Friday I'm in love... with Spring cleaning

Our dining room on the first day of Spring: yay for natural light, boo for impending home improvements.

Something's been happening round here lately. There's lots more light about. I've been buying flowers. Arlo's been running round the garden like a mad man. It's Spring! And I am so bloody chuffed about it. The house is looking lighter and brighter, which is always a good thing, but the changing of the season, combined with a few home improvements of late (hello new old Ercol dining table and chairs, you're lovely but please stop showing up the rest of the place) has made me notice all the things that still need doing around the house. I'm not talking Spring cleaning as much as Spring changing, chucking and improving. Which is great because I have loads of time on my hands to potter around doing such things (jokez, loool etc etc).

So I've started a list (all the best intentions start with a good list, after all) and am making it public here in a bid to try and actually stick to it. Hopefully I'll be able to do updates on all the things that improved as and when they get ticked off the list. I'll try to avoid anything embarrassing like that time I publicly pledged to start a new patchwork crochet blanket project, and just got as far as two squares and never ever mentioned it again. Ahem.

So, here's what I want to focus on this Spring/ Summer:

• Finish the patio - finally. We're so close! 
• Sort out the rest of the garden so it matches the beauty of the patio. painted fences and walls, flowers everywhere, grow something we can eat - some herbs AT LEAST
• Get round to painting the alcove in the front room that isn't the same colour as all the other walls (can you spot it!?)
• Arlo's bedroom door has had a coat of primer on it for months now. It just needs to be painted. I really want to do it because I've got his name sign all ready to go on it. It just seems like such a boring task. Must make myself do this.
• Paint the bathroom. I've already done it once since we moved, but it was a bad impulse colour choice. I'll never be sharing pics of the bathroom unless they're the 'before' images to illustrate how much it's changed and is newly-beautiful because it would be too distressing for you all to witness it in its current state.
• Do SOMETHING to the front garden. Lick of paint on the front of the house. Some plants. I like the idea of window boxes too. Just something!
• Get the spare room painted so you don't see the edges of where we removed the wall at the end of last year. This is the room we've actually done the most to since we moved in - walls knocked down, upstairs loo removed, carpet removed, floorboards sanded and painted. It's getting there!
• Pipe Dream #1: some fantastic wallpaper in the bedroom. Inspiration here. 
• Pipe Dream #2: new tiles on the kitchen floor. Been pinning pics like a mad woman while dreaming about this. Further inspiration here.