Yearly Update

It's been a loooong time since we've posted and it happens to be a cold, rainy day in Baltimore. I figure it is a great time to get caught up. It's encouraging to see that we are still getting visitors to the page even though we have been slacking on it and, as always, thank you for the positive feedback and comments!
Where to start...
The front perhaps?

It seems appropriate since I have realized, after a year of not logging in, that it's time to change the picture featured on the site.  A few small projects have really changed the look of the front entrance:

One of Mine...
The Front Step.

Hard to see, but the front of the step was painted brown. What I later discovered was that there were several hard-to-get-off layers of paint underneath this peeling brown shell. Those layers were actually covering several layers of even harder-to-get off paint and paint-ish type things.

Not wanting to use any harsh chemical or stripping material, I opted to use the non-toxic and organic paint stripper, a wire brush, putty knife and razor blade.  I have used conventional paint strippers before (the ones with the skull and bones on the container) and they work very well. Comparatively, the natural substitute worked little, if at all. I ended up spending every weekend outside, for weeks, scraping and scrubbing. The neighbors were all very encouraging even though it seemed that most of them thought this was a very small detail to be (literally) sweating over.

 Once most of the paint was off, I used abrasive cleaners such as ajax and bartenders friend with a wire brush to clean off the stone.

To finish, I layered on a stone-enhancing product that I purchased at Home Depot. It was a liquid that was sponged on and absorbed by the stone. It gave it a nice polished look and brought out some of the natural colors.

And, a project of Sam's...
The front door.

We have had at least one Crestview Doors post in the past and discussed the doorlite kit we had custom made by them. You have also seen plenty of pictures of the kit installed, from the inside and out.
However, Sam did get around to painting the door. The original steel door was a yellowish-white and had some evidence of the wear and tear it endured during house construction and even a little vandalism.

And so I will now update our photo to this one...

Note: Also new to the front is the one-way sign that the city installed. ew.