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Wheeler Inn, 111 Morrison Road, Longwarry North (2026)

30/04/2026

So you've seen the front ramp with the lattice work installed. Here's the back steps - all done now. New handrail and wall section added a few weeks ago along with wider treads which I then painted. Now I've installed the lattice work, same as for the front. Really finishes both front and back off. I love them. Just have some paint touchups to do and trims to add. Work for another day though.
With my garden now lush and bush-like and everything zinging along. I really love my back garden other than the section where my potting and work stuff gets done - which is next on my list of improvements/cleanup.

Pics are 1 of the steps when the new handrail had just been installed, and the other 2 are of the finished product. Again, have to thank my neighbour Ron for his help. Expanding the lattices to get the right cut marks, then fitting them was impossible without a second pair of hands. And having the sudden brainwave that I should be using the multitool to cut the lattice rather than a handsaw (which was painfully slow and tedious), made fitting the second panel about half the time.

25/04/2026

I showed you the before pic in my last post, and here's the "after" one. Now have the lattice work up and just have some trim work to do. I'm REALLY happy with how they look. My little experiment worked far better than I'd envisaged.

The way I painted them still closed up means they actually look like they wrap over at the top and bottom edges.

22/04/2026

Couple of things have happened building wise over the past few weeks.
Firstly, I had the builders in again and this time they added to my existing side panel (properly, not like the dodgy little job I'd done to stop things falling off the verandah). And they also added a proper hand rail to my stairs and put wider treads on them - which I then painted a couple of days ago.

You can see the before pic on that job in my previous post about extending my front door. The finished job pic is below here. I still have to paint the upright.

The second big job - currently underway - is me (with significant help and advice from my neighbour Ron) which will see my front ramp transformed. I'm adding painted lattices between the uprights. Bloody awful job to do because 1) painting lattice is the worst job ever, 2) because lattices only expand in a certain way, these needed to be custom cut to fit the gaps and all that measuring and tweeking and re-adjusting because the damned things would not behave, and that's not even including the uprights I had to add (angled because of the ramp) and getting them to work. So much pre-painting and prep work, then doing other jobs while the paint dried ..... Honestly, once these are finished I'll be happy if I NEVER EVER see a lattice job ever again.

So here's a pic of the job as it's started with the railings now painted blue instead of the white they were. The lattices are silver. I just sprayed pre-painted (green) Bunnings lattices before expanding them. After expanding, the green adds a lovely depth to them with a fine silver line running across them with the spray that went between the main timbers. (It will make more sense when the finished photo is up). Still have to do the 2nd and 3rd coats of blue on the hand rails, but that's been delayed because the putty doesn't really get much chance to really cure - might need a hair dryer job.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Wheeler Inn

30/04/2026

25/04/2026

22/04/2026

17/02/2026

02/02/2026

01/01/2026

03/12/2025

29/11/2025

28/11/2025

11/05/2025

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