Mother's Day ideas | Inspiring kids' spaces | Auckland insights

If this email is not displayed correctly, [click here]( to view an online version. Hi everyone, Have you ever woken up on a glorious Autumn morning and thought a great idea would be to spend the day lifting and lugging almost two tonnes of gravel? I’m pretty sure the answer is no. Sadly this is exactly how I spent my Saturday - lifting endless bucketloads of mixed grade grey aggregate, tipping them in a trailer and then shovelling them off at the dump, only to begin again once more. While you were enjoying a lazy Sunday sleep-in, I was already out filling more buckets, resolved to finish the job before my 8.30am dump slot even if it meant filling buckets with cold fingers and a headlamp. If it sounds truly miserable it’s because it was. It was surely the heaviest, dirtiest DIY I’ve undertaken and not something I’ll be repeating in, like, ever. There was an incident with a sack barrow and my nose which resulted in some crying and much bleeding. I hope the whole experience is similar to childbirth in that the traumatic memory fades as the body recovers. My body has yet to really recover from either endeavour. Horrible as it was, it’s done and I feel a huge sense of achievement. The path behind my house was once so filled with overgrown ivy and DIY debris from the previous owner that it was barely passable let alone presentable. Now, I can get it boxed in and levelled off so I can fill it with lime chip and pavers. This is the kind of excitement I have in my middle age life, but I know plenty of you will have felt that same sense of triumph in some way on the home front. Still, my efforts are nothing compare to Don George's which you can read about below. This week I have lots to share including last minute gift ideas for mum, Shelley Ferguson’s ideas on how to make a rental feel like home and decorating kids’ rooms for the whole family. Those of you in Auckland may be keen to read more about Barfoot & Thompson’s April activity. Have a great weekend enjoying your newfound sense of Threedom, catch you soon. Colleen O’Hanlon Editor Enjoying this email? [Check out Stuff's other daily and weekly newsletters](. [Facebook]( [Pinterest]( Did a friend forward this to you? [Sign up to get Stuff Homed in your inbox]( [Unsubscribe]( [Newsletter Settings]( [Privacy Policy]( [Advertise]( [Feedback](