phillipsplace

Kitchen Pantry

I am happy our mobile home has a separate pantry! You know an enclosed space with a regular interior door.

I am so happy our mobile home has a separate pantry! You know, an enclosed space with a regular interior door. My last mobile home did not have a pantry and some manufactured homes you will have to use your kitchen cabinets for pantry space. Originally our pantry came with 3 wire racks that were only 12 inches in depth, not very user-friendly. But that’s okay we can fix that!

Pantry Before

Clayton Homes “Anniversary”

Dale used 3/4 plywood to make 5 shelves, 16 inches deep. This is a pretty simple solution for adding more storage to any pantry. In addition, a wire spice rack was installed on the inside pantry door for more storage and organizing. Extra bonus! Dale added an electrical outlet to the inside of the pantry so we can place our microwave and Keurig inside the pantry to save counter space. I love having my kitchen counters free from clutter and love having that extra work space when needed.

Special note: We were able to add an electrical outlet to our pantry due to easy access to an outlet next to the pantry. A certified electrician can do the job for you.

Removing wire racks.

Dale locating studs.

Working on the last two shelves.

The Keurig and microwave were placed on the second shelf, which is eye level.

Pantry shelves complete.

Installing spice rack and foil rack.

Pantry is now much more user-friendly!

I am loving my pantry! Adding the extra two shelves has made a big difference!

Pantry Complete

Kitchen Pantry

We spent $77.00 customizing the pantry, which includes plywood, spice rack and foil rack. We used leftover paint from a previous project.

Earlier I mentioned that my last mobile home did not have a pantry. My husband made a pantry though, he used the breakfast nook area that was not being used and made an awesome food storage space! I would like to end this blog by showing pictures of the work he did. Just to prove that anything is possible! Ha-ha!

Breakfast nook.

Dale was picturing in his mind how he was going to make a pantry that we really needed.

We make a good team! But he is the mastermind.

You can see even then Dale made a special place for the microwave. It’s not on the kitchen counter.

Pantry next to the laundry room.

Remember if you are willing to DIY you can save money!

Spring Time

We recently pressure wash the inside of the shed and metal storage building; getting rid of the dried up mud from the flood. Good riddance!!

Hello everyone! We are still around! I do apologize for not posting any blogs lately. Dale and I have been really busy doing some spring cleaning and working on the outside of our home. Taking advantage of the nice weather here before it gets hot!

Spring Time!

We recently pressure wash the inside of the shed and metal storage building; getting rid of the dried up mud from the flood. Good riddance!! We have been doing some rearranging to both buildings. The shed is going to be my garden shed/storage. The metal building will be Dale’s workshop. Originally Dale had tools in both buildings and it was a pain going between the two. What I am really trying to say is that he was hogging both buildings! Ha-ha! I am excited that I will have my very own garden shed and happy that my husband will have his own workshop! (Future projects!) Dale painted the inside of the shed with left over paint we had using a sprayer and I painted the ceiling with Walmart’s grab-n-go paint Antique White. I will show more pictures later.

Painting the future Garden Shed.

Installing a stone sidewalk.

What’s ahead? Updates coming soon!

Pantry and Laundry room we have added more shelves for storage.
Patio slab and side-walk installed next to the garden shed.
Adding more dirt in the front yard and laying sod.
Master bath and small bath decorated.

We have much work to be done and I look forward to blogging about some of these projects soon! Thank you for stopping by! Take care and stay tune till next time!

Love, The Phillips

Musical Lights

“Musical Lights” It all started with a vintage chandelier!

It all started with a vintage chandelier!

We were visiting Dale’s Dad who lives in Palacios and when we visit this small town, we like to check out one of our favorite shops “Palacios Antiques.” We’ve been keeping an eye out for a chandelier and Dale spotted this beauty. The chandelier was under forty dollars so we snatched it up! We used a steel wool sponge to clean the brass and soap and water to clean the ceramic. A good wiping did the job!

When we purchased the Anniversary she came with a nice Hunter ceiling fan in the living room, which is now our dining room. I thought it would be nice to have a chandelier over the dining table instead of a fan. When it came to the placement of the chandelier we had to get creative on how we were going to install this vintage beauty. The electrical box was not centered where the table sits. I came up with the idea to add a beam to match the beams that are already there on the ceiling, which would make it easier to hook up the chandelier. I do sometimes come up with some great ideas but Dale is the one who makes them happen and I am so grateful for him! Dale used a 2 x 4 to make a beam and painted it to match the beams on the ceiling. (He took a piece of sample trim to Lowes Hardware and had it colored matched.) The beam looks wonderful! While Dale worked on the beam I was in search for light bulbs and shades for the chandelier. I wanted to find bulbs that looked like light flames and were dimmable. I purchased some LED dimmable bulbs at Home Depot and found some clear glass shades at Lowes. The chandelier looks pretty good in its new home!

This is where the title “Musical Lights” came to be. The master bedroom did not have a ceiling fan so we installed the Hunter ceiling fan there. Dale moved the Flush Mount light that was in the room into the master closet, which gives the closet better lighting. Last but not least Dale added a dimmer switch in the dining room. I love dimmer switches! Once you have a dimmer switch you will never go back to a regular light switch, it’s awesome to be able to control the brightness of your lighting.

Vintage Chandelier

The brass is pretty worn.

A little elbow grease will do.

Dale uninstalling the ceiling fan.

Ceiling fan removed.

Painting the beam.

Mr Phillips

Beam installed.

Electrical box.

Hooking up the chandelier.

Dale covered the electrical box with a round metal cover .

Last minute clean up.

New bulbs, new glass shades.

LED dimmable bulbs.

I am happy with the chandelier, looks great in our dining room!

Dale installing the ceiling fan in the Master Bedroom.

Much nicer having a ceiling fan in the bedroom.

One light fixture originally in master closet.

Installed the two light Flush Mount fixture from bedroom into master closet. Better lighting.

Installing the dimmer switch in dining room.

Dimmer switch.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog. I hope we have inspired you in some way.

Elizabeth Phillips

Happy Valentine’s Day

Dale and I keep Valentine’s day pretty much low key.

la Madeleine cookies and one of my cookie jars. Love purchasing these heart cookies around this time of year. So delicious!

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Dale and I keep Valentines day pretty much low key. We plan to stay in and have a special dinner tonight. Chili Hotdogs! Ha-ha! I know it doesn’t sound very romantic, but for some reason we’ve been graving hotdogs. 🙂 I am so looking forward to spending a nice, quite dinner with my sweetie. Keeping it simple makes me happy!

If you have a significant other or not, don’t feel pressure about this day. Keep it simple and enjoy the day.

Happy Valentine’s day!

Elizabeth

Texas Closet

Our latest project! Updating the master closet.

Hello everyone! Our latest project! We just finished updating our master closet. Okay! The closet is not necessarily a Texas size closet, it’s not even a regular walk in closet! I would consider it a half-size walk in closet! Ha-ha! All I can say is, it wasn’t working for us. Dale and I decided to change that and make it user-friendly for us.

Originally the closet had a wire shelf with the rod attached to hang clothes. Funky! Also we could not hang any clothes within fifteen inches from the door opening, because it would interfere with the door closing, which was wasted space.

Dale took the wire shelf out and patched the holes. Afterwards, we sanded the walls to prepare for primer. Painting this small space would be a test for us to see how complicated it will be to paint the rest of the house. The walls are sheet rock with some kind of vinyl over it like wallpaper. We used Zinsser Bulls Eye primer for all projects, suggested by the painting department at Lowes Hardware. (My tip, let the primer cure twenty four hours before you paint.) The day after I primed, Dale painted the walls and it turned out better than I expected. We used Valspar Ultra 2000, High Hide White and believe or not we used one coat! Very pleased with the Valspar Ultra.

My husband made ten shelves for shoes and misc. and a shelf above for extra storage. Originally we had one single rod to hang clothes. Dale installed upper and lower rods using one inch electrical conduit. Now we have a much better closet with more storage! I am happy with the way it turned out!

Original Closet

Before

Original Closet Wire Rack

This type of clothes rod was difficult to move/slide items.

Wire rack removed.

Patching and sanding.

Walls have been primed.

Installing shelves.

Shoe shelves and storage shelf.

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Painting the walls.

Finishing work for the shelves.

Placement for the rod brackets.

Re-using the wire rack for long ware.

After

Shoe shelves, extra storage space, upper and lower clothes rods.

Finish Closet

Better organize closet

The cost for this project was $100.00. Includes the wood, electrical conduit, primer and paint. By Doing It Yourself you save money!

Remember it doesn’t matter if you have a mobile home closet or not, you can update any small closet. Thank you for visiting!

The Phillips

Skirting/Back Porch and the American Flag

This has been a humbling experience for us. We are so thankful for the many who have donated their time, money and prayers.

I am so excited to tell you about our mobile home skirting and the back porch! Since we have a concrete slab, we choose to go with smart panel for the skirting around the house. We had vinyl skirting on the Bonnell and always seem to have problems with it moving or cracking. I think mainly because the ground here moves a lot.

1987 Bonnell with Vinyl Skirting.

Umberto the contractor whom we used through Clayton homes and his crew framed underneath our home with 2 x 4’s and used treated 2 x 4’s at the bottom, which was applied on top of the slab. The crew nailed the smart panels to the frame and my husband requested for the smart panels to run pass the slab. Important note: By doing this step it keeps the water off the slab and prevents the wood from rotting. The crew also made two crawl space doors at the back of the house and installed air vents for ventilation. Once they were done they painted the skirting to match the color of the home. Oh what a big difference! The skirting looks wonderful!

Concrete Slab we added J-hooks to the slab to make it easier to tie down the Anniversary.

Frame Work

Smart panel installed, before paint.

Smart panel runs pass the slab

Back of home.

Front before skirting was painted.

Skirting was painted to match the color of the home. Complete.

Next is my very favorite! The back porch! The kitchen area has a beautiful sliding door and Dale and I envisioned a nice size back porch. The porch size is 10 x 20 with a ramp facing the carport and steps facing towards the back yard. Having a ramp makes it easier carrying groceries into the house and helps for anyone who might have problems walking up stairs. Now you guys know I am going to have fun decorating the back porch! Ha-ha!

Building the back porch

Future back porch

This is Umberto posing for us. We appreciate all the work he and his crew have done. Very happy!

Porch Complete

New Back Porch

This has been a humbling experience for us. We are so thankful for the many who have donated their time, money and prayers to help us get to this point. I say this with tears we are so grateful.

In November we had a party for our friends, family and neighbors to show our appreciation. I officially put up the American flag that was previously displayed on our old porch before the festivities got started. We had burgers on the grill and had a live band playing! The Texas Humdinger’s! The band even donated their time to play for us. We just couldn’t believe it! We had a great time and felt it was time for a celebration!

Putting up the American Flag

What a fun night with the Texas Humdinger’s!

I wanted to mention that one of the band members was a victim of the flooding too. There are families still in our neighborhood rebuilding from the 2016 flooding. Please keep them and others in your prayers.

Thank you so much, Dale and Elizabeth.

Carport

My husband is so smart he also had the carport moved forward, which gives us a better view of our property.

Hello and Happy New Year!

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Dale and I have taken a break from everything!! We needed to retreat and refresh and spend some time enjoying our new home. Believe me, we are now ready for some projects. Ha-Ha! I would like to continue to show you what we have done to the outside construction of our home.

The carport is now complete! Mr. Garza our concrete guy and his crew set the metal carport on the knee wall, they did a wonderful job. I am so happy Dale came up with the idea to have it raised! We have a much better sight line, before our view was block by the buildings cover.

My husband is so smart he also made arrangements to have the carport moved forward, which gives us a better view of our property when we are sitting on the back porch.

Before picture of left side of carport.

Left side knee wall.

After

Right side of carport.

Having shrubs here was difficult to trim between the house and the carport. Having a sidewalk is much better for this space.

Right side knee wall.

You can see it really looks clean and sleek. Since we had to remove the shrubs we decided to have a sidewalk installed instead. We are all about having things easier!

Before

After

We extended the driveway for extra space for a patio/workspace and to meet the future ramp for the back porch.

The patio extends ten feet pass the carport.

I wanted to end this blog with a picture of the garden area.

In late December we had some warm weather so I took advantage of it by cleaning up my garden. I spent a day pressure washing the raised beds and washed all my pots. I am looking forward to planting some vegetables this spring. Very hopeful indeed.

Thank you for stopping by the Phillips Place and be sure to subscribe to my blog so you will not miss any future post.

Thank you Dale and Elizabeth Phillips

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