Ed’s letter: Getting Things Done is not normal life.

B‘ usy weekend?” asked the guy in the lift this morning. “Not really,” I said, and

I walked into work, my muscles aching every step of the way.

Fact is, I had been busy – just not doing things that make for fun lift conversations. Nick and I had spent the weekend on boring house reno tasks: filling a jumbo bin, painting test pot strips, hauling foliage.

It’s been the same pretty much every weekend since we started our housing reno project three months ago and, most of the time, I don’t mind. I like filling the day with tasks, and, in the evening, drinking wine with Nick and feeling good about our progress. I love Getting Things Done.

You will, I am sure, understand this. Nielsen readership insights tell us that NZ House & Garden readers are a busy lot: almost 20 per cent of you are planning big stuff, like a kitchen or bathroom reno, in the next year – and 61 per cent of you like a wine, too, so you’ll get that bit as well.

But of course the best examples of people who Get Things Done are in this magazine, and this Interior of the Year issue is jam-packed with tales of spectacular, single-minded home improvers: people like Shane and Heidi Chandler, page 76, who poured their own amazing concrete bath, then polished it to a sheen.

It is easy, when you read enough of these sort of stories, to feel a tad guilty if you are not improving your home in some way. You start to feel that just living in a house is not enough. And so, I’ve started reminding myself about the other 80 per cent of our readers – those of you who aren’t planning a huge home project. The reality is, for most of us, most of the time, Getting Things Done is the exception rather than the norm. Our energy and money goes into other life stuff – work, kids, sick relatives, sport, holidays – and our home is just a backdrop: the place we come to recharge, recover. Which is just as it should be.

With that on my mind, the story that most impressed me in this issue is the one about Christchurch woman Colleen Foley-Smith on page 114. I admire the beautiful home and garden she’s made – but I am utterly in awe of the other things she has done along the way: raised five sons, trained as a teacher, studied interior design and art history, and worked as a florist. Rich stuff indeed.

Enjoy this issue. If it inspires you to crack into your own renos, great. But if it’s just a bit of time out, to relax in your unimproved home and recharge for the rest of your life, I reckon that’s every bit as worthy.