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.

Friday I'm in love... with delicious kitchens

Kitchens really float my boat. Lovely kitchens. It was the kitchen that really sold our house to me when we first looked round - in fact it's probably my favourite room in the house. Apart from paint one of its walls bright pink within 24 hours of getting the keys (it was that important) we haven't done a single thing to it since we moved. It's big enough for three people to dance around in while waiting for dinner to cook, and that's good enough for me.

So the kitchen isn't a room we plan on doing anything to in the near future, but that doesn't stop me swooning at lovely ones on Pinterest occasionally often, and having a litte daydream about what I'd have in an ideal world - wooden worktops, lots of open shelves, a Smeg (it's the dream, let's be honest). Here are a few current faves - all taken from Pinterest here, along with lots of lovely other kitchen pics that you're welcome to swoon over too.

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.

Friday I'm in love... with black and white spots

Just lately I've been feeling very diy-inclined, and have been perusing my Pinterest boards for inspiration. I have a board dedicated to black and white spots for interiors, which is a look I love. It is such a classic combo that looks gorgeous with pops of colour, and is really versatile. It can look super-stylish, like this classic bathroom or artfully arranged gold shelving unit, or fun and playful, like either of the bedspreads above. And how about that Dalmation chair!? Totally un-child friendly (I wouldn't let a felt tip pen within a 3-meter radius) but that only adds to its desirability.

The easiest way to add a splash of monochrome spots to your house? Add some fabric, like the light curtain above, or some cushions. Because black and white spots are always going to look fresh. Just ask Cruella.

Friday I'm in love... with bathroom tile

Sorry if that's the most boring post title ever, but I have a pretty serious thing going for bathroom tiles at the moment. As I may have mentioned, we didn't inherit the nicest bathroom when we bought this house, and it's not my favourite room to be in. We have a million other things we want to do to the house before we get round to the bathroom - it functions fine, it just doesn't look that pretty, but given that a fairly small amount of actual 'hanging out' happens in there, it's pretty low on our priority list at the moment - so I am enjoying daydreaming in the meantime.

Here's a few of my faves that I've been pinning away over the last few weeks. And actually, since I've been discovering all these beautiful tiles, I'm thinking it would be amazing to do the kitchen in a lovely patterned tile floor too. That's a project that might actually happen before the bathroom does, so watch this space!

But in the meantime, if you love all things tile too, you can find all kinds of inspiration here.

Ooh, and while we're at it, if you liked this, you might like these posts with beautiful wallpaper inspiration and colourful kids' rooms too.

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.

Friday I'm in love... with charts and lists

Happy friday pals. I was all ready to write today about how excited I am at the prospect of Spring, but it is well and truly gloomy outside and not-at-all Spring-like, so instead I've collected together a few things that have made me smile this past week or so. And in the meantime, COME BACK SPRING!

• If there's one thing I love in life, it's a list, and if there's two things I love, it's a good chart (pie, venn... i'm not fussy) so imagine my joy at discovering a nice list of charts that so accurately capture British awkwardness. Every single one is me.
• These should be part of the NCT programme to help you prepare for baby times. Numbers 1 and 2 are SO MY LIFE.
• I'm not showing any of these to Arlo for a while - the realistic cover of The Tiger That Came to Tea might give him nightmares.
• I challenge you not to laugh at number 4. It may be the only case in history of comic sans making something better too. 

It's been a really busy week with some long days at work, so this Friday I'm also in love with the weekend. Today is the start of a 4-day weekend for us and as it's rainy and grey outside I plan on being lazy and snuggly at home with Arlo. Key agenda points include: playing with trains, drawing pictures of animals, watching Dumbo on the sofa. Happy weekending all!

Friday I'm in love... with Valentine's

Happy Valentine's Day for tomorrow one and all - it's not really something we go big on in the Lewis-Wild household ("we don't need to be told when to be romantic by society!" etc etc) but any day where everyone's encouraged to share the love and people are slightly kinder and smilier than usual gets a big thumbs up from me. I love anything with red hearts on all year round so today seemed as good a day as any to share this LOVEly pic I found which has been making me swoon this week - it's got a winning wallpaper-heart-booze combo that makes my heart flutter.

All this Valentine's talk has got me thinking. I use the word 'love' a lot. In the last 24 hours alone I've declared my love for everything from a cup of tea to Jennifer Saunders to a certain pen that writes really nice and scratchily, and of course Arlo & his papa too. I think if you genuinely mean it, then you can't over-use it. I'm all for celebrating the little things that I love because they're great. To be mindful of what's happening now.

Like, I think realising how much you love a certain pen can make a boring chore like writing a list something really joyous (honestly!) Taking a moment to stop and think about how nice it is to sit and have a quiet cup of tea makes you enjoy it more and savour the moment rather than it passing by while you're busy thinking about something else, like; the washing, or whether Sienna Miller's haircut would suit you, or how a child can get through four pairs of shoes in six months. Sometimes I find myself juggling a lot, thinking ahead to much, and not stopping to enjoy what's happening now. So this Valentine's weekend I'm going to make sure I slow down a bit and enjoy every little bit of it. I do love weekends after all.

Friday I'm in love...

It's my favourite day of the week so I thought I'd share a few finds I've discovered and enjoyed of late:

• I think this may be the ideal way above to show your devotion this Valentine's Day
• This Storyville documentary that we watched (and cried along to) this week is well worth a look see if you're in search of some evening viewing
• It was national Nutella day yesterday (as if I needed a reason) so here's 45 different things to make with the good stuff 
• This little animation made me smile for a moment or two
• And we found a little fort building inspiration for your next rainy day

Happy Friday to you if you're reading this! Hope it's as perfect as Helvetica.

Friday I'm in love... with feeling impulsive

I've been feeling a little flighty lately. Like I want to do something different, try something new, break the routine. Not that we have much of one! A few ideas that have crossed my mind this week, fleetingly or otherwise, include:

1. having pink hair. Because why not?
2. getting a kitten. Because we've been doing a lot of sofa snuggling lately and a kitten would fit right in very nicely. And because Arlo has got a lot of kitten love to give.
3. or maybe getting a whole box of kittens?
4. painting our ceilings blue, like this dreamy bathroom I spotted.
5. buying more fresh flowers. An under-rated joy in my opinion.
6. painting again. Something for Arlo's bedroom wall like this lovely alphabet print.

Time will tell how many of these things actually happen, but for now it's nice to daydream. Mostly about pink hair.

Friday I'm in love... with kid-friendly Xmas trees

OK, I apologise in advance for another Xmas post, there might be a theme developing here...

I have been having an internal debate with my own mind for the last week or so about this year's Xmas tree. I'm torn between two options. Either the usual massive, sparkly tree full of the baubles I religiously buy from Liberty every year (the Liberty Xmas room is as close to god as I get), but that Arlo will no doubt try and manhandle every minute of every day, OR a small, reserved tree up high somewhere that will stay in tact because he won't be able to reach it, but ultimately I fear won't be big enough to be a true physical representation of quite how much I LOVE Xmas.

What to do? For inspiration, I've been looking at Xmas tree alternatives that will be more kid-friendly, and good old Pinterest has delivered - what did we do with our spare time before there was Pinterest?!? All these festive ideas, and more, can be found here.

Things I'm thankful for

This print was one of the first things I bought for our new home - in fact I bought it long before we ever moved in, and kept it in a drawer for months, waiting to be framed and hung in our first very own house. It had been sat on a pinterest board of mine for years before that before I tracked down the seller (check out more of her beautiful work here) and ordered it as a pre-house-warming present - I've always believed in celebrating and finding joy in the little every day things, and as soon as I saw the first thing on the list, I was sold - delicious beverages are basically what make my world go round.

It's hung up right by our front door in the living room - I purposefully wanted to put it up somewhere we'd see it every day as a little reminder of all the things we have to be be thankful for. Amongst other things, things I've been thankful for this week are:

1. Long baby naps and iced coffees
2. Cuddles with my brand new nephew Archie on his two-week birthday
3. Afternoon visits to the cinema with Alex - something that hasn't happened since BB (before baby)
4. A message from my dear friend (and very talented writer) Sparky that came at just the right time 
5. The sun beaming over our little back garden all day long 
6. A surprise visit from a BFF who drove down from London to hang with me and Arlo for a day
7. Lie-ins. Amen.