What skills do you bring, Ursula?

Thank you, Ursula. You already knew what was ahead for me, having a Florian solarium yourself.

Looks like a fabulous space...will definitely be cheery on the cold dark days of January and February!

Looking fantastic, Ken!

Carol

Ursula would certainly make a great orchid consultant, on site Ken.

It looks just gorgeous. I especially love the tile that looks like wood. The plants sure do look right at home there too.

What direction does your glassed in area face? Just wondering if it will have sun all day, because then you can have blooming Vandas in there all year 'round. I'll bet your wife will love that.

The long side (32') faces due-east. The brick/glass wall side is due-north, and the brick wall is due-south. I haven't figured out how to put my two large Vanda in the space. I can't hang anything from the ceiling and with roots 30" long on one of them, they have to hang.

Portable clothes rack?

Kathy would kill me!

You will need every bit of that A/C unit. Most HVAC guys way underestimate the heat/cool loss from glass. Even good glass has a huge loss. My friend who just build his conservatory 14'x20' put in a 3 ton unit like that and it wasn't enough to keep the temps down in the upper parts. All of the glass with the sun just sucks the cool right out.

He is already looking at modifications for next year.

It is coming along nicely. I guess you won't be using sprayers with all of that furniture and electronics.

No sprayers. Don't use any in the greenhouses either (because of the fans/heaters). You ought to go to the Florian website and look at the statistics on this glass. You won't believe how efficient it is, both in winter and in summer. But don't just trust their numbers. Ask @Ursula. She has had a Florian greenhouse for many years. If it were not for Ursula's experiences and her willingness to share those, I would not have spent twice the money for Florian glass.

I guess your friend will have to put on some type of shading, perhaps Aluminet. With deep enough pockets, it can put in a remote controlled system to control the shade cloth.

I have enjoyed watching your beautiful space come to life! And yes, I agree, a plumeria or three would make it just right! Ken, do you have a Smart Phone with a camera? If there is a "mode" button on the camera feature, click on it and see if it has a "panorama" function. It takes practice, but you can get your entire space in one picture using that feature.

Alas, I have never even owned a cell phone, much less a "Smart Phone". I am a caveman. My wife has one though. Perhaps she can figure out how to take one of those panoramic pictures. Thanks, Cheryl.

These are "Panoramic" pictures produced by my camera. The result is somewhat distorted but its the best I have been able to do.

Melissa, so far the temperature control has been seamless and the space quite comfortable. We haven't gotten below freezing yet, so further challenges are still ahead, but when it got down into the lower 30's Saturday and Sunday mornings, the solarium stayed at 66F with very little power consumption. There is absolutely no moisture/fogging on the glass so far. I am very pleased with this two ton Samsung semi-split system. You literally cannot hear it running, neither inside with the fan operating nor outside, near the compressor.

Ken, it is gorgeous!!
Btw, if you like to listen to music while tending to your "pretty stuff" in there, I found that the acoustic in mine is awesome. I use small Bose speakers, (or sometimes even just a small speaker connected by blue tooth to my IPhone,) sitting high up on a small shelf and the sound bounces off the glass ceiling. I listen a lot to Opera and similar vocals and the sound is truly excellent coming off that double glass.

We were just discussing that last night, Ursula. We wondered what the acoustic would be like.

We have always planed on having a huge screen TV out there, but after spending a few evenings with a glass of wine in hand, I have just about decided to forego that TV. We can see the TV (through the doors/windows) in the great room and hear it as well if we wish to turn the volume up. I think I appreciate the solitude better than watching TV.

Ken, It turned out beautiful! I would agree that a glass of wine and a peaceful environment would be much better that TV.

There is no TV in the OC mainly because there are better things to do out there. The sounds coming from the garden and the lake are quite fulfilling. It really turned out nice. Congratulations.

Jim

It's lovely, Ken. I totally agree that a TV out there would be a detriment to the ambiance.

(plus, there's too much ambient light in the daytime - plants say , TV says )