Robin's Egg Blue front door. Lots of ways to bring some greater interest to this nice home. Plan over the winter and hit the ground running in the early spring. Find a good nursery over winter, and find out what plant materials do best in your area, and find a good landscape person to help you implement a good plan. So fun!!

I'm a retired inspector and plans reviewer, well experienced in both industries. I started in mobile homes back in 1973 when mobile homes were built under the A119.5 code and have certifications thru ICC in all areas of construction, electrical, plumbing, mechanical and energy (both residential and commercial). I have conducted literally thousands of inspections and plan reviews. Manufactured housing is built to a federal construction code. It allows for materials and construction methods not permitted in modular construction. Modular construction is based on national building codes (IRC, NEC, etc.), the same as your state and county site-built codes. In modular construction, the home is built in a factory, and is considered as as an element of the completed home. (Manufactured Homes are stand alone construction, completely finished when it reaches the homesite). Modular housing is better. Better materials, better workmanship; much more stringent codes to meet. Also because a modular home is attached to the earth as a condition of design, it automatically qualifies for lower loan rates (easier to obtain as well). There are only a limited number of financial institutions which will finance Manufactured Homes. Whereas any bank will usually finance a Modular at the same or better rate as a site-built. I'm familiar with the manufacturer’s you mentioned. Some good, some better. I recommend you do your do-diligence in comparing each. And more importantly, check out the reputation of the dealer you use to purchase and install the home. Dealers are usually the weak link. Reputation and history are the top considerations in the entire process.

I have a new Kohler acrylic tub, no added insulation. It retains heat just fine, especially since it’s extra deep. Instead of paying $500 for insulation, I would just add more hot water as needed!

The first thing I do when we buy a house is buy a notebook, a tape measure, and blue painter’s tape. I devote two pages at least to each room and label the pages. Before we even move, I start listing ideas I have for the house. Example: blue and cream rug, brass lamp…living room; striped rug, drop leaf table…entry; the bedding from the linen shop downtown, bedside tables with drawers…our bedroom…….. on these pages I also list the basic colors I think I want and drill down to the exact paint chip color I think I want. Then I wait. There is no rush. If you start ordering random furniture and accessories before you move, the sizes might be out of scale or the colors clash with the existing flooring, sunlight, etc. you already have a sofa-move it in and you have a place to sit while you plan the other family space. Buy your bedding before you decide paint. They can mix paint colors to match or compliment, but once you paint the walls, you are confined to trying to find something that “goes”. I have always found that my wants and ideas morph as we live in the new house. In our previous house, the center hall entry had wide openings into the dining room on one side and the library on the other. Dining room-blue, entry-red, library-green. The colors were perfect together. Unfortunately, when I started the green, a rich, deep Williamsburg BM color, it was horrid. I ran down to the paint store, told the owner the problem, and he asked a couple questions. “Easy fix”, he said. Two squirts of black corrected the color so all three rooms completely complimented the others. This notebook still has the formula for the custom paint mix. Now, as each room is painted, I ask for a second sticky label like they put on the can. This second label goes in my notebook on the room’s page.