i'm going to chime in on this, albeit very, very late, because i accidentally found it via search, and i have pertinent details to add. i may have just gotten lucky, but i have had an oleander on my 2nd story deck for almost 3 years now in a very large 12-15 gallon (or larger) square terra cotta pot. it's been there, 10' away from the house, left outside through the winter, through all half a dozen snows, sleets, hailstorms and ice storms this year and previous years as well, and it's doing great. i keep it pruned down to a smaller compact shape (no more than 4ft tall, 3' wide), it flowers like crazy year round, and it seems to do well. occasionally it gets grumpy, like during last year's drought, and some of the leaves yellow and fall off, but otherwise it's done exceptionally well. it gets a good bit of afternoon sun, from around noon till at least 5pm-6pm in the evening. i have seen others around, but not many. this one in particular is not something i planted (a former roommate left it behind), nor is it something i would have planted, but it is doing absolutely superb AFAIK. I'm pretty sure this guy is fairly root-bound in its current pot, but not sure my deck can really handle anything much larger in size to plant it in. i don't want to put it in the ground around the house due to its poisonous nature (small kids and animals galore nearby)

Well....this has turned into a discussion of pain ted vs not painted furniture.....when the forum is about antiques. To me things that were not originally made to be painted and get painted looks like "early marriage" decorating on a shoe string and if it looks beat up...paint it! And this assumption affirmed by all who says a Duncan Phyfe looks "Fresh and young" painted.... It would be criminal to paint those chairs...And I really think a painted Duncan Phyfe style looks very "improvised" painted....like look....I couldn't afford new....so I painted this! A real wood finish, with a coat of good paste wax....or if you must refinish it a coat of oil based poly is pretty resistant to wet glasses and milk spills.

Almost all spiders can bite but they are not usually aggressive toward humans. If you let him be then he will do the same. I love the writing spiders, we have one that has a nest in one of my potted cannas, we just give her a wide berth.

Karen, thank you so much. I edited my above reply but for some reason it didn't post. I found out that the flooring in the pics posted is laminate. What a bummer as I really like the color. Glad to know that there is a similar porcelain. Do you have a pic that you can share of your installed tile?