Santa Fe by the Sea

After leaving the chilly mountains of Colorado, Barbara Gibbons and Sue Mendelson had a tough time deciding which sunny state to settle in.

“If it was up to me, we would live in Arizona six months of the year,” said Mendelson, a physical therapist.

However, Gibbons, a kitchen designer, doesn’t feel physically well in the desert and prefers being near the coast, figuring that negative ions created by the ocean contribute to her health.

The couple finally hit on a solution that works for both of them: They bought a nondescript budget home in Santa Barbara and in 1998 remodeled it into what looks like a Santa Fe adobe.

What’s unusual about Gibbons and Mendelson’s story is that they bought a mobile home that’s now conspicuously different in appearance from its aluminum-sided neighbors in the mobile home park.

“It’s the only affordable place to live in Santa Barbara,” Gibbons said, recalling the tiny houses their real estate agent, Mary French, had shown them.

While the pint-sized cottages were within the couple’s $300,000 price range, most had only one bathroom and were in what Gibbons called “questionable neighborhoods.”

“We kept coming back to the park,” she said.

Because the couple planned on totally redoing any house they bought, they had no trouble buying what Gibbons called “a rat trap,” for which they paid $110,000 in 1997.

Built in 1978, the 1,700-square-foot triple-wide coach was fronted with a bank of floor-to-ceiling windows that faced west toward the afternoon sun and an asphalt road a few feet away. “We saw it in July,” Gibbons recalled. “I bet it was 110 degrees in here.”

Though the floor plan was fine and included two bedrooms and the requisite two baths, the thin-walled construction was shoddy and was covered inside and out with several types of paneling.

“It was a mess,” Mendelson agreed. “I wouldn’t have lived in it. Couldn’t have. But I knew everything would be ripped out.”

While planning the remodel, the couple realized they’d be spending more money--$145,000--than most people would consider pouring into a mobile home.

Overbuilt for the Neighborhood

And indeed, they may have overbuilt a bit for the neighborhood. The most a mobile home in their park has sold for is $205,000, which is $50,000 less than Gibbons and Mendelson have invested. Still, because they don’t intend to sell any time soon, that’s not an issue for them.

To transform the coach into what feels like an adobe home, the couple focused on three main areas: the interior finishes, the exterior finish and the roof.

Originally, Gibbons had envisioned covering the low-pitched roof with red Mexican-look tiles. But she discovered from the roofer that for the tiles to drain properly, the roof would have to be rebuilt to a steeper pitch.

She also found out that mobile homes are regulated by the California Department of Housing in Sacramento, which had to approve any structural changes.

Because getting permits would add six months to the job, and because the new roof would have cost a bundle, Gibbons quickly changed her vision and settled for building up the exterior walls to give the impression of a flat roof. Lead carpenter Myron Shehan helped bring her amended vision to reality.

For the exterior finish, Gibbons chose a product known by the acronym EIFS, or exterior insulating finishing system. It’s made of wafer board, house wrap, thick plastic foam board, mesh cloth and a light synthetic stucco finish, which is applied with a trowel.

EIFS is much lighter than plaster, an important consideration given the relatively light frame of a mobile home, and it dries faster.

Material Provides Excellent Insulation

Gibbons discovered it when she worked in Colorado and the short building season made EIFS a good choice, especially because it provides excellent insulation.

Red tile--made of lightweight fiberglass--did make its way onto the home, covering a porch made of thick beams. For the floor of the porch, Gibbons chose Trex, a wood-like composite of sawdust and plastic that never needs painting or staining.

Trex appealed to her because, while in Colorado, she and Mendelson lived in a house with a 1,000-square-foot redwood deck that needed to be stained twice a year.

“Never again,” they decided.

Inside, all doors and windows were replaced, and wooden plantation shutters took the place of beige drapes. Most of the paneling was removed, which allowed extra electrical outlets to be added, and drywall with rounded corners was installed.

An extra wall was added, using steel studs to cut down on weight, to turn a portion of the oversized living room into an office. In the office, the large windows were replaced with smaller ones.

The mobile home already had several large skylights, but Gibbons wanted more. To avoid structural changes to the roof, she settled for narrow skylights that fit between the joists. All can be opened to funnel ocean breezes inside.

As in most homes, the kitchen and baths required the most investment, in both money and effort, especially in choosing materials and products.

Gibbons chose to keep the layout of the new kitchen similar to the original but wanted much nicer cabinets (cherry with rough, unmatched grain) and appliances (stainless steel Frigidaires), set off by a ceramic back splash.

It’s not clear who designed the kitchen. Mendelson gives Gibbons full credit, saying, “I trusted her.” Said Gibbons, “Suzie chose all of this. I just put it together for her.”

Gibbons did design the bathrooms, however. In the guest bath, she opted to leave the pristine shower stall intact, replacing only the fixtures.

She installed a budget sink in the vanity, covered the top and back splash with tile and added rustic fixtures made of an outdoor faucet and garden faucet heads shaped like a dolphin and a frog.

The larger bathroom includes a tub with jets where Gibbons soaks twice a day to fend off migraines and back pain. It’s a luxurious space with a window of acrylic “glass” blocks, flowers, framed paintings, candles and a new toilet equipped with a combination heated seat and bidet.

Because Gibbons was willing to make last-minute changes as problems with her original vision arose, she got the job finished in just three months. The park’s association was “very gracious” about the remodel, the couple said, and several neighbors have expressed relief that the faded coach has been transformed.

According to Gibbons, upscale trailer-park life “is the best-kept secret in Santa Barbara.”

Kathy Price-Robinson is a freelance writer who has written about remodeling for 10 years. She can be reached at kathyprice@aol.com.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Source Book Project: To give a 1978 triple-wide mobile home a Santa Fe adobe ambience.

Owner-Builder: Barbara Gibbons, certified kitchen designer, Santa Barbara, (805) 683-2687.

Trex, porch beams, skylights: Country Lumber Co., Santa Barbara, (805) 963-1881.

Tile: Tile Collection, Santa Barbara, (805) 963-8638.

Cabinet Pulls: Capitol Hardware & Building Supplies, Santa Barbara, (805) 963-0771.

Fixtures: Santa Barbara Plumbing Supplies, Santa Barbara, (805) 965-5291.

Plantation Shutters: Hallmark Shutters, Santa Barbara, (805) 966-6623.

Duration: 3 months.

Cost: $145,000.