Five ways to spruce up the outside of your house in a weekend

It's easy to forget about the front of your house. After all, it's inside your house that you spend most of the time. But here's the thing (and this is going to sound dead obvious I know, but it kind of dawned on me a while back) - the front of the house if the bit that EVERYONE sees. Sure your fam and friends and the occasional meter reader get to see what your house is like from the inside, but loads of people see it from the outside, so it's worth making it feel as nice as the inside, with a few little touches along the way that reflect you.

Since I had this realisation, we've done a few things to spruce up the outside of our house. There are a still a few on the list that we want to do, some of them those annoying, expensive-and-important, but not-actually-that-visually-different kid of jobs (the worst kind). The ones we've done so far tend to be more of the fun, minimum-effort, maximum-output kind of jobs (the best kind). So if you're thinking your front could do with perking up, here are five easy ways you can make a difference in a jiffy this weekend:

1. Paint the outside. Or just a bit of the outside, like we did recently when we got the front of our bay window painted in a nice neutral colour. As you can see from the before and after picture above, (the before of which was taken before we'd even moved in!) we had a few fussy light blue bits, and we wanted to 'clean' it all up a bit and it's made a huge difference.

2. Make up some window boxes. Like we did just the other day. You won't regret it. 

3. Change the numbers. So this is the thing I want to do next. I don't hate our house number at the moment, but I think it could do with a bit of an update now that the rest of the house has been spruced up a bit. These are my current faves, and there are more ideas on my pinterest board here, so watch this space.

4. Change your curtains. Net curtains don't have to be frumpy. I found our spotty ones in Ikea (where else?) and they look as nice from the outside as they do the inside. They don't make these ones anymore, but I found the two pairs above which I believe to be pretty lovely too. They get bonus points for helping visitors figure out which house on the street is yours - I'm always telling people we're the house with the spotty curtains.

5. Get a new front door. I want this more than I want any of the following: a new series of Spaced, 10 Whistles dresses, waking up every morning with really amazing eyebrows ready to go*.  That's big. You can see more front door porn romance in this post I wrote here. 

*Nah, actually I think I'd go for the eyebrows. But the front door is close.

A sunny window: how we made our window boxes

I've talked before about my love of flowers, and this weekend we finally got round to making something that's been on the to do list for ages - window boxes for our front window. It was SO much fun, made me SO happy and looks so blimmin' ace that I implore anyone reading this to whip up a window box or two - it's guaranteed to make you smile very time you get home, and it's also been an instant mood lifter every time I look out of the window. The whole thing took less than an hour to do and was so easy I thought I'd share the joy - here's how it went:

STEP ONE: go shopping (aka the fun bit). First of all, we went to the garden centre to pick up some supplies - here's what we got (L-R): a 25l bag of compost, 4 x trays of 'bedding' flowers (each of these had six little pots in), 3 x window boxes, one long and two short, 20 x tulip bulbs, 1 x big bag of daffodil bulbs, and 3 x bigger cyclamen plants. The whole lot came to about £45 and we actually ended up with more than we could fit in our three boxes, which we used to fill a few extra flower pots of various sizes by our front door, so you could do this with less if you wanted. 

STEP TWO: drill a few holes. Our window boxes didn't have any holes in, so we used a drill to make some holes in the bottom to make sure the water could drain through. This was actually a lot of fun and I probably got a bit carried away and drilled a few more holes than were strictly needed.

STEP THREE: plant some bulbs. We wanted to make sure we'd always have something flowering all through the year, so we planted some bulbs underneath the surface to pop through in the spring when other things will have died down. We got a mixture of tulip and daffodil bulbs and planted them in a couple of inches of compost.

STEP FOUR: get some flowers in! We put one cyclamen in the middle of each box - we'd bought one that was a bit bigger than the other two, which went in the longer box.

STEP FIVE: fill the gaps. Then the bedding flowers went in either side to fill the gaps - we did this by eye and tried a few different combinations until it looked about right. My favourite of all the flowers we picked up were the ones below that look like big daisies with a hint of pink on the petals, and as these were quite tall, one went on either side of the cyclamen in the long window box, to add a bit of height either side. Each box had a trailing flower on each end, and then we used little bedding flowers to fill any gaps.

STEP SIX: put them in place and water like mad. Then came the fun bit - putting the boxes in place! We used some small wooden blocks to sit the pots on so they would drain, and then watered them. And watered them again. And then gave them another water for good measure. They basically need to be completely, ridiculously watered.

STEP SEVEN: admire your handiwork. FOR LIKE EVER, because you'll see them every day, and they're just going to get better and better as the flowers grow and fill out the gaps.

So that's it - super easy, and super fun too. As Alex is a landscape gardener, he gave me lots of tips along the way - here's what I learnt:

• When it comes to flower arranging, visually it works to have an odd number of plants 
• Things need a lot more watering than you think they do
• You can't necessarily just buy all the flowers you think are prettiest, otherwise I'd have window boxes full of pink flowers and it would all look a bit 'matchy matchy'. After some persuasion from Alex, I realised that you need a mixture of colours, heights and types of flowers to look natural and set each other off 
• Referring to compost as 'mud' in front of a landscape gardener, even if the first time was a genuine mistake, and the second was meant as a joke, will not go down well
• Novelty watering cans, no matter how cute they seemed at the time, just AREN'T efficient pourers, as Arlo discovered during one of the many watering sessions...

10 ways to perk up a room for less than £25

I do love a bit of home improvement. Given that there's usually a two-year-old holding on to my leg/ blowing a recorder in my ear/ trying to clamber onto my back for a 'donkey ride' while braying, free time is pretty scarce around here, so anything that requires limited input for maximum visual impact is exactly the kind of DIY I'm after.

Since we moved into our first home two years ago, we've undertaken quite a few of these 'mini makeovers' - quick, easy, cheap changes you can make to really perk up your space. So if you're short on time, cash or just a little lazy when it comes to renovations (like me) then read on. All of these things we've done in our place, they all cost less than a Pony (that's £25. Yes I looked that up) and trust me, if I can do them, they're easy peasy.

one. Paint your tiles. 

This one's top of the list because we're actually right in the middle of doing it at the moment. A super quick and cheap way to make a big impact is to refresh your tiles with a quick coat of paint. Whether you're changing the colour, freshening it up or getting rid of some questionable tile designs that you have inherited (cough cough, that's exactly what happened to us) it couldn't be easier. We picked up a pot of white tile paint this weekend and set to work covering off the absolutely repugnant not to our taste nautical tiles that are scattered throughout our bath room - navy seahorse anyone? Two coats later and it feels so different - I just wish we'd done this two years ago! Ps. I have a whole board devoted to beautiful bathroom tile here, including this lovely example above, and some step-by-step guides for making beautiful patterned tiles using stencils, if you're feeling adventurous.

Actual cost: £20

Emotional wealth: immeasurable joy at being able to wave goodbye to the hideous sea creatures that you used to share your bathroom with.

two. Paint a wall a darker colour

I did this here with our gallery wall in the front room. I couldn't believe how much the subtle colour change made all the frames pop. 

Actual cost: £20 for a pot of paint BUT the very same paint we used above is currently on sale for a tenner, if you're interested.

Emotional wealth: a feature wall to be proud of. Bonus points for picking a wall shade that actually makes your complexion look better in the photos too.

three. Put up a mirror. Or three.

This one's good for dark rooms in particular. Our dining room is a bit of a gloomy space, so I've been keeping my eyes peeled at car boots and charity shops to find lovely old mirrors like the one about our 50s sideboard above. We have one on almost every wall in the room by now - it really helps reflect light, and the more you add the more light gets pinged around between them all.

Actual cost: all our mirrors have cost between £3-£8, from various charity shops and car boot sales - I've probs spent about £15 on them all in total

Emotional wealth: Genuinely the more light, the more perky you're going to feel, especially in the winter when dark days can bring an air of gloominess. Plus you'll able to check your hair do from any angle - always useful.

four. Fairylights anywhere everywhere.

Because what space can't be improved by a string of light fairy lights? None, that's what. Next!

Actual Cost: probs about a tenner, I think these above that I put up at crimble were more like £20 but they're super long

Emotional wealth: being able to deliver the right mood lighting for any occasion 

five. Paper the backs of your shelves 

This is such a good one. I remember discovering this little tip about ten years ago when I first moved into a flat share in London, doing it to a couple of Billy bookcases and flouncing around feeling like I was Linda Barker or something. So easy, so cheap, so transformative. Pick a colour or print you'd never want all over your walls, just to add a pop of colour. (Nb. picture can be found here)

Actual cost: about a fiver for some fancy wrapping paper (depending on the size of your shelves!) 

Emotional wealth: a sense of achievement and pride that can only come from having perfectly arranged shelving 

six. Give a door a lick of paint. 

I wanged on quite a lot about this at the time, but when we painted our once-yellow/brown wooden doors in the spare room, and made them white instead, the difference was amazing - so much lighter and airier.

Actual cost: circa £20 for some white gloss

Emotional cost: the intense relief felt at getting rid of yellow pine 

seven. Buy a new shower curtain. 

Add a flash of colour. We recently picked up this one super cheap and it's honestly changed the whole bathroom. Ikea actually has loads of nice ones at the moment, like the above, a snip at a fiver, which also caught my eye. 

Actual cost: £6

Emotional wealth: having a bathroom that your 3-year-old nephew describes as "magical" when he goes in for a wee (true story)

eight. Change up the lighting.

Our middle room is one we've actually done very little to, but one of the things that's made the most impact is changing the light fitting. Before it was a weird metal fitting with three lightbulbs on little entwined branches, that sat very high up and close to the ceiling. It wasn't exactly our first choice. We picked up this fitting from Ikea (where else? I love that place) and although when it first went up I thought we'd made a huge mistake because it was just so big, I now love it. It's like it's balanced out all the white in the top half of the room, does that sound weird? It also gives so much light to what it usually quite a gloomy room, plus draws focus in to the table as the heart of the space. Nb. the pic above was actually snapped to show Arlo's new dinosaur balloon he got at Cowes Week, but it showed the light fitting pretty well so I thought it worked. Just felt I needed to acknowledge the dino in the room. 

Actual cost: £22

Emotional wealth: being able to see things properly - like when your house gets invaded by a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

nine. Buy a side table.

May sound weird, but this little table we bought from a second hand shop (with an amazing back story) is actually a super useful - it gives us extra storage and we've created a feature out of it in the dining room. We've tried it in a few places around the house, and it works in lots of spots - for the space it takes up, it adds a whole lot to the room.

Actual cost: £25

Emotional wealth: more storage = more things to love 

ten. Flowers FTW.

The easiest way to perk up a room (and myself!) for me has always been to splash out on some fresh flowers. 

Actual cost: well, about a fiver, although I just picked up a beaut bunch of twelve pink roses from M&S for two quid which him itself is giving me more joy than the flowers probably ever could. 

Emotional wealth: The addition of colour, a lovely smell, a bit of greenery and a whole lot of smiles to any room. 

So there you have it - none of them are exactly rocket surgery (or brain science!) but each has made a real impact on our home since we moved in, and ticks the holy trinity of home improvements for me; quick, simple, cheap. What could be better? I would LOVE to hear yours and add them to the list! 

Friday I'm in love... with pretty front doors

When I close my eyes and imagine my dream house, the outside looks something like this. It's a simple equation - painted door + flowers + lots of colour = a front door to make you smile. At the moment my front door doesn't exactly make me smile. We inherited one of those plastic, double-glazed front doors that I'm sure is ever-so insulative (if that's a word) but actually not so easy on the eye. I'd love a proper wooden door, with little windows, in a lovely bright colour, plus window boxes on the bay window next to it. And some pots dotted around. Ooh, and a hanging basket too. Flowers everywhere. This is something that's definitely on the long list home-improvement-wise, because it's more 'fun' than 'practical' and there are loads of other, far-more-useful-but less-aesthetically-exciting things that need doing first (E.g. we have a leak in the roof that needs sorting first - BALLS)

Because if you think about it, while a few people actually see the inside of your house, absolutely loads see the outside while they're walking past. So I'd like to have a front door that might raise a few smiles. One day anyway.

All these images, plus lots more pretty front doors, can be found here.

Building tracks and blowing bubbles

Things have been pretty busy round here this month - of the last four weekends, only one has been spent at home, and that was without Alex because he was away. We're longing for a family weekend where we're all together with nothing much to do. Anyway, right in the middle of a very busy month, I found myself with a quiet afternoon. Arlo and I had nowhere we needed to be so we decided we didn't want to go anywhere. Anywhere except the garden, that is - it was a sunny afternoon so we headed out to make the most of it, with a train set and banana milkshake for Arlo, and the weekend papers and iced coffee for me. Heaven.

Our patio is very nearly almost finished now (you can see it in stages of being done here - thank god we're now past the rubble stage!) and even though there's a little corner that still needs doing, it's very much useable. We've even got a little bed running along the side with flowers planted in it now, very home-y indeed. We've been enjoying it so much, especially Arlo, as these pictures show - we whiled away a very happy hour making train tracks in different configurations, and then I taught him something I now wish I hadn't - how to blow bubbles in your drink with a straw. But he was going to figure that out for himself soon anyway, right?

Why good friends are just the greatest

I spent the happiest morning I've had in a while this weekend, just watching these two play in the garden. They've known each other since they were teeny weeny, probably about two months old, where they met in a baby massage class that Arlo used to fart his way through like a trooper. Luckily it didn't put little Isla off, because they've been best buddies ever since.

Over the last two years they've had all kinds of fun together (you can see some of their escapades - and marvel at how much they've grown! - here) but I don't think they've ever got on as well as they did today. They shared and helped each other, chatted and bossed each other around, it was so sweet. And particularly nice for me and Isla's mum because we got to have a proper catch up without having to stop to yell things like "DON'T EAT THAT!" and "SHARE!" every five minutes. I hope these two will be buddies for a long time, just like I hope me and Isla's mum will be pals for a long time, having shared many a bleary-eyed, sleep-deprived day together in the early baby days. The days where all we could do was mainline coffee and tell each other "this won't last forever" (which it didn't, thank absolute F).

In other friend news, I met up with an old friend from school this week. Soz for the cliche, but he really is one of those pals where "a year can go by and you feel like no time has passed at all". Wanky as that sounds, I know this to be true because it HAD been over a year since we'd seen each other, and it WAS just like  no time had gone by. It was brilliant. I left our dinner with a spring in my step, big smile on my face, and little hearts where my eyes should be. It was this, plus watching Arlo play today that made me realise so acutely what I want for him when he grows up. And it's not necessarily a good education, well-paid job, blah blah blah - I want for him to have brilliant friendships. People he can be 100% himself with. That he can share the dark times as much as happy ones. Mates that pick him up and make him smile. And that allow him to be a brilliant friend back - to listen and support and look after when they need it too. Because aren't good friends just the greatest?

Sometimes you teach your kids things along the way, just by being you, and they pick up on them in the magic way that they do. Other times I think it's worth stopping and telling them straight the things that are important. This is one of those things that I want Arlo to know, and plan on telling him just as soon as he might answer me with something other than "choo choo!". So I plan on telling him: Good friends are important. Be one.