Thanks. That is the Bennington Gray again. I am thinking that I will probably play it safe. I will paint everything with Wheeling Neutral and then paint the one wall Bennington Gray. They seem to work well together with the Bennington Gray just a slight bit darker. I really wanted to go bold but I think it would just be too dark in my space. I guess I can always add color with accessories!! Jules

I am about to begin the second phase of a backyard project that started last year as a "simple" deck expansion & screened porch addition but escalated into a real challenge for the wallet as well as my personal endurance. Unforeseen ledge outside the old deck resulted in weeks of manual jack-hammering and the removal of the old decking off the house revealed a severely rotten sill-plate resting on 3 layers of old brick (!), an apparent technique used when the house was originally built in 1899. With project design on the fly and after many hours of exhaustive labor, a much thinner wallet and three cement trucks later there is now a new foundation under the fourth of the house that does not have basement (You guessed right because of the ledge!) On the plus side, the ledge was rich in veins and the removed rock proved highly suitable for masonry work so with the help of a talented mason, we now have a new 70 feet stone retaining wall. (The pic is bit funky in the middle since I had to stitch 4-5 images together) My original thought was to install IPE decking over the entire area, i.e. the covered porch floor as well as the outside deck. After having read about all the challenges associated with IPE (and after my wifeÂs continued insistence on a stone patio) we are opting for a compromise  flagstone patio for the outside portion and IPE floor inside the porch per the sketch below. (How can you tell I like Adobe photoshop? :-) This new approach renders the following issues where I am hoping for some GardenWeb advice and suggestions. 1) IPE Porch Floor For the porch floor, we like the look of narrow plank, T&G, i.e. no visible fasteners. The question is how practical is this given the following? The GOOD: The porch will be screened and have an approx.14 inch flat roof overhang which will limit exposure to direct rain on the floor. There will only be some late afternoon sun exposure on the floor on side A facing west. The BAD: There will be poor cross ventilation under the floor (due to stone wall work already done); however, depending on advice under 2) below, there may be a way to permanently prevent any moisture to get in under the floor anyway If T&G OK - any installation instructions that differ from normal indoor flooring? (I have installed one floor previously  reclaimed old oak, ¾" T&G, 6-9" varying width, glued to the joists and nailed through the T.) Questions: 4" or 6" boards, joists 12" or 16" on center, boards jammed tight or deliberately spaced a bit (likely install during typical East Coast high humidity Aug-Sept), type/size of screws & pre-drill bit, what pitch if any, etc. 2) Flagstone Patio Instinct tells me the patio should have a small step down from the porch floor and a pitch away from the porch, however having completed the stone wall last year with a rim joist height suitable for decking the whole area, I have "painted myself into a corner": A) Behind the rim joist we never bothered with decorative stone but only cement so laying the stone patio lower than the top of the current rim joist (to be removed) is not realistic. B) The cement slab for the grill was poured to be flush with the intended deck, i.e. it is one inch higher than the rim joist and the steps from the upper grass area were done with an intended landing at rim joist level It seems my only option is to raise the porch floor (deck joists yet to be installed) which I had planned to fit snugly under the sill of the sliding door. Luckily, the extra tall slider is set 3-4 inches below the indoor floor so there is room for a few fill in pieces on top of the sill. I would then have to pitch the patio from side B towards D (~13ft) and from C towards A (~32ft). How much pitch? I am a bit concerned this may not look right given that the increasing height difference between the patio and porch from C to A would be visible and perhaps make the porch look poorly leveled or even out of plumb.(?) Another thought would be to create a below surface, pitched channel around the porch perimeter (think castle moat) and install a few 2" or 4" wide drainage grates along side D. I would still have to pitch from B to D but could keep the height difference along D constant by pitching the channel under the grates towards A. In either case, I would have to do a small buildup for the half column base outside the porch which is OK. I also realize I would have a bit of cement exposure at the bottom of stone wall side C towards the house but with some chisel/masonry work I can probably fix that In either scenario, if done right, there would be no chance for water/moisture to ever get in under the porch flooring. Thoughts - Alternatives? Thanks Max

I love challenges. Yours exceeds my imagination. And makes me smile all over my face. My favorite kind of smile to acknowledge excellence And meeting a challenge one sets for oneself. Thank you for sharing.

That would be a real challenge for me. I've always considered myself more of a technician than an artist. High on the "follow the rules" scale; low on creativity. I don't think that being that "free" would be enjoyable for me. I guess I like structure too much. It will be interesting to see the final product. Enjoy! You would like a book by Victoria Findlay Wolfe called Fifteen Minutes of Play. I bought it when I visited her shop in New York, but it's a little too playful for me.