I agree, new front door, and some planting. The main problem is that everything is unrelieved red-brown! walls, windows, door, drive. Except the garage door, which then looks like a mistake! This is a common problem. You need to break up the brown. Render or cladding is probably overkill, there are more subtle solutions. Please don't put in an oak or stained timber door. It might look great in its own right, but will just be changing one brown for another! A painted timber (or composite) door would be best, with the garage door painted to match. Choose a shade of grey or green, avoid red and purple, as you need a good contrast to the brick. Ideally change the windows to cream, or grey-green, but if not, try the shutters. They are a bit 1960s, but might actually suit the style of this house! Painted to match the doors. Consider taking up some small areas of paving near the house to allow planting to create a break between the brick drive and the brick house!

There should be no such thing as waste. Everything is part of a cycle, which should not be broken. And we ARE part of the planet - which gives us our life and can easily take our life away! Even if you have children, it is possible to minimise the need to recycle. Think about value, quality and ethics rather than quantity. Start by not buying things that are not required to keep you alive and healthy; especially things that are not 'life-supporting' or that alienate you from the natural world. Think carefully and plan; - don't be feather - blown along by the mindless wind of the western world... Such a policy saves you money, or will help reduce your need to work (or exploit the planet by being part of this dangerous, unsustainable game called 'economic growth, no matter the cost'). Of course, being a vegan or vegetarian will really help, as will preparing and eating real food - rather than buying expensive 'rubbish' food from supermarkets or take-aways. You will have better nutrition, and it will save you time and money! Of course the by-products of the food you have eaten are an essential part of the ecological cycle and should not be incinerated or flushed away; they should be aerobically composted and returned to recreate soil fertility. If you can, try growing your own food organically. Then enjoy the extra taste, vitamin and mineral content! Paper or cardboard can be composted, as can vegetable trimmings. We cannot and should not attempt to evade the responsibility we all have to close the cycle. I have a neighbour (the same age as me) who cannot fit her fortnightly rubbish into her weelie-bin, yet I need not put out my bin for a whole year (and then it mainly contains types of plastic packaging that cannot be taken to the recycling centre). If you set out to live lightly on the planet by using recycled items or by trying to buy only good quality essential items (and mend them when they go wrong), there is less need to discard and waste the energy and resources invested in our purchases. As far as clothing (assuming you cannot make your own) is concerned, buying good quality, then not getting it needlessly dirty (by wearing an apron or overall) and of course not washing your clothes to death - are sensible policies which save water, energy and waste. Drink water, rather than be ripped off by buying rubbish in a can or bottle. Plain water is much better for your internal organs and keeping you healthy than complicated concoctions. Maybe filter the water and/or boil off the chlorine using your kettle first. If you want to avoid the hormones/antibiotics etc in tap water, then find an uncontaminated source. Most of the tap water we pay for is wasted - (it just ends up down the drain having not even done anything useful) - because we do not have spray nozzles or sensor taps. In our 1970's autonomous dwelling I fitted foot controls (used on trains) to the taps and you only pressed when you needed a flow. We also used mist-spray nozzles. And you do not need to wet your toothbrush as you have saliva in your mouth, - just rinse it after use! A well-designed waterless toilet (sadly its not easy to find out how to build one, as all the books give completely rubbish information) will cut your toilet water use to zero, other than for washing your hands. Collect water from your roof and use it in the garden and for other tasks, (we filtered it and used it for drinking in our 1970's house - tests by the water authority showed it was as clean as well water). By moving gradually in such a direction, we can change the world towards what is valuable for a sustainable life on this very special, tiny jewel of a planet. Even small steps are positive and valuable.

I would definately fence your space off, although you will need to check the deeds to ensure you can, if nothing else it will make it more secure, go with the style the house is, ie yours is cottage style, add some tubs and hanging baskets for colour. These are relatively affordable . I would also change the front door, chose a 4 pannel one with glass up top and a different colour with lift it all.

Motion sensors have a minimum energy consumption, depending on the type of motion sensor some of them may use about a watt of energy on standby mode (23 hours a day) and 5 watts on active mode (about an hour a day), so they are energy efficient if they are installed in medium-to-low traffic rooms, like closest, bathrooms, storage rooms, etc.. I would not suggest to use it for a heavy traffic room like the living room. Since the question here was referring to a bathroom in my opinion this is a viable option.