Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Diva in a Double Wide

This blog is going to be a bit more personal than usual.

I'm going to give you a look inside my home and life and it's not all that easy for me.

I'll explain more later, but here's the reason I decided to do this blog.

Oh and by the way...I'm not really a Diva, I just thought it sounded cool.

I posted this picture recently on a very busy Facebook page, Fresh Eggs Daily. 


I had such an unbelievable response to this picture. So many people wanting to see the rest of my kitchen.

My kitchen?

Why would anyone want to see my kitchen?

I live in a double wide mobile home.

That's right.

I don't live in a two story Victorian mansion, nor a log house, a brick house or even a plain old wood frame house.





I live in a double wide mobile home, but please....don't call my home a trailer house.

It's my home. It's cozy. It's warm.

It needs work. It needs paint. It needs new flooring. It needs new front steps. The porch needs a fresh coat of paint.

The kitchen floor is in a state of perpetual need of a good mopping(not sure how that fits here, but anyway, now you know.)

But it's my home and I am very thankful for it. Let me tell you why.

When my husband and I married 21 years ago, we were both in our forties. We had both been through a rough time and we were both broke. I was more broke than he was. I was broken in little pieces broke.

We started our life together like a couple of broke teenagers. Problem was, I had three teenagers.

We spent nine happy years in a single wide mobile home before buying an acre and a half of land and our home.

Why did we choose to buy a mobile home? For several reasons. The main one was, I didn't think I could survive all the decisions that would go into building a home. I wanted to find what I liked and just move in.

So we did.

Our home has three bedrooms, two baths, a living room, a kitchen and a laundry room, basically everything you need. The only regret I have is that we didn't buy a larger one, but we didn't plan on having quite so many grandchildren at the time.

However, they're pretty cool so we decided not to send any of them back. We just get a bit crowded at holidays.

My house is like a cottage....it's just mobile. My house is cozy. I never think of my home as anything other than just my home.

Why am I writing about all this? Because I realized that there are probably many of you out there who think less of yourselves because you may not live in the best of conditions or have that dream home.

Keep that dream alive, you never know what's around the corner, but until then, make the best of what you have. You can have a comfortable home for your family.

I promise you, I have lived in much worse. I won't go into all that, it was another lifetime. However, I decided long ago to make the best of where ever or whatever I lived in. I decided to make a home for my family. I honestly believe that I could live in a tent and make it cozy. It just takes a little imagination and common sense.

I want you to know that whatever you live in, you can make it inviting.

My little aunt, who just happens to live in a beautiful home in a large city, came to my home recently. She sent me a text later(she's 89 and texts and does Facebook), she said she thought often about my cozy little home.

That made me cry. She thinks my home is cozy. She didn't call it a mobile home. She just called it a cozy home.

That's all I ever wanted, a place that made others feel cozy.

So, now that you know I live in a cozy mobile cottage home, I'll show you those pictures I promised.


My kitchen isn't tiny, but it's not ginormous either.  I have a round table that I only extend when we have company, that way we're not quite so crowded all the time.


My plan is to eventually have several old free standing cabinets in my kitchen for everything.

I have this one now.

When we pulled the existing cabinet out, we decided to use the counter top over the enamel top so there wouldn't be a huge space between the stove and the cabinet.

I also plan to have a an old farmhouse enamel sink someday, in green please!

Just a few roosters and old jars roosting up top.





Here's the open pantry. It was a bookcase in a former life, but it's happy now. 

Can't you see it smiling? 


It will have chicken wire doors someday.   

I believe.   

The old aprons belonged to both my grandmothers. The little hanger also belonged to one of my grandmothers.  Little touches like this help the coziness, don't you think? 

I like seeing things that belonged to my grandmothers in my house. It helps to keep their memory alive and they both had such lovely cozy country homes.  I realize now that they had hard lives without many luxuries, but all we knew was happy! We didn't care about things, we had fun!




Here's the other old cabinet I have.

It rests around the corner in a little space facing the living area. 

I keep some old dishes, some keepsakes and my new tea set here. 


My mother in law's old big churn and my grandmother's baby churn. 

Nothing says home like a couple of churns in the corner!



One more shot of the kitchen. I do like green. 

Can you tell?




I spend a lot of time in this room. 

It's my office and my prayer and study room. You're not getting a picture of my desk....nope.

UPDATE: Someone mentioned that I didn't show my Essential Oil Organization, so I've added a couple of pictures.




Here's the sweet cabinet I found at Hobby Lobby, it's real wood and stands about three foot high.


I got it for 50% off. It was on sale plus an additional markdown because there was a missing label slot. 

I can live with that. 

It has 18 drawers that are perfect for organizing my bottles, salves, sprayers, etc. 

Just about everything I use is either on top of this cabinet or inside the drawers. It's the perfect setup for me.




This is my stash, most of my Essential Oils are kept right here in this expanding bamboo tray. 

I do have a few bottles in the kitchen and bathrooms, but all my backup supply is stored here. 

I also keep my FCO, sample bottles, labels, scissors, droppers and a few more things up top. 

I bought a desk organizer set at the Dollar General that is just perfect for those extras. I also keep what I call my "medicine cabinet" here in the bamboo tray. These are my various blends that I keep made up for easy dispensing.



Now that you've seen a few things in my simple cozy little home, I hope you'll see that it doesn't have to be a mansion to be a happy and cozy place for you and your family. I've found that children and guests don't really care how expensive our homes are. They just want a happy, fun, comfortable, cozy place. You don't have to have a big budget to accomplish these things. Surround yourselves with things that make you happy. Some people like a lot of clutter, others like it simple. It's your home, let it make you happy and you'll make others happy when they visit.

Blessings from Patti's Place to your place!


13 comments:

  1. You have inspired me! I too live in a mobile home, not near as orderly, clean, and elegant as yours but it could be! Maybe with a few less breakables until after the kids are grown but still... Thank you for sharing your home with us, it is quite warm, cozy, and welcoming, after all, all anyone wants to feel is welcome. :D

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    1. Thank you, Becky....I bet your place is pretty neat too....I know you...lol

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  2. Thank you for sharing. My husband & I have rented the whole 23 years we've been married & have known from the beginning we would probably never own something of our own. Just not in His plan for us. We are on our 5th move. Each of our moves have been ones of force...like a landlord selling the house (twice with the same landlord!) or the house going into forclosure (wasnt that what our rent was for?) We each came in to our marriage with a child, both boys, both the same age. We added our very own daughter the following year. & we raised a niece at the same time. We always say "we raised yours, mine, ours & someone elses". We have two granddaughters. One is 10 & spend a lot of time with & one that is 5 weeks old we havent had the chance to touch since she lives away. This last move which was 7 months ago was the most stressful. We are older now & busier than we have ever been. I still have "many"unpacked boxes lining the walls of each room. A garage & a storage unit full of "stuff" I know I can't live without each time I visit the "stuff". You see, we are now pastors of a small church that is going through a healing process & we have moved into the parsonage. Our "things" "stuff" make it home because its "our" stuff. You can make any home, home as long as a part of you is in it. I long for a simple one level house with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths kitchen, living room & family room with a 2 car garage I can actually get my cars into & a nice basement I can store all my "stuff" in. Home is where your "stuff" is.

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    1. What a touching story, Brenda. I can so identify with you. There was a lot I didn't put in my blog. In my "former" life as I call it, we moved 20 times in 20 years. My ex husband was a pastor at times, at times he wasn't, if you get my meaning. Life was hard with four little children and we even lived in a 24ft rv at one time. We were evicted from a lovely farmhouse when I was nine months pregnant, it upset me so bad I went into labor. For once we weren't behind on the rent or anything, the people just wanted their house back for a relative to live in. I've lived in an old church with no bathtub, and washed diapers in a washtub. Life was hard, but I always made it and GOD was always right there with me. Thank you for your comments and I pray that you will be richly blessed in your new work. By the way, I am an ordained minister too.

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    2. If the library was still full of books, it would be doubly awesome!

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  3. Thank you for sharing your home. A home is a reflection of our heart and yours is beautiful.

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    1. Thank you for your kind words! I'm so blessed by each of you!

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  4. Beautiful and wonderfully cozy! Thank you for the reminder to be thankful for what we have instead of always pining for something more. The one thing I didn't see....your EO organization.

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    1. You know, I didn't even think to put those pictures up. I do have a couple I've shared on my FB blog. I'll update with those. Thanks for the reminder.

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  5. A beautiful home for a beautiful YOU! I love it and would be very happy there. So cozy!

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  6. My grandma lived in East Texas, Pine Mills near Hawkins. Your kitchen brings back memories of her home. I miss her. She lived in a house, but what makes a home a home has nothing to do with how the walls around the place are made. It's the personal touches, the essence of the person who lives, loves and cooks there that turn those walls into a home. The nursery lady from our church growing up lived in a rented place that should have been condemned, but it felt more homey to me than my own home because she lived there and she loved us. I'm glad you unashamedly shared pics of your home without apologies. Everyone needs heroes to look up to and your contentedness and happiness is definitely worthy of looking up to and emulating. I lived in my car in the parking lot of the place I worked for 6 weeks once. While it was never cozy, I was content. I honor your attitude and more people need to learn that what others talk down on is ridiculous.

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    1. Marla, your comment brought tears to my eyes...for two different reasons. First because you said my home reminded you of your grandma. That's always been my aim, to have a home reminiscent of my grandmothers and other old fashioned grandmas. Second, because I can identify with your hardships. I didn't go into detail about the past, but I've lived in some rough places and always tried my best to make it an adventure and a home. GOD bless you, dear.

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