White trim, black shutters.. door in either black or red- rails and columns all in white.. steps in concrete paint..

.- i have had great success with this one... pour a concrete slab like a patio on the outside. 99% of the water will be pushed away, so not enough water will get into the crack. the leak at my house stopped after pouring a patio. it used to leak during every rain.

This means that you have to be able to talk finances and returns in concrete terms.

I love tile on a concrete floor 

I really like the way polished porcelain tile looks.

What about exterior concrete that is crumbling?  

I have a $3000 solid cover held in with concrete anchors and springs all around the pool.

Plus after moving from Tulsa, OK... it had more trees than the rest of the concrete jungle of Houston!  

For example we did our own work converting the Duplex from junky backyard to a nice fenced (separate area per unit) to barefoot backyard, storage unit space, removing old 70's 6in concrete pad for vehicle parking, etc for a nice value add to renters).Some of what we're looking for in our first Texas real estate purchase & relocation (house hacking as we'll live in one of the 4 units) investment.

Maybe expand/redo the concrete patio instead?