Thank you, nanagrandma...you already know about my Secret Garden in the pines ...with my swing...those pretty yellow & purple coneflowers & prairie beebalm have grown so much in the garden I planted directly behind the swing. It is still my fav place to go...and to grow...to meditate and pray & thank God for His many blessings. And I so luv taking pics...appreciate your comments. jan...as I said above: "So, today, I brought it home from FM & spent an hour moving it around...and took some pics...you will get the idea...I've sent you lots of pics....but was getting too tired and too hot...so brought my "Live Art" inside on the porch for the evening." I pooped out movin it around & it was high 80's...but will do more soon & find it a semi-permanent spot for a few weeks. Thanks! Jeanne S.

Thanks BDW, we enjoy the porch, too. I always call it the 'porch' and DH corrects me. "It's not a porch... it's a deck!" Funny man.... but he built it so I 'let' him name it, lol. We spend a lot of our time sitting on the porch swing watching the cardinal and hummingbirds. I've attached a pic of our birdie having his breakfast this morning. I found the little chicks at the dollar store, only it's not a true dollar store. These cost me $1.29 for a mama chicken and four baby chicks. This post was edited by sunnysa on Thu, Jul 3, 14 at 9:03

Mark, I like your way,the black alchemy really tiped the scale. I had completley goten out of out door finish questions over here because of all the total shiitttt I got reaching from it cant be done or should not be done or something else is so much better. But one more time, just because you word things well. Any outdoor project is going to require>>WorkI use twp 100 series sometimes the rustic,sometimes a mix cedartone natural/dark oak 3-2. I dont use any prep on a new ipe project one coat on right away. Twp calls for two coats but I have found one lasts just as long as two on new wood. Twp calls it wet on wet,man I love how that sounds,keep in mind there is a twp corp office 20 mi from my Butler Manor and that we dont agree on this. After a month or so put on another coat and just wait. This time of year till the early spring at this point do an oxalic acid wash after a good cleaning including inbetween the gaps then do the wet on wet. Done right and in the sprit of a sound mind you are good for 3-5 years. Done right= wait for good weather,clean the thing before you do anything,dont glob the twp on you are looking for several light coats. I use a paint pad on a pole for the deck push the extra along as you go you can go against the boards to get in the gap just make sure the last pass is with the boards any little cross lap or swiggle will show,forever on the first coat. Brush the rails fade in any drops that get on the decking with a dry brush that is one you have already been using but not diped into the can for a while. Done right you will never have to use a stripper that is take everything off and start again. Sprit of a sound mind =Wait for good weather Dont get on the decking while its still wet, work with the stuff, its not all that hard, geting a feel for this finish is not hard, try some test shorts and you will see what I mean. There is a lot of stupid stuff in print about ipe not taking finish. Its total Bul;sh(t from my stand point just put a brush load of twp 100 series on a short of ipe and try to get it off. The TWP finish has a very long track record and a few folks who have copied it with good results,the twp 2000 series put on under shop conditions on ipe man hole covers in sothern Cal has folks driving on it. If your state is under green mafia control the 500 series works about the same but takes much longer to set up and requires more work. I am not going to reply to any flames,hot shots from the maney Forever deck finish jerks, you cant do that guys, or any other things that pop up. This is what I have done,it works, my very own S American deck out back of Butler Manor 10 years old or so was done that way and I am very pleased to go on out there and have a bud lite lime. Side Note>> the 2'' copper pipe in my rail detail got twp finish as well not a trace of green

Ha. Touché. To be fair, I asked for resources to research the craftsman/arts and crafts style--like a website or book--not specific recommendations on my house. However, after doing a little more research on my street last night, I realized that the house across the street (which didn't look that similar on first glance) is the virtual twin of my house, built the same year and by the same builder, but never retrofitted with a porch enclosure. So now I can see more clearly which parts of mine are original and which were added.