Orlando Remodel, Windermere Water Feature and Busy Week

This is going to continue to be one heck of a week. I took Mike and David to the airport early Sunday Morning so they can attend a one week family reunion on the shores of Lake Michigan. The water feature is structurally complete but my trip to south Florida is on hold until I hear from a couple of more people on plant orders. The cost in time and gas is the same so the more plants I can get, the better the return. Also want to pick up some crotons, ti-plants, eugenias and a couple orchids for the garden cottage. Work has progressed on it, we've only been in a week and we have done quite a lot.
In the middle of the scrapping and wood putty job.

Sanding after the wood putty gets rid of the divets in the wood.

Sunday I scraped, sanded, filled and sanded some more the door surround which bore the scars of multiple Christmas decorations and an old screen door. I used Behr's ultra white exterior "prime and paint all in one" for the trim. It saves having to use a runny, messy primer and the fresh white looks perfect with almost everything. It costs about $35 per gallon but it's well worth it. And using one white for just about everything means we don't have to worry about matching for touch ups later.
I chose to keep the yellow body color but went for something a bit richer. I had a Ralph Lauren color, "Golden Yellow" made up at the local Benjamin Moore dealer, Watkins Paint on Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando. With the help of the manager, Ryan, I also chose what he said was as close as the had to a Charleston green as possible, "Black Forrest Green" for the porch floor. The color named for the classic southern city became popular after the Civil War. Impoverished gentility longed for color, but it tended to be too expensive. They discovered that by adding a little yellow to black paint (with a slight blue bias), they could achieve a rich, dark green. Hence the birth of one of the classic Southern color schemes- dark green with crisp white. To top it all off we'll paint the porch ceiling a very pale blue. Haven't picked the color yet, but again this choice of a sky blue on a porch ceiling is classic southern palette choice. So there you have it- Ultra white trim, "Golden Yellow Body," "Black Forrest Green" floor, Sky Blue ceiling. The porch will be done by Saturday. Oh yes, the wicker is all being sprayed flat black.

The Golden Yellow on the bottom vs. the paler existing yellow.

Lunch Break at the Garden Cottage. Notice the line between the two yellows.