I did not mean to offend anyone, natives are good but you can't just plant them and leave them. I think you would have to do a fair bit of research regarding the best natives for your situation. You cant just stereotype them, give them the same treatment and expect them to look good. I did not tell nickyz to forget natives, just reconsider where they are to be planted. Palms (natives) do not cause the same leaf (and root) problems as other plants near pools to that would be the best option for this situation. On the gold coast I imagine that you can grow a very pleasing tropical native garden. If you do choose natives, you have to look after them. A really good book to get started is "Starting out with natives" by John Wrigley and Murray Fagg.

Having worked in re-upholstery for 20 years, I have seen my fair share of rusted springs and staples and also mold/mildew. Its not the water penetrating through a screened in porch but that you have no control over the humidity levels like you have in your home. The foam will absorb this, theirs no way around this, so its not the fabric the issue here. I would never recommend leather upholstery for a screened in porch. Their are very comfortable furniture, as comfortable as any interior furniture that is made for screened in porches and not intended for any outdoor use. Their is a difference in upholstery made for interiors, screened in porches and outdoors.

MGal, I'm curious, what did you end up painting your porch? In case your project hasn't been done, yet, I have a very different opinion from those earlier suggestions. Looking at your contemporary kitchen with the warm gray tones and warmer white cabinetry, I (personally) do not see light (haint) blue as an option for the ceiling. I love that look for a traditional home or a Southern-style home, but it seems very "off" and out-of-place for the adjacent look of your contemporary kitchen. Your angled siding and deck pattern are also more contemporary than traditional. As for the idea of painting the walls "Sunshine Day Yellow"--yellow has its place, but not with ANY of your colors currently inside or outside of your home! If that were my porch, I'd continue with the contemporary theme and undertones of the kitchen walls. (Are your kitchen walls perhaps Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter or some similar color?) The ceiling could be the same as your white cabinetry. If you want the entire porch lighter, then paint it in a lighter version of the kitchen or the matching white of your kitchen trim. That would provide better flow and be easier on the eye, especially with all the natural green beyond the porch. Your rug, furniture, pillows, etc. could repeat the kitchen colors which are very neutral. Adding paint colors such as light blue, bright yellow (!), and the somber green-gray of your home's exterior are too different from one another. Your porch decking is a gray with either a blue or purple undertone (on my screen); your home's exterior and the porch wall is a gray with a green undertone (or perhaps a "sagey" color). Your kitchen has a warm gray tone. Those tones aren't working together. Let the kitchen inspire the rest attached to it. The porch floor looks like it is ready to be freshened up so maybe the house needs painting, too? Consider changing the gray-green exterior, too, and that should help connect it all to your kitchen--which is BEAUTIFUL, by the way! Hope it all turned out/turns out great!

Oops. The screen was attached on the outside of the porch on the outside of the floor. A guess a picture is worth a thousand words but I cant find it. 😊