Wheeler Inn

Wheeler Inn This page is more blog than FB page. It then continues on as I finish off and enhance the build as I live in it.

It's my documented journey from buying a 45ft decommissioned refrigerated pantech trailer to living in a 13.7x2.4m semi-mobile tiny home.

And a few days of lattice and other various bits painting etc, and a few more of those niggling jobs that you see EVERY ...
17/02/2026

And a few days of lattice and other various bits painting etc, and a few more of those niggling jobs that you see EVERY day are finished.

I was given a metal 3-panel triptych of a boab tree about a year ago, and I'd always intended to mount it somewhere, but didn't know where, then it came to me a few months ago - that it would work well inside my verandah, but not on the trailer wall - so why not between 2 of the uprights on the laserlight wall? So I've been looking at these panels and the 2 bits of timber Ron next door ripped down for me - for months.

And on top of that, the 2 bits of off-cut fascia board I'd put onto the old treadle frame to use as a table for plants had been there so long the undercoat was peeling off, they needed to be joined properly and the packing I'd had to use under them to get them level was only ever meant as a temporary fix - 2+ years ago.

The "see-through" laserlight I'd had installed, which gets too dusty to actually see through and is now more translucent than transparent really needed to be sorted out, at the same time as a hoya I'd bunged in a pot next to the treadle has been so successful it had wandered everywhere and had no framework to climb up - so kind of lay around. So I decided that I'd put up a latticework panel to a) cover some of the untidy laserlight, b) provide a framework for the hoya to climb up and c) create more interest on the verandah walls - something nice to look at.

Here's what I've done in the last 2 days:
a) The timbers for the triptych have been painted, screwed up and the panels mounted - they're actually pale dusty blue not the grey colour the photo shows them as.
b) Painted a Bunnings hard wood expanding trellis with the Costa Rica Blue of the trailer (really dodgy job, but honestly, painting trellis is the pits and it's going to have plants growing up it), fitted top and bottom to a length of timber and screwed it to one of the upper wall joists.
c) The facia boards have been sanded and painted, joined and a more appropriate levelling pads applied. Looks great back on the treadle set against the trellis panel and the hoya has somewhere to grow.

So now I just have to pot out all the new plants I bought last week, flowers for a big pot against the trellis - a bit of colour.

UPDATE: Cleaned it all and finished off the edging highlight (to make it easier to see and minimise fall hazard. Also pa...
02/02/2026

UPDATE: Cleaned it all and finished off the edging highlight (to make it easier to see and minimise fall hazard. Also painted my wooden planter box and potted a couple of new plants for it. REALLY happy with the finished product. Pic attached along with one of the step before I extended it out.

Knocked off a couple more odd jobs in the past couple of days. Have extended my entry step at my front door to make it safer and more securely mounted my weather station that’s higher and swings down for maintenance. Slowly using up bits and pieces of off cuts.

Over the next month or so there will be a number of bigger jobs that I have a workman doing. More on them as they happen.

Pic of the step extension before I painted the rest of the white edging and one of the weather station.

Have been knocking over so many of those annoying jobs you keep putting off and feeling really good about each one being...
01/01/2026

Have been knocking over so many of those annoying jobs you keep putting off and feeling really good about each one being ticked off the list. Have done the following:
* painted and properly secured the support post underneath my storage loft
* cut and re-seated the trim at the kitchen tiles so that I could -
* install a supporting panel at the end of my kitchen cupboards that allowed me to pull my glass cabinet further forward and give Smokey more room to get in and out of his door
* properly levelled the glass cabinet and secured it to the new panel, which gave me room to add a couple of extra hooks for my coats and work jackets - which means I don't have so much hung on the wall in the passageway under the loft
* installed the broom hangers on the verandah to get the scrubber and broom out of the way.
* took out the tacky old screws from the stainless steel panels on the front door that cover where the original door lock was, reamed out the holes properly and screwed them back on with nice screws.
* organised for a workman to come and finish painting the back and door side of the trailer, as well as add more colourbond to keep the weather out, and extend the panel beside the door out to the edge of the back steps and a few other things (he's coming in a couple of weeks)
* finished organising the contents of my Tactix boxes in the shed and sorting out all my screws, nails, bolts and other stuff (you know how that one goes), and all my painting bits and pieces. So good now I have a rat-proof shed and space to actually get to everything.
* and for the big things- replaced Smokey's cat door with a fancy electronic one that recognises his microchip and only unlocks for him, effectively keeping the farm and neighbours cats out of my trailer. Got so sick of them coming in and eating Smokey's very expensive food (he's on a special diet) as well as upsetting the fat furry one. Bought it online from Aussie Pet Doors. Cost $291 including $21 shipping. It's one for a cat or dog, 'cos Smokey's bigger than your usual cat.
* did a renovation job on the outside cat door cover to tidy it up and finally do a proper job of making it higher instead of having it standing on various bits of wood to get it to work with the door. Also added a fly strips (single piece of carpet non-skid with the strips cut into it) which works a treat. Still have a couple of edging things to do, but the heavy work's done.

Installing the door was a bu**er of a job, because the hole for the previous door was bigger, so had to cut 2 pieces of yellow tongue and cut the hole for the door in those, then fit the door into these holes, and finally secure the panels in place, then silicone up all gaps, then paint the panels around the door. Huge thanks to my neighbour Ron, who spent a significant number of hours helping me with this, lending both his expertise and saw bench. I learned new things.

Took Smokey about an hour to work out how to use it to get to his biscuits inside, but he's now a frequent flyer and we don't have to worry about uninvited guests. He's much more relaxed at night now.

I still have a very long list, but at least now I'm knocking things off of it. Some of them things I've been meaning to do for 5 years - since first moving into Annie Brown.

Pics of the wizzbang cat door and the reno job on his entry cover.

Shed's together. Just have to add more screws to crucial places, tighten all the existing ones, attach the whole thing t...
03/12/2025

Shed's together. Just have to add more screws to crucial places, tighten all the existing ones, attach the whole thing to the verandah (we have attached a beam across the ends of the veranda that the shed can be screwed to) and add a bit more to the front of the paving. But it's in one piece at least. And a massive shoutout to my neighbour Ron. Without his help and advice and knowhow I would not have got this job done. And to my daughter Zeb who's always there when I need an extra pair of hands - and some encouragement.

I'll screw it down and then start loading it later today when it's a bit cooler. The sun has finally come out and we're all 3 of us a bit worse the wear for it I think.

Pic of the shed in place - which (once everything's stowed away and my gardening table put in place) will give me rather a lot more garden area. Going to be so very very good having all my tools and paint and gardening stuff in one place and not 3 different ones.

ok. So the pavers are now laid and ready for the shed to be put together. Bucketed rain overnight (22mm) but by 11 am it...
29/11/2025

ok. So the pavers are now laid and ready for the shed to be put together. Bucketed rain overnight (22mm) but by 11 am it had stopped and it was just cloudy and coolish. Ideal for laying pavers, and carting 8 barrowloads of roadbase the 30m from the pile to my back yard.

Sun came out (hot hot) while I did the last 2, so all-in-all, I got a really good run at it and so pleased it's done. Half way through the whole job now - phew.

Pic of a barrowfull of fill and one of the finished paved floor.

Well I'm back from my second trip to Vietnam and before going I determined there were 4 things I wanted to get either un...
28/11/2025

Well I'm back from my second trip to Vietnam and before going I determined there were 4 things I wanted to get either underway or done when I got back. Things I'd been promising myself for a long time.
1. replace the 3 small garden sheds I had with a single one to accommodate everything and give me some work space.
2. replace my back steps with one with wider treads.
3. get the tops of the wall of the veranda filled in so I don't get rain coming through where it's inconvenient.
4. get the final painting done of the trailer doors and the section of wall where my front door is.

There were also a number of other things on my wish list if they could be done and if I could afford it.
1. replace the plastic concertina door on my bedroom with a custom made timber one.
2. fit a custom built barn door on my bathroom door opening and get rid of the curtain I've always had there.
3. have a door fitted to close in the living room end of the loft.
4. get the kitchen wall tiling extended around the wall.

So - a few days ago, I made a start. With the assistance of my neighbour's ute I went and bought a single shed. 2.36m wide by 1.5m deep and 1.8m high. This will give me almost the same footprint as the 3 little sheds, but with the added advantage of having all the area between them now under a roof and available to me. Cost me $560 from Bunnings and is in Monument grey to match my decking, and be fairly inconspicuous.

With the weather being either horrendously windy or annoyingly rainy, I've had to pick my days, and prepare for this job to be at least a couple of weeks on the go. Also, it's a huge job to empty each shed and move it out of the way, then completely re-lay the pavers they were sitting on to get them level, which meant having to shovel a load of dirt that had been piled under the verandah to use as fill. Anyway. The sheds have all be moved and 2 of them sold to another resident, and the 3rd is going to my daughter for on her verandah. This job took me 3 days over a 5-day period. Today, I started the job of re-laying the pavers. But as I ran out of fill and I just didn't have the energy to go get barrow-loads of more from over the road, I only got some of the job done. 4 hours of work but but only 11 finished pavers to show for it - but I know how bloody hard that 4 hours was. Body's knackered now, but here's a pic of today's progress. If the rain holds off tomorrow I should get another 6 laid (including barrowing fill - cos I have to raise these front ones about 8cm to get them level with the back). I have 13 more pavers to go to get the shed base finished. Then another 8 to go to one side to put my gardening table onto.

The pavers in the bottom left corner are the ones I'm taking up to re-lay as they're higgledy piggledy and have huge gaps between them - which allowed the bloody rats to get into my little sheds and make a hell of a mess.

I moved Annie Brown here to Settlers Rest Caravan Park a bit over 3 years ago - with the help of my wonderful daughters,...
11/05/2025

I moved Annie Brown here to Settlers Rest Caravan Park a bit over 3 years ago - with the help of my wonderful daughters, Zeb and Briget and son-in-law, Travis. Brig and Travis FINALLY turned up yesterday for an early Mothers Day surprise visit - 3 years later. They'd all been following how my little home had been coming together via facebook, photos etc, but hadn't seen it up close and personal. I'm so happy they came to see me - but even happier that I could finally show them my little home. Last time they saw her, she was still white with signage, had pallets for porches, had only half a kitchen, no tiling or floating floor, old fans, and was on a barren, flat block.

Now she doesn't look like a truck trailer at all other than the back doors to the washing machine and storage (behind the kitchen), or when you glimpse the wheels between the pallets beside the front ramp.

And my granddaughter Kiara (with her little son Odin - the cutest little boy on the planet) got to see Annie Brown for the first time.

This coming week also marks the 5th anniversary of the first email I sent to the tiny house FB group asking for recommendations for a trailer builder - and of Rob Mair replying back to consider buying a decom trailer (which I then did 2 weeks later) and starting my entire "build your own home" project.

Picks are of Annie, the last time Brig and Travis had seen her, and as she is today, both taken from the same spot.

I know it's been a while, but i've really not done anything new or terribly exciting to Annie Brown - just the usual mai...
06/12/2024

I know it's been a while, but i've really not done anything new or terribly exciting to Annie Brown - just the usual maintenance. I did have to replace my Takagi hot water system though, and was told by the gas plumber that it wasn't worth trying to fix it given it's a cheap import. Bit disappointing, but it lasted 3 good years and was all I could afford at the time, so I don't feel too bad. The new one has a 10 year warranty so should see me out.

What I DID want to show you though is how my garden has developed over the past year. I planted natives and let them go a bit wild and they've paid me back in spades.

pic of the back yard in March 2023 and again today - Dec 2024. I've also included a pic of my favourite plant - a pale pink native hibiscus - top right pic is same time last year - really fast growing and great shade on my bedroom window.

01/06/2024

An ageing generation of single women who have raised children, and are often well-educated with careers and middle-class backgrounds, are becoming permanent residents of caravan parks amid the housing crisis.

And another long-time "want to get finished" project is underway. Filling in the underside of the verandah. I was going ...
15/05/2024

And another long-time "want to get finished" project is underway. Filling in the underside of the verandah.

I was going to use painted pickets, but I stood looking at the front of Annie Brown last week and thought to myself "Now the ledges are done I really like the way the pallet timbers have silvered off". So I decided to use the pallet timbers I'd had stored away (the ones I pulled off the backs of the pallets), would make great infill.

So here's the first stage, which was putting up and painting the supporting bargeboards (did that last week), and another pic which is the first of the pallet pickets.

I'm really pleased with how they're looking.

I've added a 3rd pic as I've now finished the palings and the gate (have to wait till I have help to get the gate on).

SOOOooooo very glad I went with the pallet palings. Far less work and a pleasingly harmonious result.

Address

111 Morrison Road
Longwarry North, VIC
3816

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Wheeler Inn posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share