buckley journal

Love, The Buckleys

Finally I figured out how to take decent pictures with my camera and we also are getting closer to finishing our master bedroom, so hence this post. It's taken a long time to make progress in this room because it's pretty big and the walls go really high, so it's hard to figure out how to decorate it, and with a tight budget, things take time. Also what took time was that Michael put in all the awesome laminate flooring, we built our own king sized bed and  night stands , plus antiqued our old dressers, plus had Michael's old duct taped chair reupholstered, plus...well...I'll just go through all the details with photos...it's A LOT! Here is the view when you start to enter the room from the hallway: We built our king sized bed from scratch and stained it a rich red mahogany color. Look up and you'll see our ceiling fan (the only thing we didn't change after moving in): The LOVE banner is from our wedding. I love how it gives a whimsical

We hung our DIY book ledges last night and we LOVE them! We used THIS plan to build them. Right now we have only a few books, but after the baby shower we should have alot more books. Instead of cards, we asked guests to bring a book! :) The banner above the ledges says R E A D. It's from THIS blog. I printed them and cut them out and hung them using some clothspins, string, and tacs we already own. I like it so much, I might do another banner some where else in the room. The corner where the window is is where we plan to put the glider. We can picture us reading books to Mason there! We also hung a mirror that my Mom gave me that was my Grandma's and I spray painted it gray (it was gold) and put the dresser/changing table in the room. The dresser is going to be painted white. The left corner in the above photo is where we plan to put a garbage pail (ignore the dresser drawer that's in the way). I like THIS one from IKE

  Here are the 2 we made last year for 2010. Got to love Picnik.com

We received our crib and assembled it! SEE!!! Pretty pretty! It was a Christmas/baby present from my parents...thanks guys! :)

I'll start with my findings using Diaperpin.com's calculator . It compares the cost of cloth diapers vs disposable diapers. So, if we purchase 12 cloth diapers at $17.95/diaper that equals $215.40, plus the cost of energy usage (water/gas/electricity) per diaper is $0.013 and the cost of cleaning (detergents) per diaper is $0.013. Now, the cost of disposable diapers are $44.83 for a package of 192 and a package of 200 diaper sacks is $8.96. The calculation is for 10 diapers/day. Savings calculated: You will break even in 12.2 weeks or 2.81 months. You will save $ 245.03 in 6 months. You will save $ 551.98 in 10 months. You will save $ 705.46 in 1 year. You will save $ 1165.89 in 1 1/2 years. That's interesting. I like all the "You will save..." statements. We are all about saving money where we can so this is exciting to see. Most of what I found is that people use a hybrid system. Meaning, they use cloth diapers on a daily basis except

Due date : February 26, 2012 - 78 days to go! Weight gain : All together: approximately 23 lbs. Baby developments : Mason is about 2.5 pounds and is the size of a butternut squash. He’s a tad over 15 inches long from head to heal. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. Cravings : Chocolate and ice cream! Aversions : none to note Symptoms : Tired and my back/tailbone hurts, oh and I have to pee, A LOT! Sleep : even though I'm more uncomfortable when I sleep, I still have been getting good sleep. I am up earlier than normal, but that is also because I've been going to bed earlier than normal. I am loving : that the nursery is coming along. Soon we should have our crib which will make it really look & feel like a nursery. We have our dresser changing table, just need to paint it white. I will be doing some projects today like putting up molding around the stripes on the wall and hangin

We've made some progress in the nursery! Here are some pix in collage form:   1. The cubbies are done! I Mod Podged cool scrapbook paper to the backs. 2. The stripes on the wall are framed with molding. 3. Curtains have gone up! They have a subtle diamond pattern which I love. 4. I painted our cheap old green side table blue to match the stripes. 5. I Mod Podged some old boxes my mom gave me to match the room. 6. I've started the mobile - it's going to match the DwellStudio Owls bedding. 7. I framed the DS owls pattern in my IKEA frame I already owned. 8. The poochies seem to like the progress too! Done and done. :) So here's my original inspiration for the cubbies: And here's how mine turned out (my camera doesn't do it justice). I opted out of getting the bottom piece, it was more budget-friendly that way. I LOVE how it turned out!

After seeing THIS manicure, I HAD TO do it too! I'm a little obsessed with nail polish. Just a little. As well as pillows and mirrors, but that's another story. Anyways, I took some pretty pictures of how it turned out and wanted to blog about it because, well, I'm a nerd and I enjoy looking at other people's nail polish posts. I did this 2 days ago and after hot gluing, mod podging, washing dishes, showering, and just every day activities, they still look the same! I love that! Here's the pic: For the base color, I used Salley Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in "Cafe Au Lait" aka my favorite nude color. Then for the glitter, I used Revlon Nail Enamel in "Starry Pink." (I bought both of those at the drugstore) I think I might just used Starry Pink the rest of the month over any color because in my mind the holidays = glitter! :) So that's that. Hope you likey! I'm off to take some pictures of the nursery progress. We've done