My humble quest to build La Petite Maison!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Completed Vegetable Oil Heater

This is my completed Veggie Oil heater! Enjoy!


ps. I got some great news today; I can't say more now, but stay tuned for details in the coming weeks!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Vegetable Oil Heater

Just started my veggie oil heater! Let  me show you how I did it in a few 'short' videos!


 
(Drillin' a hole like a boss)
 
 
Now here's me setting the can into a concrete base...
 
 
(My devoted father)


Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Gettin the Word Out

Thank you Mini House Builder for making my day.

In the morning, I wake up, get a cup of coffee, get some breakfast, and then I check my email and La Petite Maison. When I was checking how many views I got, I also saw where the views come from last, called trafficing sources. I saw a new source! Usually it's just Facebook and HoneyFern, But I saw a new site, Mini House Builder! I wasn't farmiliar with the site, so I clicked on the link, and it went strait to Austin Hay's blog! Austin started building his tiny house in 2010, you'll see him in We the Tiny House People, now he's 17 and his house is finished! He has open houses a lot, so check out his blog for the next upcoming one!

Jay Shafer says that Austin is the youngest tiny house builder that he knows of, I want to change that! Please, get the word out about me!

Monday, October 15, 2012

The Story of Stuff

I have some exciting news to tell!!! First of all, remember Howard's Wrecker Service? Well, we took the trailer (very rusted and homemade) to him and he told us he would put outriggers on! We first have to try and get some of the rust off by sanding it down, then we have to buy the steel for the out riggers, but we can go to shops where they have extra steel, maybe we could possibly get some of that scrap. Then the owner of Howard's will weld the steel in place, and he will give it a special finishing paint to stop it from rusting further. It is a wonderful thing!

Since that is about the only major thing that happened with my home, I will leave you with a moving video that will make you want to live simply too. It's called The Story of Stuff, and it helped me realize, we need to help our planet.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Resource Review

Latley I have been thinking, 'If I wanted to build a tiny house and I read this blog, I don't think I would be able to find many resources that would help me.' Well you are saved! This list will fill you on great resources.

We the Tiny House People 

This documentary by Kirsten Dirksen is amazing! I cannot reccomend it highly enough. It may not help you build your house; but it will give you idea on what to put in it. The documentary will also explain why people live in tiny homes. I cannot reccomend this video highly enough.

Deek Diedrickson

This guy is amazing! He is hilarious. Instead of building fancy tiny homes, Deek builds homes just big enough to lie down in out of recycled materials. These homes are perfect for little forts for kids, of for a camping trip. Maybe not necesarily to live in, but fun to build.

House Plan Guide

This is a wonderful site if you want to build a more formal home. This tutorial is for how to build homes that are 4,000 sq/ft; but you can easily adapt it to a 80 sq/ft home. That is exactly what I did.

Get Satisfied

This book is about how 20 people "just like us" simplify their life. This book is wonderful. The only think I don't like about the book is the last chapter.  Even when he realizes that he cannot live his life like he used to he ends up living in house that still is ginormous. I don't think he really simplified his life. This guy has a whole bunch of money, he has his own airplane, a ginormouse house, then he loses his job, he continues to say throughought the entire chapter he says, "You cannot understand how hard this was for me and my family." No, no I can't. He continues to try and live his fancy life style without a job. That is not going to happen.Post a comment on what you think about this guy.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Extra Extra, Read All About It!

 I have some GREAT news! Something that has currently come to my attention, my trailer is homemade. That means it's a little curvy; so I need outriggers (to make my trailer the same size all around) to be welded on. The problem is, my family doesn't own a welder, so we would need to find a machine shop to have the outriggers welded on. My father used to work as a tow truck driver for Howard's Wrecker Service (he now works at the Heartfield Jackson Airport for Infax). The shop that they fix the cars in happens to have a welder. Luckily we are good friends with the owner and employees at the shop. We went to their office on Tuesday and asked for their assistance. They were happy to offer it. (I just got a picture in my mind of 40-year-old men jumping up and down squealing like little girls out of happiness of helping me)


(Just like this, with the sunset and everything)


We are still unclear about how much the welding will cost, if there is a cost. Howard's needs to see the trailer first. Then they can assess what needs to be done.


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

My Materials... And a Little Extra

I know you've heard radio silence from my over the past week... but now your gonna wish you had that silence again. I'm comin' in hot, and you guys are going to be hearing alot from me.

I'm gonna start off with a photo gallery from the past week. I started on blueprints this week; I had no idea how to do them, but my fabulous mother found this website for me. Click here if you want to visit it and check it out. Blueprints are the last step; this website is also where I got all of the supporting steps following up to the blueprints. This gallery will show you all of my completed blueprints... and a few extra things. ;P

                              Front View













 
 
 
 
 

 

Double anderson window
 
 
My Bathroom Door
(with some cleaning up)

 
My Front Door
 
 
 
Metal Roofing Insulation





This is just a few funny happenings going on last week. Dont ask what the big poufy dress-skirt is for.







The excitment of building my house is almost overwhelming; it engulfs me and I am caught spending hour at a time consentrating so profoundly, that when I get pulled out, I'm aware that my stomach sounds like a dying wolf, my vision is blurred, and my legs are numb. I not aware of these things until I come back to reality. See the picture below? See the dog's eyes? See the bone? If this kind of laser focus continues on my part, My project will be done in two shakes of a lambs tail.