Mobile Home Living: Decorating Your Lot

Mobile home parks can be well-groomed or outright dumpy. The lots are small and the trailers close together making it a unique landscaping challenge. Without any landscaping your home can look the same as everyone else's. But there are some ways to decorate your tiny lot and help your mobile home look its best.

Since your mobile home lot is very small you don't want to overwhelm it with too much landscaping and outdoor decorations. If you have a deck a few plants will enhance the look of not only the deck but the entire lot. Check out the silk trees that can be left outdoors all year long. They can be wired to the decking boards to keep them steady during bad weather. You can also weight down potted plants by putting the pot in a larger one then filling with rocks. Add a couple of deck chairs for a welcoming look.

If you don't have a big deck, or you only have steps, the trees will still work. Wire them to the steps to secure. Or, plant some small, colorful flowers along the front of the trailer. Don't surround the entire perimeter of the trailer with flowers or the lot could look too crowded. Stick with plants that grow low to the ground and have lots of color. If you have the space you can outline the flower section with gardening timbers.

Walk around your mobile home and just analyze the problem spots. See how it may look to others. Are there cracks or breaks in any of the windows? Is the front door banged or marred? Are the handrailings painted or the deck stained and well-maintained? Make a list of things that could use improvement.

If the end of your mobile home faces the road, rather than the front side, flowers can be placed along that end as well as the front. If the hitch of the home shows as people drive by planting a small flower garden in that area, with tall reeds that cover the hitch, will look nice. Or plant shrubs that will hide the trailer hitch then bring them on around to the front of the house.