For many of you, the mobile home lifestyle is something you love. For others, living in a mobile home is just a temporary arrangement. You’re saving your money for a “real” house. A stick-built dream home. But you want to make the most of where you are in life right now, while still keeping the future in mind.
If current mobile home dweller and future stick-built dreamer sounds like you, no doubt you’ve often been stumped about how to choose decor. Should you buy cheap decor that’s not really your style, throw it out when you move to a stick-built, and start over? Or should you spend a lot of money on something you love, cross your fingers, and hope it’ll fit into both your mobile home and your stick-built place?
We don’t want you to do either! Today let’s talk about how to choose decor that will fit your mobile home and easily transition someday into a stick-built house.
Prioritize and budget
The first step in any decorating project is, of course, to prioritize your wants and needs. This is especially important when choosing decor that will stand the test of time and someday adorn your forever home. It’s all about minimalism. If you’re not a minimalist, that’s okay. However, if you become one while living in your mobile home, you’ll find that moving into a new house will be less stressful. You won’t be dragging too many extra pieces of furniture and decor with you when you move.
So ask yourself: what can you live without for a few months or years? Once you start filling in the blanks between what you already own and what you think you need you’ll start automatically eliminating certain things. The next step is to budget. Once again, budgeting will eliminate some “needs” from your list. They’ll have to wait.
After you nail down the big picture on paper, it’s time to move onto the details.
Think small, not big
This is where you need to change your perspective a little. After looking at the big picture plan, it’s hard to turn right around and tell yourself to think small! But hear us out, because this is important. Mobile homes are small. If you try to stuff your house full of furniture and decor pieces that are better fit for a larger stick-built home, then you’ll have a mess on your hands. Your mobile home will be cluttered, and you’ll feel claustrophobic.
Don’t reject current tidiness for the sake of future comfort! Buy pieces that will look great in a stick-built house and in a mobile home. This could mean refraining from purchasing that comfy overstuffed sofa and choosing a modern one with a smaller footprint instead. Choosing heavy, ornate, or large pieces can quickly overwhelm a mobile home.
Scale things down a bit. Don’t choose decor based only on whether it would look great in a stick-built. Chances are, ideal stick-built decor may not look so great in your mobile home. So focus instead on color schemes, textures, and your personal design style. Find pieces that fit your color palette or theme and look fantastic in your mobile home. Likely they’ll look just as stunning in a stick-built house later on.
How to tame the knickknacks
Minimizing the clutter in a mobile home is always a struggle. There’s just not enough room for all the knickknacks you might like to display! Especially if you’re used to living in a large home, moving into a mobile home is a wake-up call. Although a few smaller decor pieces can really elevate a room, knowing when and where to use them is the trick. And usually, good use of knickknacks starts with having a good canvas.
Maximize color and texture
Strip away the knickknacks and what do you have? Blank white walls? Boring brown tones everywhere? Instead of trying to cover up the boring with decor, start picking foundational colors and textures that are beautiful on their own.
For example:
- Create an accent wall with a bold paint color, batten board, an interesting window, wallpaper, or really anything else you can think of.
- Utilize rugs for added texture and color.
- Arch your windows or doorways.
- Install beautiful hardwood or laminate flooring. Or paint your old hardwood floors.
- Paint cabinets a bold color.
- Install built-ins for storing extra books, dishes, and small decor.
- Change your boring backsplash to something show-stopping.
When moving day rolls around
You’ve bought a stick-built, and you’re ready to move on from the mobile home life. Yes, you might have some new design challenges ahead of you, but they’re good challenges. Who in the history of the world complained about having more space to decorate? With a few beautiful, versatile pieces of furniture and decor in tow, you can settle in and get to work.
If you need more inspiration, feel free to browse our large archive of design articles here on the EZ Homes Blog, starting with how to choose mobile home decor a designer would be proud of.
About EZ Homes Design Team
