Guillaume Gabriele cover

Guillaume Gabriele has been working for the builder, Ma Petite Maison, who is building some of the most beautiful tiny houses in all of Europe. I've been following them for a while and I'm excited to finally get to sit down with Guillaume to talk about the designs that Ma Petite Maison uses and how they're different in Europe than tiny house designs are in the United States, the state of the tiny house movement in Europe, and his own personal tiny house story.

In This Episode:

  • The company that started as a backyard project
  • Restrictions in Europe mean the tiny houses are tinier than in the USA
  • France and America have the same legal living issues
  • Building a global case for tiny houses
  • Guillaume's tiny home and future plans
  • Tiny Living Petition wants everyone to be heard

Links and Resources:

 

Guest Bio:

Guillaume Gabriele

Guillaume Gabriele

Guillaume Gabriele is a 27-year-old Frenchman living in the Alps. After studying Marketing for 5 years and completing his Master's degree he had the chance to travel to the United States. During his travels, he realized how much he wanted his day-to-day job to make sense and to participate in making the environment a better place to be.

A few months later, Guillaume began his work with Ma Petite Maison and began his own tiny house project with his wife. After that, he began work with the Tiny Living Alliance and the Francis brothers' Tiny House Community, the Tiny Living Petition, and a global Manifesto.

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This Week's Sponsor:

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PrecisionTemp

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More Photos:

Ma Petite Maison is passionate about using ecologically sound materials

The tiny house movements in America and Europe have much in common

Due to France's strict policies, THOWs must be much lighter than can be in the USA

 

Many tiny house dwellers use composting toilets, but flush toilets are also available

The houses are framed out of wood

Tiny Living Alliance hopes to build a worldwide network for tiny house dwellers

 

Although this tiny house doesn't have wheels, it can still be moved via truck

In France, tiny houses on wheels can only have up to two axels

Ma Petite Maison offers different finish options – DIY, built for you, or somewhere in the middle

 

Guillaume's tiny home has a radiant heater

In France, there are quite a few tiny house “pirates” living under the rader

Ma Petite Maison believes that tiny houses solve many (but not all) housing issues for a variety of people

 

Guillaume Gabriele 0:00

That's what we call modèle habitat. It's a tiny house that is not on wheels, but that is on a galvanized steel frame, but with no wheels. Basically about this idea of making each space something valuable.

Ethan Waldman 0:16

Welcome to the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast, the show where you learn how to plan, build and live the tiny lifestyle. I'm your host, Ethan Waldman, and this is episode 191 with Guillaume Gabriele. Guillaume Gabriele is a 27 year old Frenchman living in the Alps, who has been working for the tiny house builder, Ma Petite Maison, who is building some of the most beautiful tiny houses in all of Europe. I've been following them for a while, and I'm excited to finally get to sit down with Guillaume to talk about the designs that Ma Petite Maison uses and how they're different in Europe than Tiny House designs are in the United States, the state of the tiny house movement in Europe and his own personal tiny house story because Guillaume is also living in a tiny house with his wife. It's a great conversation and I hope you stick around.

If you're planning or building a tiny house, you might know that the cost of materials has gone absolutely crazy this year. From plywood and 2x4s to metal roofing and appliances, the cost of materials for your tiny house have gone up across the board. Luckily today's sponsor PrecisionTemp is offering an opportunity to buy an amazing hot water heater for your tiny house at their pre-pandemic prices. Head over to precisiontemp.com and use the coupon code THLP for an additional $50 off any hot water heater plus free shipping. There's no telling what 2022 might bring. So now is a great time to buy an amazing hot water heater for your tiny house at an amazing price. Again head over to precisiontemp.com and use the coupon code THLP for $50 off any hot water heater plus free shipping

Alright, I am here with Guillaume Gabriele. Guillaume is a 27 year old Frenchman living in the Alps. After studying marketing for 5 years and completing his master's degree, he had the chance to travel to the United States. During his travels he realized how much he wanted his day to day job to make sense and to participate in making the environment a better place. A few months later, Guillaume began his work with ma Petite Maison and began his own tiny house project with his wife. After that, he began work with the Tiny Living Alliance and the Francis brothers' Tiny House Community, the Tiny Living Petition, and a global Manifesto. Guillaume Gabriele, welcome to the show.

Guillaume Gabriele 2:59

Hey, Ethan, thank you very much for hosting me.

Ethan Waldman 3:02

You're very welcome. We were chatting before I hit the record button as I am one to do and you were starting to tell me about how Ma Petite Maison, the tiny house company, started. So maybe maybe could you start by telling that story?

Guillaume Gabriele 3:24

Sure. So it all started with a guy named Louis. And he is a guy who has always been aware of what was going on. All over the world, though, talking about housing and, and especially certain kinds of housing like tiny houses or even cocoons in the trees or whatever. And so, in 2012, he started his own project. He built his own tiny house in his backyard in his garden. And so when that project was ended and was beautiful, he's he thought I should start a company as there are not a lot of companies out well. There are no companies in France, building tiny houses. And so that's how my particular zone was born in 2014. So it was two years after he started his tiny house project. And so yeah, Ma Petite Maison is one of the three companies who was first build tiny houses in France, around 2014.

Ethan Waldman 4:28

And how, between 2014 and now do you know roughly how many tiny houses that the company has built?

Guillaume Gabriele 4:36

Yeah, so Ma Petite Maison has built some tiny houses and also has distributed some tiny houses. It's about between 100 and 120 tiny houses we have been able to deliver all of her French country.

Ethan Waldman 4:53

Wow. And so are is is it? Are you working just in France or are are your tiny houses going outside of France to Europe to the rest of Europe?

Guillaume Gabriele 5:03

Mostly in France, but everywhere in France, also French speaking countries like Belgium and Switzerland. And we have some projects going on in Denmark or some other European Union countries.

Ethan Waldman 5:18

Okay. Excellent. Excellent. So my Ma Petite Maison has made some of the most iconic tiny houses that I've seen from Europe. I'm curious, since you did have a chance to travel in the United States, what do you see as some of the differences between the the European or French tiny house designs and what you see in the United States?

Guillaume Gabriele 5:45

Of course, I'm in love also with the American style, because it's, it's different, I think, because of the drivers, because of the fact that a tiny house on wheels go on the road. In France, the regulation is very strict, so it makes them very tiny.

Ethan Waldman 6:04

Right.

Guillaume Gabriele 6:05

very, very tiny. And, but it's, it's gorgeous, and it makes them very cozy, and you feel like you're in the Alps in a small house.

Ethan Waldman 6:15

Yeah. Yeah.

Guillaume Gabriele 6:16

And in the States, yeah, you can see like, huge trailers, like maybe with. maybe 10 people can sleep in that tiny house or - now that's extreme. But you know, so, three wheels, tiny houses, and in France, we don't have that. We have two wheels. I mean, four wheels. This is six...

Ethan Waldman 6:34

Two axles.

Guillaume Gabriele 6:36

Yeah. And in the USA, you can have three, right?

Ethan Waldman 6:40

Right. Right. So what are the weight restrictions in Europe or in France?

Guillaume Gabriele 6:46

Yeah, interrupt. It's 3.5 tons.

Ethan Waldman 6:50

Okay.

Guillaume Gabriele 6:51

Yep.

Ethan Waldman 6:52

Okay, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna quickly Google that. 3.5. And those were metric tons?

Guillaume Gabriele 6:59

Yeah, I have prepared that. But I closed all my windows. Sorry.

Ethan Waldman 7:04

No, that's okay. That's okay. It looks like it's about 7,700 pounds. 7,700 pounds, which is definitely, that has to be a pretty small and light tiny house. I mean,

Guillaume Gabriele 7:17

Oh, yeah.

Ethan Waldman 7:18

For comparison, the tiny house that I built is, is on a 20 foot trailer. I'm sorry. 22 foot trailer.

Guillaume Gabriele 7:26

Okay.

Ethan Waldman 7:26

And it weighs about 10,000 pounds. So I would be slightly overweight for Europe. So that must be a real challenge because it is cold in France, especially in the Alps. It's you guys have have winter, just like we have. But to make a house that light, you must have to use extremely light materials.

Guillaume Gabriele 7:51

It is the challenge for us. Tiny houses on wheels.

Ethan Waldman 7:57

Yeah.

Guillaume Gabriele 7:57

Because we want to have a wooden structure and, and yeah, ecological. I mean, for the environment, you have insulation that is good, but also good for the environment. So it's really a big, big challenge.

Ethan Waldman 8:10

Yeah. And, you know, I think that it's interesting to me, that in the United States, because there aren't the same restrictions, tiny houses have gotten bigger and bigger. And, you know, it's not uncommon to build a tiny house on a trailer that's 30 to 40 feet long. And in Europe, where there are these, these restrictions, it forces you to be more creative in a way in the design and in the material choice. And, you know, I still interact with people, there are people in my online community, who still want to build small. Like they want to, they want to be able to tow it, they want to be able to travel and I think that it would be instructive to look toward Europe to see how you are meeting those challenges. Are there any any things you can share? Like specifically like either materials or construction techniques that that you found work really well?

Guillaume Gabriele 9:14

Yeah. So there are different types of wood for the exterior and also for the structure and I think this is something really important to to think about when building a tiny house in Europe, because that is what would weigh very much. And also the trailer itself. You have to take it very... It has to be strong, but it has to be light to and that could give you maybe 600 kilos, which is I think about 2000 pounds or maybe 1.8. And yeah, that that would be the first thing to think of structure, exterior wood and also The trailer will give you some weight to put stuff in the tiny house like nice furniture etc.

Ethan Waldman 10:08

Yeah. Are you using aluminum trailers?

Guillaume Gabriele 10:12

It's... I don't.... INOX. You say INOX? It's iron.

Ethan Waldman 10:20

Okay.

Guillaume Gabriele 10:21

Iron, but with... Yeah, it's, you know, it's gray and very... It can't be...

Ethan Waldman 10:28

It looks like galvanized steel.

Guillaume Gabriele 10:32

Yeah, that's it. Yeah, sorry. Yeah,

Ethan Waldman 10:33

That's okay. I was curious because it has, it hasn't really caught on here very much to use aluminum for the trailer even though they are a bit lighter. Aluminum is lighter and won't rust. It's just quite a bit more expensive. So when I saw the lighter, the lighter steel I thought that that might be aluminum but it looks like it's galvanized steel then. And then in terms of the insulation and and kind of what's inside the walls. One thing that that's been popular here in the US is, you know, if you are trying to save a lot of weight is to use metal framing, you know, steel studs, but it sounds like you're just using you know, you're sticking with wood framing.

Guillaume Gabriele 11:23

Yes. And more and more we can see designs with tiny houses, and my own tiny house, which arrived 10 days ago, has some iron or mental framing to gain on weight? and also on an insulation?

Ethan Waldman 11:43

Yep. Looking at at the Ma Petite Maison website, I was looking, you know, you have a page for your tiny houses on wheels. And then there are the garden, the garden models or the Nano habitat. What what is the Nano habitat? And can you describe it for our listeners?

Guillaume Gabriele 12:04

Yeah, sure.

Ethan Waldman 12:05

Yeah.

Guillaume Gabriele 12:06

So tiny houses on wheels, we say it's mobile. And so for people who don't need to be to yet be mobile, they just need sometimes to be able to move their habitat. And so that's what we call modèle habitat. It's a tiny house that is not on wheel that is on a galvanized steel frame, but with no wheels.

Ethan Waldman 12:34

Okay.

Guillaume Gabriele 12:34

And it's basically about the same with the same idea of making each space something valuable for the user, for the guy who lives in this habitat.

Ethan Waldman 12:48

Got it. Okay, so it's a, it's a tiny house that is movable, but is doesn't have wheels attached to it ever. So when it's moved is it brought up onto a onto a trailer?

Guillaume Gabriele 13:01

Exactly. on a on a truck.

Ethan Waldman 13:03

Okay. Okay, and what, what are the rules in in France around living in a tiny house on wheels versus one of these garden habitats or nano habitat?

Guillaume Gabriele 13:19

Yeah. So then everything that is not on wheels, we can have a law or have something that regulates it. And so it is called habitat léger, which means light habitat, because it has no foundation and it doesn't insulate this the soil, it doesn't make it, it leaves it permeable, the water can flow into the ground. And so this is something that is recognized by the state. And in many of the counties in France, you can't put that kind of habitat. It is written black on white. And we don't know really why. But for the tiny house on wheels, it really depends on what you do with it. If you live in it as a permanent habitat. There is no... Like, the state doesn't know how to put it. Is it a light habitat? Is it's a caravan or a trailer? Is it an RV? They don't know where to put it. And so legally, you can't live all year long in a tiny house on wheels on somewhere in France. That is the complicated part. But to make it simple, it really depends on the project and where you are in France because you can and you have to go on see the mayor and also the neighbors say, "Hey, I have that kind of habitat. These are the advantages of it. And I would really like to be on your piece of land. Do you agree?"

Ethan Waldman 14:58

Yeah. Does that? What's the success rate of that?

Guillaume Gabriele 15:07

One out of 10. And I would say that yeah. 90% of the people actually build or buy any house on wheels, they go as pirates.

Ethan Waldman 15:21

Okay,

Guillaume Gabriele 15:22

Lands, yeah. Without saying anything to anyone and just waiting for someone to knock on the door and yeah.

Ethan Waldman 15:29

Yeah, yeah, that's, I'm familiar with that as well. Unfortunately, that's the that's the reality still, for most people living in a tiny house. I would guess that it's - that they're doing it under the radar or not, you know, not telling. I like that 'as pirates'.

Guillaume Gabriele 15:48

Yeah.

Ethan Waldman 15:49

Pirate Tiny House dwellers.

Guillaume Gabriele 15:52

It's very encouraging to see in the US that a lot of communities are being created and growing.

Ethan Waldman 15:59

Yeah.

Guillaume Gabriele 15:59

And we can see that in France, too. There are associations and communities that creates some 10 Tiny houses on a piece of land and it becomes legal. Yeah.

Ethan Waldman 16:11

Yeah. Yeah. So what is the current status of the broader tiny house movement in terms of is there any advocacy to change laws and do this on a higher level, rather than on this town by town, you know, piece by piece spaces?

Guillaume Gabriele 16:33

This is the the mission we have with Ma Petite Maison.

Ethan Waldman 16:38

Okay.

Guillaume Gabriele 16:39

Because first in 2014, we have created tiny houses. And now in 2021, we want to be to popularize the movement, and to make it legal and to have things going clear from the governments. And that's why we have joined the Tiny Living Alliance, Jan and Miranda, and also with Betsy and the Francis brothers and Loretta with the tiny house community. We are trying to, we are building we are writing a manifesto. And also we want to work on a petition. And we really want to say, "We believe this and this." And we also believe that it's not the only answer, and we don't want to be exclusive. But we want to say, "Hey, governments, look at this. This is a solution for poor people to access property, or people that maybe have a handicap to live close to their family. And it's really something you should look at, and legalize and use." I don't know if this answers the question, but...

Ethan Waldman 17:50

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So starting with a manifesto, just to galvanize people together, to consolidate support. And I actually just just interviewed Jan and Miranda, and I think their episode is going to come out this Friday, so November 12. So by the time, by the time people hear this, they'll be able to hear the interview.

Guillaume Gabriele 18:16

Oh, great!

Ethan Waldman 18:16

with Jan and Miranda. Yeah. Yeah. So we just learned about tiny living Alliance and what they're doing.

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And so in your bio, you mentioned that you actually have a tiny house. Are you in your tiny house right now?

Guillaume Gabriele 19:48

It's not my tiny house but it's the the tiny house of Ma Petite Maison.

Ethan Waldman 19:53

Okay.

Guillaume Gabriele 19:54

And it's yeah, it's demo tiny house.

Ethan Waldman 19:58

Okay. But you also are living in a tiny house?

Guillaume Gabriele 20:02

It's been 10 days now.

Ethan Waldman 20:04

Wow.

Guillaume Gabriele 20:05

I'm not the happiest, but probably one of the happiest person on earth living in the tiny house. Yeah, I really live in paradise. I'm at the farm and I have mountains, snowy mountains, just in front of my tiny house and horses and cows and awesome people. So it's just, yeah, great.

Ethan Waldman 20:26

That sounds... Are there other tiny houses at this farm?

Guillaume Gabriele 20:29

Yep. So we were one of the first going to see the farmer and saying, "We have a tiny house. We want to come on your land." And he was like, "Yeah, of course." So that was awesome. And then after us, maybe 30 or 40 people called the guy saying, "Yeah, we we've heard about your farm." We don't know why. Because we never promoted it or whatever. But yeah. And so we have a neighbor. Really cool lady that is living also in a tiny house. And so we are two tiny houses on that farm.

Ethan Waldman 21:03

Fantastic. And so are you completely off grid in your tiny house? Or is it hooked up to? Yeah,

Guillaume Gabriele 21:12

It was prepared to be off-grid, but we want to try things little by little. And so we are at the farm, we have water and we have also electricity. But when we will be fully set up in the tiny house will buy a solar panels and some batteries and start with that. And just maybe to have 50 or 30, even 30% of our consumption that is on batteries.

Ethan Waldman 21:41

Yeah.

Guillaume Gabriele 21:42

And yeah, test and test and test things.

Ethan Waldman 21:46

How is your tiny house heated?

Guillaume Gabriele 21:49

Well, for now it's electricity.

Ethan Waldman 21:52

Okay.

Guillaume Gabriele 21:52

But it's very efficient, and I can program it. So. And it doesn't have to be very hot. Like in Celsius, sorry, I don't know the Fahrenheit and Celsius, it's like 17 degrees. And we are doing good. Whereas in house normal house will be 20 or 21.

Ethan Waldman 22:12

Yeah. So again, quick Google here. 17 degrees Celsius is 62 degrees Fahrenheit, which is I would say that is chilly to set your heat to. But, but it is - you do make a good point. If the house isn't drafty, if it's tight and you're not feeling that cold air blowing from the windows and the doors, you can get away with a lower temperature. So I'm guessing is the heat a heat pump? Is it a mini split heat pump? Or is it

Guillaume Gabriele 22:47

No this one is a radiant? It's

Ethan Waldman 22:49

Okay. Yeah, an electric radiant. Okay. Got it. Yeah, I know that. Heat pumps are starting to get very popular here. But I know that they have been used more in Europe for longer.

Guillaume Gabriele 23:03

We can put that on tiny houses on wheels. And it's very efficient to but we chose not to because we wanted to get rid of the electricity one day and so we didn't want to begin installation.

Ethan Waldman 23:18

Got it. So would you do like a wood stove? Or how would you heat if you got rid of the electricity?

Guillaume Gabriele 23:24

I'm still trying to think of it.

Ethan Waldman 23:27

Yeah.

Guillaume Gabriele 23:28

I would love to have more heat, either with water. That would be my hot water for the shower in the dishes, for example. Or a radiant floor heat. But we're on solar panels. So I and that will have some NFC that means it doesn't take a lot of energy at once. But it's slow going slow and more efficient.

Ethan Waldman 23:56

Right. Right. The radiant floor thermal mass kind of heat. Nice. So were you involved in in building your tiny house?

Guillaume Gabriele 24:09

Unfortunately not.

Ethan Waldman 24:11

That's okay.

Guillaume Gabriele 24:13

But with the farmer, we want to, now that we are we live on the same piece of land we we have the project one day to start and try things also. But yeah.

Ethan Waldman 24:26

And is your house on a trailer on wheels? Or is it is it a Garden Habitat style?

Guillaume Gabriele 24:32

Now it's on wheels on wheels.

Ethan Waldman 24:34

Nice. And do you have? Do you have an idea of how long you want to live there?

Guillaume Gabriele 24:41

Like, forever?

Ethan Waldman 24:43

All right, all right.

Guillaume Gabriele 24:44

So we can see clearer that we won't be there forever, but as long as possible. It could be one two years or it could be 10 years. We don't know what life's life will bring.

Ethan Waldman 24:59

Okay,

Guillaume Gabriele 24:59

But, yeah, we are doing good there. And we think we want to set on bit, because we have been traveling a lot and leaving six months here and two months thre, so. Yeah, we want a bit of stability.

Ethan Waldman 25:15

Nice. Can you tell me more about Tiny Living Petition?

Guillaume Gabriele 25:21

Sure. So it's really a project that we have been creating with the Tiny Living Alliance. It was, we thought we, in order to have something that makes sense, we can't write a petition or write something ourselves, and then ask people to sign it. We wanted to do it another, yeah, the other way around, like put something a website, and also with the manifesto, that will be an introduction. And that will guide people and set a framework saying, we are in that framework, and then we ask you to participate and to tell us, what would be the points that you would like our governments to read and to statute on? And then you can sign it. So there are different steps. And so yeah, we thought, we don't know if it will work. Or if one day, we will send it to governments. But the goal is to involve people can be involved in that project. And it's more root grass, or how do you call that when it comes to?

Ethan Waldman 26:35

Grassroots. Grassroots.

Guillaume Gabriele 26:37

Yeah, thanks. It comes from the people, and it's held by many is we can't hold it with that. On hands. It's held by many and people are involved in it. And this petition for us, if it's a success, it will be with all the participants.

Ethan Waldman 26:55

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's fantastic. I mean, it sounds like things in Europe are progressing. Like it's, it's, it's behind where it is in the United States. But it's, it's, yeah, you're getting organized, and you're gonna start kind of lobbying for this change. Does Ma Petite Maison have any exciting projects, or any anything new that you can tell us about coming up?

Guillaume Gabriele 27:22

We just had a big thing that went out is our new graphic identity. And also, we have our own manifesto.

Ethan Waldman 27:32

Okay.

Guillaume Gabriele 27:32

And we really, this past six months, I've been working a lot with this with an agency specialized agency. And we are very proud now to be able to be more clear about who we are and where we want to go. And also, because we want to our customers, and also the community to follow us on purpose.

Ethan Waldman 28:00

Yeah,

Guillaume Gabriele 28:00

To think "I follow Ma Petite Maison because I believe in their project. And I agree. And I even if I'm not customer, I I want to increase this." This is the big, big project we've been working on.

Ethan Waldman 28:17

Very nice. Very nice. That's exciting. Congratulations, though. The website looks beautiful.

Guillaume Gabriele 28:22

Oh, thank you very much. And

Ethan Waldman 28:25

even Google Translate isn't breaking it too badly. So I can read it in English.

Guillaume Gabriele 28:30

Yeah, that's good news. I wanted to try but I don't have the tool to the VPN or so thanks for this.

Ethan Waldman 28:38

I can send you a link. You can see. Yeah,

Guillaume Gabriele 28:43

Okay!

Ethan Waldman 28:45

One other thing that I wanted to ask about, you know, just building tiny houses in Europe is, Are people able to get loans? Like, is there? Are there any banking options? Or is it like here still hard to get a loan for a tiny house?

Guillaume Gabriele 29:00

Very hard. It's one of the things we have been working on is to have some partners that which, who we can say we are holding this project. And so you can have confidence in this project, there's a company behind not only the person and also to educate them to say it's not an RV or I mean, RVs are very cool. I'm not saying that. But it's, it's, it's a real house. What I mean is like, if you if you give money to someone to buy this house, it will be his house. And I don't know how to say that. But like, yeah, it's hard in France, to have contact with the bank, and for them to understand and Ma Petite Maison is trying to have more and more partners, bank partners, to educate them. For them to know why is a tiny house and for people to be able to have contacts of people who knew What is a tiny house? And who will agree on not to set a loan, but it will be on there on other criteria than just "I don't know what it is. I don't want to finance it."

Ethan Waldman 30:13

What kind of interest are you seeing, in terms of demographics in France, like the age of people who are looking at Tiny houses? And also are they are they urban in cities or rural in the countryside?

Guillaume Gabriele 30:27

What I really deeply love about tiny houses on wheels, or tiny houses, even not on wheels is that it could correspond to everyone at a certain time and for searching project. But like an old, we have some customers that are retired people, and they wanted for their own habitat. Or we also people, families that have children that have handicap, and they have it in their backyard. And so that's, what I like is also that some people from the city want to go away from the city. And that's what we did with my wife. We, we were at in Leon. And then we now live in a farm in the countryside. And but you, yeah, we have, really, all the spectrum of ages and also different regions, and projects.

Ethan Waldman 31:27

Very cool. So it's, it's, it sounds like it's it cuts across lots of different demographics. Well, one thing that I like to ask all of my guests is, are their, you know, two or three resources, so it could be books or videos or people, just things that have inspired you in your tiny house journey that that you'd like to share with our listeners?

Guillaume Gabriele 31:55

Yeah. So my wife and I, we, well, it's not a famous people, because it's my wife's dad. But it's him who made us discover the tiny houses on wheels.

Ethan Waldman 32:08

Okay.

Guillaume Gabriele 32:08

And, yeah, it was maybe a year and a half ago. And then a couple months later, the owners of Ma Petite Maison called me to say, "Hey, do you want to join?" And I was like, "Oh, I just discovered the tiny house! Of course. Yeah." And then we thought, "Well, why not living in our own tiny house?" And so yeah, that's how, and we have the chance to interview some people on these videos are on YouTube. It's in French, I'm sorry. And I haven't translated the subtitles yet. But Max et Fantine, I really want to thank them. Because we have spent two evenings with them interviewing asking a lot of questions for us, but also for the community that follow us to be able to know more about their project.

Ethan Waldman 32:58

Okay.

Guillaume Gabriele 32:58

And it really was, we had some questions like for the dry toilets, for example, or, you know, some some really precise questions like, like that we were, "This is disgusting," or, and they were like, "No, look, it's not." And so yeah, it's more people. And also, of course, videos of Tiny House Livingston. That is, I think they are a French people, but also some videos on YouTube, of people describing the life in a tiny house. This is really motivating. And also it shows, because sometimes they say, "Winter is not fun. For us this winter was not fun because of this and this." And then, so we can say, "In our tiny house, we will think of it." And yeah, yeah, those are resources.

Ethan Waldman 33:51

Yeah, that's great. Well, I am not sure, YouTube might automatically do translated captions. I'm not sure how well that works. But I'll check it out. And if they do, well, either way, I'll put the video out. We'll find the video and put it on the show notes page for the episode. And actually, you mentioned one other thing that I that I wanted to ask about, which is the toilets. Are people using the compost toilets in tiny houses there mainly?

Guillaume Gabriele 34:20

Yeah. Most some of them have their separate thing that Yep. Most of our customers have just getiron like galvanized or iron bucket.

Ethan Waldman 34:35

Okay,

Guillaume Gabriele 34:35

and just with wooden pieces and compost.

Ethan Waldman 34:39

The sawdust.

Guillaume Gabriele 34:40

Yeah, works. Yeah.

Ethan Waldman 34:42

Amazing. Well, good to know that compost also works in Europe.

Guillaume Gabriele 34:47

Yeah, is it what most people in the US is also?

Ethan Waldman 34:51

Yeah, yeah, I think that it seems like many people have have switched to using what I call a commercial compost toilet. So Separette or Nature's Head or C-Head, which are more just collectors you don't. There's not usually much cover material like sawdust that you put in. But it's essentially the same, same thing. My tiny house uses the bucket and sawdust. And I think that that's, in a lot of ways. That's the best. Simple as easy as just simple and yeah, no, no problems.

Guillaume Gabriele 35:25

No mechanics No, just...

Ethan Waldman 35:27

Right. Yeah. You don't want something that can break when when you're going to the bathroom in it. Because that would be gross. So it's a strange place to leave it. But Guillaume Gabriele, thank you so much for being a guest on the show today. It was it was great to speak with you.

Guillaume Gabriele 35:48

Oh, it was a pleasure. Thank you very much for having me on the show and for asking all these questions. I'm very happy to be part of the communities and to be able to talk about this topic that makes me really like I love this topic.

Ethan Waldman 36:06

Thank you so much to Guillaume Gabrielle for being a guest on the show today. You can find the show notes, including a complete transcript, links to Ma Petite Maison and some photos of my favorite designs of theirs at thetinyhouse.net/191. Again, that's thetinyhouse.net/191. Don't forget to check out precisiontemp.com to learn more about their amazing hot water heaters and use the coupon code THLP for $50 off any hot water heater plus free shipping.

Well, that's all for this week. I'm your host Ethan Waldman and I'll be back next week with another episode of the Tiny House Lifestyle Podcast.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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