here's the new floorplan if anyone is interested (with a couple difference

[NMDemDist2]

this is pretty close EXCEPT where they show a walk in pantry in my house it's the master closet which makes the master go the entire width of the house.

note the toe/shin banging "garden tub", reverse the sites of the john and the shower and envision the tub and one vanity ripped out and a walk in shower running the width of the bathroom using the existin shower drain

the only other mod we are doing is replacing the smaller bedroom's window with a 4' french door that opens onto a deck for hubby to be able to roll his telescope out

there is a built in china hutch against the utility room wall in the dining room and a 2' stem wall dividing the LR and Dining and the "snack bar" is full length instead of that weird closet against the front wall. in the kitchen, the refer is next to the snack bar and the stove is moved around the corner. where they show the refer (across from utility room) is actually a big built in with a spot for the microwave

I am loving the wide open floor plan and the rooms are all bigger than what we have now (except my kitchen). I have room in the utility room to add a bunch of shelves above my freezer and the third bedroom closet is extra storage as well. I told hubby we'd have to put a little bit of storage out in his 20x30 shop for XMas stuff, but other then that we should fit in here just fine :bounce:

the hall and 2nd bath have travertine tile, the 3rd bedroom has hardwood laminate cherry plank flooring. we are putting hardwood laminate through out the rest of the house before we move any furniture in as all the carpets are totally shot.

[Warpy]

1. One of the first things I did in my old trailer

was crowbar that hutch out of the wall and replace it with a more reasonable piece of furniture, an antique canning cabinet with 3 shelves and 4 drawers. That hutch suffered from the "designed by a man" syndrome and was the only part of that trailer that DIDN'T work. It ate up a huge amount of floor space and provided little storage and no additional counter space.

I still miss that trailer terribly, though. If only it had been on its own piece of land and not on the edge of town.

Once you get used to that long, skinny floor plan you're going to lvoe it.

[NMDemDist2]

2. we talked about making the hutch over to my laptop desk

it isn't very deep (not over 14" i'd guess) so it may actually work for my antique bowls and "good" china I inherited from Grammy

but it would be a good laptop/secretary area esp since my dining chairs are on wheels so it will be a breeze to swing one around there from the table

i've lived in "shotgun" houses more than once, so the long floorplan will be fine and since it's an oversized single wide (18') it makes the rooms a nice size

and i get the far bedroom for my projects :bounce:

[troubleinwinter]

8. Mine is just about 3/4 your square footage...

wider & shorter. She is damned cute for just me alone.

But I know about those crazy built-in hutch deals. I keep staring at it with menacing thoughts, and handling the "cat's-paw" crowbar. It's gonna go!

The spare bedroom has a massive huge closet the size of a small room, where I'd like to pot a single french door & a window to admit light and backyard access. I just don't need that 'closet', and a small sunny room could be neat. I am very knowlegeable about standard construction, but sorta stumped & mystified on older mobile homes, with their thin walls.

[NMDemDist2]

9. ask politicat, but my understanding is a load bearing wall in those things

are the exception. but with a double wide you'd better get it checked out.

you can alway replace the sheetrock in the newer models (post 1990) as I understand. if you can wait a month I'll know a LOT more since we are putting in a door in place of a window and we have to patch up the wall when we move the pellet stove so i'll know a lot more come July 20th

[Warpy]

10. Heh, it took me about 6 months of cussing the dope

who designed mine to go after it with sledge hammer and crowbar. Fortunately for me, it was ill constructed as it was ill designed. I didn't have to use much joint compound after the demolition.

I searched all over the place for a hutch that would fit the space and do the job and finally went into an antique mall here, where I found the canning cabinet that fit perfectly and was half the cost of a new hutch(!). I just added a wooden shelf above it and ended up with twice the storage and ten times the attractiveness and only 2/3 the footprint, important in a 14x68 trailer.

So there you have it: those things are always badly designed, getting rid of it is always an improvement, antiques can be cheaper than new stuff, and some projects reap great rewards.

[politicat]

3. When you do the bathroom, replace the doors with sliding pocket doors.

It was the best thing we never got to do with DH's house. Those french doors suck for both privacy and space. Our cats (one of which is none too bright) figured out how to open those french doors at the most inopportune times... :eyes: We have them here on one bathroom and one bedroom, and I love them. They go in really fast and they're not more expensive than regular doors.

Pocket doors are much better in that space, and I don't know why more companies don't use them. I'd use them everywhere if I had the wall space to do it.

You're also going to want bathroom storage about where the tub is now, but that can be about 16 inches deep.

Run dual shower heads in your new shower. Trust me. It's worth it.

[NMDemDist2]

4. we're just gonna take the french doors out in the master bath

don't need em, don't want em

we already planned for dual shower heads (we'll move the vanity plumbing to pick it up)

the only window is above that tub so I have a nice wicker dressing table we'll put in there for now and add some storage along the stem wall that will close off the shower. luckily there's already a big tall cabinet in there so we'll at least add another one

depends on how far out budget goes..... we may end up having to lay the flooring ourselves but we'll see later this week when the estimate comes in

[politicat]

5. Flooring is easy.

I do not recommend the self-stick tiles, but Armstrong's stone-like laminate is great stuff. It comes in 2'x2' squares and clicks together easily. And best of all, if you want laminate further out, it will work with other Armstrong laminates.

Given a choice between laying tile and laminate, I pick the latter every time.

[Warpy]

6. Self stick tiles in the desert are chancy

The tiles I put down 10 years ago are starting to fail. The glue EVAPORATES!

In fact, adhesives of many types tend to be problematic.

[NMDemDist2]

7. we're looking at the no glue laminate wood type planks that click together

they should work well I think

[wildeyed]

11. Have you looked at bamboo flooring?

It is a nice product. A green, renewable resource, relatively inexpensive and more durable than hardwood (I know you have those puppy paws to contend with!). Plus it looks cool.

[NMDemDist2]

12. we just got back from a family reunion and my SIL had 25 boxes

sitting there that her Dad had picked up at Costco in Spokane (the Yakima store had run out)

Hubby really doesn't care for the look and I don't know why and it's about double what we are gonna pay for the laminate flooring we're looking at.

I have peel and stick laminate heavy duty sheet style down in the AZ house and it's stood up to the puppy claws for 7 years so with the heavy underlayment with the laminate planks it should out last the house LOL