The video above shows you some basic functionality of the app running & how to use it just to wet your appetite. As we’ve said before this is no ordingary French dictionary, this is going to be an epic renovation and building dictionary of super super handy proportions.. No more worrying if you know exactly what a word says just look it up in seconds.

The great news is that we are constantly updating the word lists and we’ve already send an update to Apple correcting a (rather embarrassing) spelling mistake and we’ve added 1500 more words. As promised these updates are always going to be FREE, so don’t wait around CLICK HERE and go the App Store today & get the WORLDS 1ST French Renovation iPhone/iPod Touch App brought to you by us here at www.Montpillard.com

So here’s the skinny :
iTunes Link : Petite Assistante
Cost : Launch price £1.19 NOW FREE (see post for why)

Right now we can’t give any away as a launch special as Apple only allow this via the US store so we’ve dropped the price by 1/3rd for a week. Lets hope they fix that soon so we can do a small giveaway.

This is the one we’ve both dreaded, the episode where we try and talk French architect, bureaucracy and our current experiences… This tips Lee over the edge!  No worries though we found the beep effect in Garage Band but it also drew some angry responses on Twitter regarding my “Architects are the problem” tweet that was sent out with it, rather than “maybe it’s just the guys we’ve encountered etc etc”.. No offense intended but I’ve just about had my fill of unclear, contradictory and outright wrong information.

Listen to the low quality version now
Listen now with the below audio embedded low quality version or click HERE to go to iTunes to get it or subscribe
[audio:http://www.montpillard.com/wp-content/uploads/podcast_episode_six_stream.mp3]

In order to start this we need to empty and ultimalty dismantle the cow shed and our current bedroom, but with people staying in the bedroom the cow shed was a good place to start.

The “cow shed” is covered in hay at the moment, lots and lots of old hay. While this is providing insulation on top of our bedroom it is and was never going tobe a nice job removing all this, do to the sheer amount there is and the dead animals in there (so far we found two) .

Here is a reminder of what the top of the shed looked like. Covered in hay and other items like the Pony Trap orginally (however this went when we purchased the house). In the shed itself were old paints, tins, machinery and even a solid set bag of concrete as well as the old cow feeding rack.

That's a lot of hay to shift!

I'm sure there is both life & death in here.

Most of this is going to the tip.

The feed tray for the farmer.

While everything else went to the local tip, the cow feeding rack is going to be used by our farmer friend so it was good to see some items go to some use.

Hay starts to cover the car.

One of may trips to the garden with lots of hay.

So with that sorted it was time to start shifting the hay, and you can start to see how much there was as it covered the car that’s in the barn.

The floor looks mildly decent!

Finally clear, now to remove it.

Finally after lots of trips to the bottom of the garden to where this was bring burnt, Eric was greeted with a somewhat decent floor, however this was made up of old briquette tiles some just laid down and others full of cement.

Starting to see some light.

Getting them stacked.

They all need taking down but....

These can be removed another day. Wine anyone?

Now starts the prying, prodding, bashing and stacking! Soon there started the be light and in keeping with trying to keep everything we remove and not just stash it to pieces Eric started stacking the useable briquettes and soon large chunks of upper roof could be seen.

The next visit it’ll be time to get all these down and then start to remove the roof joists to open this space right up. This hopefully will be done on a time-lapse camera so you can see it getting removed, but once this has gone we’ll start to get a real feel of the space that is available to us which is going to be come a nice sized living area.

This was just the break Dawn needed and with the added excitement of having explored the area and found far far more on our doorstep than we’d previously thought it’s really given Dawn a 2nd wind and a small reminder why we want to live in Montpillard.

Here is just a small sample of pictures of everyone working away. Unfortunately there were no “before” pictures taken only during and after so you can’t see how much progress they made, but lots of progress they did make and taming the jungle that was the garden was a priority while Dawn & Eric (her Dad) started to dismantle the cow shed.

Dawn & Eric - Hay removed from the cow shed.

Jules about to get strimming!

Looks like Eric's had enough of someone!

All this has to go.

Hmmm what's in here?

Non! Nothing of interest.

Clearing the cow shed (Eric's quite the beef cake).

Digging out the cave stairs.

Almost cleared.

Somehow Dawn is still clean....

They’ll be more pictures soon, but I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to every for their help. We really couldn’t have done this without you. From my Dad and his ability to plaster, plumb and eternal patience, to Eric, Maureen, Julie & Judith and all their hard work in chopping, strimming, painting, lifting and lumping. Weeks like this when our friends and family are REALLY helping us out. I know it’s an old saying but many hands do make light work, however even it’s ifs just one set of extra hands they all make things progress so much more smoothly..

With that in mind if you fancy a trip to our house for the summer then you’re all most welcome (family, bloggers, readers etc etc), but come armed with old clothes and a pair of gloves as you’ll be needing them

This was a hard exercise to go through so when we started to look ahead to see how would two adults a few kids and a dog live in the house things became easier, we became more practical about where we wanted bedrooms, bathrooms.  From here we went down a planning route which ultimately has clashed with what is deemed as “French Enough” and not in keeping with the area.

There seems to be a fine line between wanting to move design forward as we see it and using lots of natural light to a somewhat invisible tipping point where this is not “French Enough” and is rejected out of hand.

We’ve posted the below render before, and while taking advice from the CAUE we’ve been told the house looks too “Alpine” and specifically the changing of the pitch of the roof of the side house is not acceptable.  So while this wasn’t a major shock to have scorn poured on the initial plans what did strike me was a lack of understanding as to why we would want to do things and the outbuilding is a great example.

The outbuilding as is, is not useable for anything except storing maybe cattle feed.  The roof is too low, the walls are falling down and it has zero foundations.  Taking the chance to increase the height and change the pitch to match the house seemed logical.  Changing the pitch meant that we could actually use the new roof space as a storage/dressing area in the master bedroom, while creating a utility & entrance room downstairs, which ultimately meant we could move the kitchen door so you didn’t walk directly in from the muddy drive into the kitchen.

This just isn’t going to happen.. The pitch of the roof isn’t allowed to be changed however we may be able to heighten it.  The reason we were told for the reject was “This was un-French, and when we come to sell the French wouldn’t get it”.. REALLY? Wouldn’t get the extra space and practicality it offers, but OK deep breath and think about fighing the battles that actually need fighting.

Where things start to become sticky is when plans start to suggest the internal layout of the space.  Now the CAUE may well just be being over helpful but coming from a small 1 bedroom flat in London all my life I want to create open spaces for family and friends to gather.  For this reason I found it amazing that the CAUE architect arbitrarily chopped 12ft off the lounge, move the front door and created a hall way that had no natural light.  Why would you do this? The house is dark right now and the idea of windows is to open this up not to darken it down..  Is to have space & natural light “un-French”?

While we are talking about light, gone are the skylights in the new bathroom and with the internal changes gone are the dormers windows altogether and this is where I think that looking at plans without explanation can be cold, harsh and ultimately wrong.

The below image shows a quick bastardization of the work done by the contact at the CAUE so please forgive the roughness.  The top one is his “suggested” design and our compromise is the bottom and here is my explanation as to why this should be more than OK.

Ground floor Windows
The on to the right of the front door the window isn’t actually an addition it’s actually restoration of one that was there.  Sometime ago it seems to have been blocked up and we’ve since been using it as a HiFi cupboard (see image) but unless you talked to us about this you’d just assume we were adding a window.  That said it does need another window in there, the light in the kitchen is poor and this would really help.

Bathroom Windows
Seems simple enough, for light and ventilation.

Dormer Windows
Both our neighbours have these so it is indeed in keeping with the area.  The dormers would be in two new bedrooms allowing light and views.  The dormer on the far left is actually in the 1st bedroom where we could move our children too when they are old enough to not sleep in our room so they ahve their own room but are close enough to us for anything. Again without knowing this logic I don’t get why it would just be OK to move the bedrooms to opposite ends of the house.

Ground Floor Right Door
This needs to go! The suggestion of making this into a window to me is bizarre.  The window would be at ground level and maybe it’s the Londoner in me but this is just not secure.  Take into consideration this is where you park the car and you’ll get no use or light out of it.  Closing the door and adding a window that is away from the car port and at a decent level to allow in light seems a natural way to go.

Lean to / External stairs
So this is where I can see some difference of opinion and will be the easiest area to compromise on.  The external stairs were put back on the suggested plans with the explanation of  ”this would help with heavy furniture”.. Unfortunately nothing here as lost in translation and this seems to be pure opinion as to function.

The stairs are a later addition to the house.  They are made with poured concrete and is definitely not an original feature, they are also coming away from the house and the ivy, moss and water that pour down the gap are damaging that corner of the house, so it has to go.  Also for me again I see this as a security risk having a set of stairs leading directly to what we wanted to change into a glass widows to allow more light into the top floor.  Luckily for me no permission is needed to remove the stairs and these WILL be going.

Now the compromise
The suggested rebuild of the lean-to and pitch change of the roof is not in keeping and makes the look “alpine” in design is the opinion of the man at the CAUE, now he used to work in planning so should know what will and will not go through.  So OK I’m not overly precious about this, it would have been ideal to create more space but if this is a sticking point given the other spaces we are creating then I can accept this. Unfortunately it could be easier to remove it completely than to make use of it.  Currently it’s in a state and is falling down in-fact we’ve done a few posts on removing the roof and taking down the wall.  Again it’s under the size I need to have permission to remove so if it does become a hassle then it’s going, however we feel personally it is really a part of the house we do want to keep it.. The jury is out on this at present.

Conclusion
This is anything but concluded! Design is such a personal issue and it’s hard to strike a balance between allowing design to move forward and yet keep the integrity of the area so there isn’t something that stands out like a sore thumb.  So while for instance i’ll agree that the roof pitch change may be too much, I’ll not agree that putting in windows to allow more natural light in (thus reducing the need for lighting and reducing it’s energy bill) is a step to far, there has to be a balance struck between 21st century living, technologies and environmental concerns with that of keeping an old stone building just as old cold stone building.

I guess what I’m getting at is before we pruchased it, it was sitting there rotting like it was doing. While we don’t expect to be able to be outrageous with it, it has surely got to be better restored, lived in and come compromise has to be reached to the benefit of everyone.

So it’s now time to go back with some suggested revisions so they’ll be more news on this shortly we hope.  In the mean time below is the evolution of the plans, from where we were, to what we’d hoped for to where are are now today… WOW how plans change

Get the balloons, party poppers & the orange juice as we are about to have ourselves a wrap part!

Introducing little Miss “Petite Assistante” your personal French renovation dictionary, translater and all round life saver.

The app is a dedicated English to French to English translation dictionary however this IS NOT your normal batch of French words. You’re not going to be flirting with the ladies or buying groceries but these
6,000+ dedicated building/renovating words covering everything from fractions in English to French to tools, materials and so so much more.

We’ve even gone the other way and you can search French words (by alphabetically scrolling if you’re that way inclined or using the search function) so if you come across a word you’re not sure about when you’re out and about then you’re not lost. We don’t think there is any point in just having the English to French translator as when you actually have no idea what the French words are on their own. All that is now a thing of the past.

Here comes the some FAQ’s :

• Where can I get it?
  iTunes App Store. As soon as they approve it we’ll post the link here and on @Twitter.
  Petite Assistante will work on ALL generations of iPhones & iPod Touch’s.

• When can I get it?
  Apple say about 2 weeks from submission if we’ve managed not to break any rules.

• How much is it?
  NOW FREE (see post as to why) £1.79 or €2.00 depending what iTunes store you are connected to.

• How many words do you have & are you adding more?
  At launch we have over 6,000 translations in both English & French and YES we are adding more. We are going to keep it tight to renovating, renovation and building as this app is here to help you with these types of terms so we’ll not be cheating by swelling the word base by putting in basic French conversational words.

• Is there a “free” or “lite” version to try?
  Since we can’t do time limited trials we “may”  release a “lite” version for you to try. This will have around 500 words maximum and will just be a taster. This app will not be updated with all the extra words we are adding week on week.

• What do you mean English to French to English ?
  Simple … You look up the word “Paint” in English and you’ll see “Peinture” in French. But if you’re out and about and you see the word “Peinture” then how do you go about finding what that means.. With “Petite Assistante ” app you simply either drop into “Français à l’anglais” mode and search to word or scroll to it and that of course will bring up “Paint” in English.

If you have any questions about the app at all please either get in touch or drop us a comment and we’ll answer each and every one of you.

We are recording a demo video for you now and will post it shortly however here are some screen shots of the final layout and graphics. Enjoy

]]> http://www.montpillard.com/2009/08/french-renovation-there-is-an-app-for-that/feed/ 4 http://www.montpillard.com/2009/08/iphone-app/ http://www.montpillard.com/2009/08/iphone-app/#comments Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:24:39 +0000 Lee http://www.montpillard.com/?p=1930 I did mention a while back that we are trying to put an iPhone app together to help with renovation & that wasn’t very specific so it’s time to put some flesh on the bones now we’ve started the project (as if we didn’t have enough on the go).

“Petit Assistant” is a nice and simple app, we’ll to be honest it’s more of a dictionary than an application however the ability to have 1000′s of renovation terms in French and English with a look up between the two of them in your pocket is going to be priceless.

Why?
Currently i have to carry a book around with me no matter where i go to constantly do word look ups & it gets cumbersome, also i guarantee the one time i don’t have it on me i think of something i need to know, so with it all in your pocket this will be no more.

But aren’t there online translators?
There are indeed, but all these require a data connection where your requests is sent and processed by a server. In France we constantly find no data connection and when I’m in Brico Depot & I’m looking up a word it takes ages to send it out to the server and return it plus it costs me a small fortune using data while roaming. My last data bill was over £100 in 2 days just with this type of use. “Petit Assistant” will be a pocket tool which will do an internal lookup of over 10,000 words (to start) to give you quicker and much much cheaper results.

How much will it cost?
Nothing.. It’ll be a free app and that’s because we want your help. This really is for everyone French or English. We’ll start to build the word list shortly and we’ll be publishing it on the site, we’ll then be opening it up so everyone can add words and their translation. This will then be placed into an online file that can be updated instantly by the app should you want to.

When will it be available?
A few weeks… The actual coding and UI design isn’t the hardest thing since we are keeping version 1 very simple, the longest task is to build the word lists, if i can find a way of opening up the submission page sooner for your help then i will do.

So that’s it.. We are really trying to do something very simple and put it in your pocket so when you’re in a lumber yard, paint store or a tool hire shop you’ll be able to get exactly what you’re after.

If you want to help then drop us an email we’ll love to hear from you, and if you want to sponsor the app even better.

More soon….