Downtown Orlando Cottage

Painting of the trim and Golden Yellow. The porch and ceiling will be next.

I have been completely pre-occuppied by doing the things I want to write about and making the money to do them. Wednesday and Thursday were spent painting the cottage outside . Friday I arose at 3:30 and got on the road to plant country south of Miami at 4. After stopping at my favorite cafeteria on Krome Avenue for a breakfast of stuffed peppers,Cuban-style, I headed down to a nursery almost at the entrance to the Everglades to buy a couple of large (eight foot) trellised bouganvilla. I had a fairly extensive shopping list, plus the requisite stop to buy orchids and bromeliads, so I was glad to get back to Orlando a little before seven, go to gym and feed Mike and David's dog before going to bed. That was how I spent my birthday. Yesterday we installed plants at the cottage and out in Windermere at the water feature. Today was paperwork, reading and spent some time on the internet. I purchased some chain on which to hang some of the orchids. The front of the house after everything has been painted and some of the orchids I purchased in Miami are placed out.
We trimmed out the volunteer oak that had grown up in the cherry laurel on the west side of the front porch. There's a lot less cherry laurel there than I thought but the effect of the removal has been very positive. The house looks larger, more balanced and cheerful. Ultimately I plan to build trellis-like structures on each side of the porch that will be painted and trimmed to augment the woodwork and style of the cottage.

The first bit of landscaping to the cottage. Just having the lawn mowed made a big difference and and the addition of a plant bed in the front ads a tropical look to the cottage.