Winter is coming...

With winter around the corner, my wife wanted to get a bunch of improvements completed outdoors.  The mortar on the foundation blocks was in pretty bad shape, especially in the back of the house.  Lots of missing and cracked mortar.  In fact, if you went into the basement and opened a little door in the wall that provides access under the back porch, you could see light through the blocks.  :)  Not so great.

With that, my wife set out to get all of the mortar fixed and was dead set on also getting the foundation painted.  We went back and forth about the color and she decided on a color that was similar to the house siding.  It turned out really nice and made a big difference from the curb.  It is nice to have this completed going into winter.

First, a few before pictures:

And, the after:

When we purchased the home, the back steps were in terrible condition and as part of the sale we needed to get these fixed as they were actually a hazard.  They ended up replacing the cement steps with treated lumber.  That was fine with me, but it was just raw lumber and needed a little something extra.  My wife decided on the colors below.  I was out of town for the week when she did this and when I returned it was all completed. Nice work!  

And. the back door has been painted as well.  We are looking at painting the storm windows this same gray color next year when it gets a little warmer.