The Kitchen
With four large windows the front kitchen is bright and airy. We note the mirrored wall in what appears to be a hutch. None of this remains in Sylvia today.. but we sure enjoy looking at these pictures.
The Master Bedroom
At the opposite end of the home is the master bedroom. Again there are three windows across the end of the home and one on each side . There's a large closet with bi fold doors. Built in storage under the windows must have been nice. All of the built ins have been long since been removed but the master bedroom is just as bright and airy today as it's kitchen counterpart.
The Second Bedroom
The second smaller bedroom is the first room down the hall from the living room. A hallway window brightens the hallway and adds light to this room if the door is open. The original had a built in nook closet with under storage drawers and lots of shelves. Pictured here with a twin bed the room is large enough for a full size bed. In Sylvia the closet doors and under drawers have been removed as have the shelves. This room will become my craft room where I'll sew and make paper crafts I sell.
The Bathroom
The bathroom in the original was loaded with wood cabinets. In some homes it also served as a laundry room, but in Sylvia a separate room for the washer and dryer is just down the hall. The wood cabinets have been painted but are original. One unique discovery we made, the bottom cabinet closest to the shower is actually a pull out towel hamper. This home has a tub/shower combination , but today Sylvia has only a large shower without the doors.
We have been unable to find pictures of the 13' by 7' expando that makes Sylvia's living room not only huge in space but bright and airy with two large windows on each side and a raised roof with sky lights. The one picture we found of the living room is a bit dark and as you can see there are no
widows showing.
The interior of Sylvia has been made considerable brighter by the addition of white paneling through out the home for which we are thankful. However with all the character and charm of an older Cadillac edition home we've decided to keep what is left of the original and create our own unique "County Shabby Chic" home.... It's a girl thing !
