This is Sylvia a 1974 HollyPark Single Wide Mobile Home
This is how Sylvia looked when we first purchased her in February 2016.
There had been no routine maintenance or repairs done for a long time.
The home had had several owners none of which had taken care of her. The outside was old and faded. She really showed her 42 years of age.
There was junk everywhere
To add to it there was junk everywhere. Such a lovely space on the back patio was filled with trash!
The 30 by 14 foot Florida Room Gave Sylvia a lot of possibilities
With doors at both ends and windows accross the front the room had been built to be light and airy. The original doors were still in place though broken and unusable.
This old lady was ready to be loved again
We saw past all her challenges and visualized a renovated home that retained her original charm. To do a project like this it takes more then money.. it takes love and passion for the home itself.This is our blog about that passion and the journey it set us on. We hope you'll come along.
Monday, August 14, 2017
One year ... A Slideshow Journey from the Outside
Thursday, August 10, 2017
New Paint... New Life
Haruki Murakami once said "Even castles in the sky can do with a fresh coat of paint." So it stands to reason that a forty
four year old mobile home would do nicely with one too.
So we started this project with an eye toward keeping the shabby chic country cottage look going.. Sylvia was already several shades of blue.. varying on how much exposure the surface got. She was blue gray on one side, slate blue on one end and underneath the roof of the back patio and entry way she was rather a turquoises.
With that in mind we turned to Home depot and Behr Paints color pallet. The final choice was to keep the slate blue look using TETON BLUE exterior "Ultra", the white would go a light tan and we selected Behr Ultra ASH BLONDE. For the trim of the dark green shutters we upgraded to Behr Marquee with it's one coat coverage guarantee. The color would be CHERRY COLA.
It was a project that we were both excited to start and surprisingly it took us only two days to complete We started with the front of the expando ( bump out) which was in the worse shape, down to the bare metal siding..
Even using the Behr Ultra one coat covered the old paint with no bleed through and no need to add an additional coat. We used a roller for the basic areas then brushed in the details. The shutters were the hardest to make sure we got every nook and cranny without removing them. By the end of day one we had covered all the big areas of the home and were ready for filling in the details on day two.
Day two was detail day.. all the little nooks and crannies.. the front windows and the shutters. Additionally we detailed out the front porch awning and trim.
Now the exterior of my vintage lady has a new look, with new skirting coming in the spring of 2018 to finish the exterior we are happy with the progress so far.
We have one more exterior project to complete before winter sets in, the refinishing of the exterior of the Florida Room, that project is up next!
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Adding Decor and Lighting To Our New Patio
With the new patio fence complete it is time to start adding decor both for this season and next.
The first thing was to add lighting for the night time hours when we wanted to cook out or just hang out. We didn't want to hire anyone to wire lights and liked the idea that plug in light strings would provide us with the flexibility to change things up from season to season.
There is one out door ready outlet by the Florida room door which is well protected and weather safe. It is now the power source we need to light up the night.
Next we needed to get the power from the side of the Florida Room to the outside railing. For that we would need an outdoor extension cord ( as short a one as possible) and a waterproof outlet box to cover the connections.
I purchased a Better Homes and Gardens Quick Fit Outdoor Outlet Cover at Wal-Mart. We could have used outdoor plug covers but found them to be difficult to mount to a wall.
This isn't the exact cover but it will give you an idea of what to look for. Ours has two openings on the bottom for cords and a rubber pad on the back for a tight water proof seal.
We installed our cover on the wall right beside of the top rail where we would hang our lights. Plugged our extension cord in. coiled it and used a large hook to hang the neatly coiled cord above the window. This allows that cord to be used for other things since it can easily be removed from the box and unhooked from the wall. We connected the lights to the extension cord and used the openings in the bottom of the box to allow them to enter and exit while the actual plug was protected and dry.
Next we hung our lights on simple cup hooks along the rail. stringing them to hang between the cedar pickets .
Our string lights were also from Better Homes and Gardens and fugal as we are we shopped the clearance section of Wal-Mart Lawn and Garden to find two sets of lights that were "string along". With these lights you can add as many as 8 additional strings for a total of 79 feet of lighting. We only needed two strings for our project. They are well made and have rubber capped bulb sockets to withstand the moisture of a soaking rain.
Sue found this wonderful idea on a web site that uses an old watering can and fairy lights. She had an old can and I found two sets of lights at Wal-Mart on clearance. These are Better Homes and Gardens LED 36 count wire lights.. You can purchase many different fairy lights at craft stores and Amazon.
Her can was done and I LOVED IT!!
However I didn't have an old watering can and shopping for a "vintage" can on the Internet that had the watering rose in tact was expensive. Some cans were selling for over $50 dollars!!! I think not.
I was having trouble finding a galvanized can when someone suggested Tractor Supply. ( If you don't have this store in your area find the nearest farm supply store). They had cans and for only $ 9.99 each.. I bought two.. one for now and one for later..
To complete the project we had to enlarge some of the holes on the watering rose with a drill. No problem you only need about 5 - 6 holes. Then thread the lights through.. screw on the rose and hang your can.
You can find complete instructions on how to do your can here:
Can finished.. lights hung all that was left was to add a Red Barn planter that I also purchased at Tractor Supply and stick in some nice green leafy plants.. The result is so pleasing it's amazing.
At night the can with it's lights just glows !!
Here you can see the lights and the watering can lit. The plus is that the fairy lights have a timer that lights them for six hours then shuts them off for eighteen. The battery box is waterproof ( 3 AA batteries) so just toss it in the can ...
This is our solution to outdoor lighting that was affordable (less then $50) and is enjoyable. Get creative and choose what's right for your vintage mobile home.
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Pallet Fence Construction- Day Two.. It's Finished!
Well day two was harder and seemed longer then day one. Today we battled the measure tape and a defective tool.. BUT the fence is done and all that remains in some sanding of the rough spots and painting.
The day started with a break.. the second porch support was plumb and the pallet slid right in front of it with ease. We had to slip a rope down and around the mop-head hydrangea and pull it back so we could work on the corner without damaging the bush.
We caught a break early the porch support was in line with our fence.
We turned the corner and headed toward the finish line but working with the odd measurements to fit the gate turned into a huge project. We had to measure carefully as two different pallets would need to be taken apart at precisely the right width.
At about eleven in the morning the new hammer drill lost all torque and the heavy masonry bit started to fall out of the chuck. It was off to Home Depot for an exchange. We also needed a box of shorter wood screws and a third box of cement anchors. Home Depot handled the tool exchange very quickly and we were soon back to work.
We double and triple check the corner placement. It had to line up with Sylvia on the other end yet butt up against the side pallet correctly.
We test the placement of the 2 x 2"s for fit and alignment.
One concern we had was attaching the pallet to Sylvia while leaving enough room to install the new skirting without removing it. Using a 2 x 4 cut to the right height and doubled we were able to place the pallet far enough away from the home to able to slide the new skirting behind it later this year.
The end pallet is lined up with the edge of Sylvia to test for placement . We use 2 x 2's to check the alignment with the other end.
With the alignment tested and we're reasonably sure things will work we place the double thick 2 x 4 and attach the pallet . This will allow for skirting replacement without removing any part of the fence.
The bottom is left unattached. The old rail can be cut and slid out without removing the fence
Now came the really tricky part that had us stopped dead for several minutes while we calculate all of the cuts that would have to be made to fit a gate and close the remaining gap.
First we had to cut a pallet to precisely 20 inches wide, basically right at the center upright board. This pallet would attach to the pallet that had turned the corner and be where the gate would latch.
With that pallet in place we now had to cut the gate pallet to exactly 33 1/2" and replace the upright board . Believe me this was nerve wracking to get both sides cut and plumb.
It was now time to install the hinges and the latch. I wanted the hammered black metal hinges to go along with the rustic look of the fence.
Were going to use 3 hinges for the gate to be sure it's secure.
Here the wood was a little off on the gate side so to add support for the screws we used one of our cedar pickets. We attached the hinges.. then screwed the picket to each pallet board. This provided a solid grip on the gate. On the other side we attached a flip latch and the gate was finished.
The flip latch is attached and secure.
A picture of the finished gate
It was now time to secure the pallets to the cement using the 2 x 2's as we had throughout the project.
We then attached the one end pallet to the existing metal corner wall for added strength. To finish the trim we added a picket to each end of the back fence.
I'm so very happy with the way this turned out and with the final cost of the project being less then I had expected.. Total cost for the project was $480.00. Keep in mind we did the work ourselves so if you have to hire it done the cost will be higher.
My dogs are happy too.. and will be enjoying our upcoming fall weather leash free on their new back patio!!
