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Halloween Party Inspiration | Homemade Aladdin Costumes

by with No Comment DIYEco-FriendlyHolidaysHome

This year we hosted our first EVER Halloween party! Halloween isn’t traditionally a very big holiday in New Zealand but being from the States, I had to show the kiwis what it was all about: dressing up, eating candy, lots of decorations and having any excuse to get everyone together for a party! So, we did just that!

My favorite parts about the party (besides seeing everyone have fun and dress up), were the grazing table filled with Halloween-inspired treats and our DIY homemade Aladdin costumes (including our dog’s Abu costume, of course)! 

Our Costumes

We try to be as eco-friendly as possible which made making these costumes even more exciting! Kona’s, our dog, costume was made out of an old purple pillow case, an old brown sheet, and a red cardboard box. All of which we no longer wanted and were going to donate/recycle. My husband, Robbie’s, costume was made from the same materials except his pants were made from old white winter sheets! And his shirt was just a painting shirt he already had lying around (which he cut the sleeves off of). My costume was a mix of things I already had (like the headband, jewelry, and shirt) and two op shop finds (the pants and a scarf which I used as a belt). Although our costumes weren’t perfect, we enjoyed making them and wearing them!  

The Food

I highly recommend turning your table into a full-on grazing “board” for your next party! Whether you supply everything needed for grazing or your guests each bring something to contribute, it’s a perfect way to have a mix of everything and allow for the optimum snacking experience.

For some Halloween inspired food, we made adorable pumpkin shaped bread (they were way easier than I thought), ghost pastries, deviled egg eyeballs, carrot fingers, and hot dog fingers!

To make the pumpkin-shaped bread, just make your dough of choice and tie around it with string before baking it. When they’re done baking, remove the string and the dough/bread will be in the shape of a pumpkin. Best part is, every pumpkin is naturally different so not all of them need to be “perfect.” Then, add something to represent a stem (we chopped up pretzels and died them green. A celery stick (or little shaved piece of celery/green apple skin/etc) or something already green would be a better option though. 

When dinner time came around, we pulled out the hot dog “bloody” fingers!

To make these, simply cut the “fingernail” out of the top of the hot dog and cut slits where the bends in the fingers would be. Then, cook the hot dogs and watch them transform. Sprinkle with ketchup and they’re ready to be devoured. 

You’ll also see below in the video that Robbie made four different drinks on tap (three beers and one cider) which were a HUGE hit as well! It’s so fun to bring out the kegerator for parties.

The Decor

I don’t have much to say about the decor to be honest. We did the usual, balloons, spider webs, spiders, Halloween table cloths, rats, tombstones, and more. 

We hope you had a lovely Halloween and got some inspiration from our party that you can use in the future too!

 

Singing off,

Mary Taylor <3

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Tips for Staining Your Deck: What we Learned Staining our Deck Ourselves

by with No Comment BuildingDESIGNDIYHomeTips & Hacks

If you have been following along our home building process for the last two years on Instagram (@its.mary.taylor), you probably know that we finally moved it! Although we moved into a brand new home, there were some things we just didn’t have the budget for. This included all of the landscaping and our deck! From building the deck to staining the deck, it’s taken us over a month of everyday work to get it to where we want it to be.

The good news is, the deck is stained! We’re so thrilled that the deck is finally stained to match our flooring inside. We LOVE the color! But much like everything in our building, home buying, and DIY experiences this far, we have learned a lot!

Bad news, it’s not perfect. And, that’s okay. DIY projects are a learning process so if you’re wondering how to stain a deck or how to fix a deck that you stained wrong, we have some tips for you!

If this is your first time staining a deck, check out these tips below to learn from our deck staining mistakes!

  • Stain entire rows of wood, rather than in sections
  • Mix the container as much as possible before starting (if the container says not to create bubbles, do not just roll the container on its side – turn it upside down, mix it by hand, anything to get it to fully mix.
  • Clear the deck 24 hours before you start to let it fully dry out e.g. under pot plants 
  • Sweep the deck before you start to remove any extra debri
  • When staining wood that’s next to something (against your house for example) use some cardboard or painters tape or something so that no stain gets on the house
  • If the stain is turps based, have plenty of bottles of extra turps nearby in case there an accident (stain gets on your house, the tin tips over, etc) so if you need to, you can dilute/clean off the stain
  • If your stain is too dark in some areas (and your stain is turpentine based), you can rub extra turps onto the stained area with a lint-free rag/cloth or your cleaned (not filled with stain) staining brush

You can see two things in the above image:

  1. There’s a water mark where our umbrella was beforehand (we did not remove items the day before staining).
  2. Robbie stained by section not by board. If you scroll above, you’ll see where there are clear sectioned-off marks of stain and we are now having trouble fixing. Don’t be us. Learn from our mistakes!

The water mark has fixed itself by drying out before we applied the second coat of stain. We can try to fix the other mistake by re-staining the parts of the deck that are a bit lighter with a light coat of extra deck stain.

Are you DIYing parts of your home too? I would love to see what you’re doing! Let’s connect on Instagram!

If you enjoyed reading this and would like more information on home, lifestyle, advice, tips, tricks, and more, follow me on Instagram @Its.Mary.Taylor and on Facebook at Mary Taylor! I can’t wait to see you there!

Signing off,

Mary Taylor <3

home inspiration (3)

Laundry Room Inspiration

by with No Comment BuildingDESIGNDIYHomePersonal

I’m so excited to dive into our visions for our laundry room! If you’re looking for laundry room inspiration or garage conversions for your laundry area, this is the right place. If you’re new here, welcome! My husband, Robbie, and I are building our very first home together. You can read about our experience so far and see more of our home inspiration here. To see where you can buy similar (or the same) products that are featured in all of my home inspiration posts as well as all credits on images, head to my inspiration shop here. View and purchase ALL of my Amazon home decor inspiration and ideas here!

Some of the links included in this blog are commissioned links. This means I may earn a small commission when you use them. I cannot see who purchases what and it doesn’t cost you anything to click on them.

Now, our laundry room is actually just part of our garage but I want to focus on the things we want to do to make a laundry area within it. I even have some tips and tricks to creating a modern and stylish laundry room space in your garage! First of all, take a look at our inspiration board below:

View credits for the images by clicking on this image

Here are some of my ideas on how to make your garage into a laundry room:

  1. Multi-functional organization – what I mean by this is to create an area that can serve multiple purposes such as having a countertop on top of your washer and dryer so that when you have extra space for folding, washing, etc.
Click this image to shop my inspiration board

2. Positioning – place your washer and dryer in a place that will not only be functional when it’s used but also when it’s not in use. Will you stack your washer and dryer or have them placed side-by-side? Do you want them tucked away or out in the open? Think how and where your doors open up and close. You want to make sure that you don’t place your washer/dryer where you’ll need to move, close, or open something else in order to use it.

3. Design & style – if you choose to keep some of your washing products on display, make them pretty! Here’s a list of beautiful laundry room ideas on Amazon!

4. Display when not in use – It’s important to think about what else you’ll be using your garage for. If you’re storing a car in your garage, you probably don’t need to worry too much (or at all) about hiding your washer and dryer when it’s not in use. But, if you’re using your garage as a hang out room (or a brewery/movie theater like us), you might want to consider covering them up. This should play into the design and style! Check out the ideas below that I have found for covering up a washer and dryer that are actually cute!

If you enjoyed reading this and would like more information on home, lifestyle, advice, tips, tricks, and more, follow me on Instagram @Its.Mary.Taylor and on Facebook at Mary Taylor! I can’t wait to see you there!

Signing off,

Mary Taylor <3

9

Master Bedroom Inspiration

by with No Comment BuildingDESIGNDIYHomePersonal

I am so excited to share our master bedroom inspiration for our new house! If you’re new here, welcome! My husband, Robbie, and I are building our very first home together. You can read about our experience so far and see more of our home inspiration here. To see where you can buy similar (or the same) products that are featured in all of my home inspiration posts as well as all credits on images, head to my inspiration shop here. View and purchase ALL of my Amazon home decor inspiration and ideas here!

When you think of your master bedroom what kind of feeling does it give you? To me, I want to think of our master bedroom as a clean, organized, and clutter free space to relax. We have decided (not just in this home but all of the homes we have lived in together), to not have TV in our bedroom. Check out our inspiration board below.

We want to create a relaxing place for us to enjoy in the evenings and sleep in on the weekends. We’re lucky because we get to have an ensuite and walk in closet! I am excited about adding in all of our own little touches like his and her towel hangers and of course a shower stool!

Some ideas we have for our room is painting the back wall a sage/spanish green color and maybe even adding a linear wood element to the wall. Do you think we should keep it white, paint it green, or paint it green and add the wood element pictured below?

We’re keeping our existing bedroom furniture which is large and wood. However, we are unsure if we will have the space to put the matching tall dresser! I have never had a walk in wardrobe so I need organization ideas! What have you done to save you time and space?!

Although the room is quite simple, we’re looking forward to having big, glass sliding doors that lead onto our large deck! Robbie mentioned adding a bench seat to the right hand side of the deck (at the end).

One thing that I miss about our old rental home, is that the master bedroom had a ceiling fan! It’s definitely on our to-buy list. I am thinking of getting a wood and black fan like pictured in our master bedroom inspiration board.

If you enjoyed reading this and would like more information on home, lifestyle, advice, tips, tricks, and more, follow me on Instagram @Its.Mary.Taylor and on Facebook at Mary Taylor! I can’t wait to see you there!

 

Signing off,

Mary Taylor <3

Learn how to make

DIY Natural All-Purpose Cleaning Spray

by with No Comment DIYEco-FriendlyHome

While we lived with grandparents (and parents), I kept thinking about the day we would finally be in our own place so I could start living as eco-friendly as possible. One thing about being an adult is getting excited for weird things like organization and DIY cleaning products. Surely I am not alone! There’s just something special about an eco home. In our rental, we tried our best (only produced 7 bags of trash a year and used “eco-friendly” products) but I wanted to take it the next step. This meant no paper towels, no tissues, no makeup wipes, and no more purchasing cleaning products that I could make (which is pretty much all of them)!

As an Amazon associate, I may earn from your purchases through my links; however, it doesn’t affect how much you pay and I cannot see who makes a purchase.

So the journey really began. I stocked up on glass bottles, which if you’re US based, you can purchase here. And I set out to make my own DIY natural all-purpose cleansing spray with what I had at home. You’re going to be shocked at how easy this recipe is.

Here’s what you need to make your own DIY citrus cleaning spray:

✧ Glass Jar With Lid – buy here

✧ Citrus Peels (we used lemon & orange) *tip below

✧ White Vinegar – buy here

✧ Spray Bottle – buy here

✧ Strainer

✧ Purified Water (optional)

✧ Essential oils (optional)

And here’s what you do with all that:

✧ Put your citrus peels in your glass jar

✧ Fill the jar with vinegar to cover the peels 

✧ Put the jar lid on & shake

✧ Let sit for up to 7 days (minimum 3 days) in a cool, dark place – Shake the jar every day if you remember

✧ Strain the vinegar into your spray bottle

✧ Toss out the peels (or even better, put them in your insinkerator/garbage disposal to clean the inside of your sink & freshen it up)

✧ Optional: add in water to fill your spray bottle or if your vinegar is too strong you can add water

✧ Store in a cool, dark place and use on everywhere from your kitchen to your bathroom

** Extra tip… Enjoy the fruit first! To create even less waste, make this from orange and lemon peels you would have otherwise just thrown away. 

 

If you learned something new and enjoyed this blog, don’t forget to like me on Facebook and follow me on Instagram. I would love to see your homemade DIY cleaning sprays you make so tag me so I can reshare!

Signing off,

Mary Taylor

3

Pantry Inspiration

by with No Comment DIYHomePersonal

Being an adult can get weird sometimes right? To be honest, one of the things that I was (and am) most excited about for our new house is our pantry organization. Don’t worry, I totally know how weird it sounds.

I am going to dive right into my first home inspiration blog post since I released our home building process blog last week.

If you haven’t seen on Instagram, we actually recently moved into a temporary apartment until our home is built. So, we got to dive into pantry organization before our new house – granted, this apartment has NO storage so it doesn’t quite feel (or look) the same that I want it to. But, I know it will some day! 

To see where you can buy similar (or the same) products that are featured in all of my home inspiration posts as well as all credits on images, head to my inspiration shop here.

What’s your favorite room in the house? Are you like me and the kitchen is your favorite spot? It’s probably because I love cooking, hence why I share recipes on the blog! When we finally decided we were going to build a house, I was super excited about all the things I could do in the kitchen. Given that our home won’t actually be THAT big and definitely lacks some storage space, I want to make sure we have amazing organization and a place for everything.  

Check out my inspiration board and ideas and let me know what you think! What does your kitchen organization look like? I’d love to see your before and afters – especially if this blog helped you to find some tips, tricks, or a company that you now love! Check below for tips on making your kitchen pantry organized, beautiful, and maximized. 

My number one tip for organizing your pantry is having designated, labeled baskets. This will help you sort items so they’re easy to find. It also reduces the look of clutter!

One thing we recently did was have a basket for opened “snacks” (chips, candy, nuts, etc) and one for unopened snacks. This not only helps us stay organized but also helps us reduce waste and buy less. If our opened snacks box is full, we should not be opening up more snacks!

My next suggestion is to have stackable containers so that you can maximize your space – especially if you have small cabinets or cupboards. If possible, purchase matching containers and stick to a theme (color, material, and style) to create consistency and elegance.

If you have deep corners or deep shelves, think about getting a lazy susan for inside your pantry. This not only helps with cleaning (because you can easily wipe, wash, or remove the lazy susan) but also helps you to be able to see everything without removing what’s in front. This is particularly handy for tall items such as sauces, oils, and vingers. 

These few tips will help you take your current pantry from unorganized, sloppy, and difficult to utilize to clean, professional, and usable. 

If you enjoyed reading this and would like more information on home, lifestyle, advice, tips, tricks, and more, follow me on Instagram @Its.Mary.Taylor and on Facebook at Mary Taylor! I can’t wait to see you there!

Signing off,

Mary Taylor <3