Sunny Leigh button-down (Macy’s) | Mossimo premium skinnies (Target sale) | Tyler Rodan bag (outlet) | Bamba patent penny loafers c/o Wanted

A statement shoe works in much the same way as a statement necklace: throw it on with easy basics and, voilà, instant outfit.

This morning I overslept by about an hour, and left myself with 20 minutes to get dressed and haul my groggy behind to work. Seeing as how I spent 15 of that 20 minutes sleepy drunk in a hot shower — I know, so not green — I didn’t have much time for primping. Enter tinted moisturizer and crazy lady up-do (which is looking way crazier in that top photo; thanks a million windy weather) and a frantically pulled ensemble of skinnies and a button-down. Original. My new coral patent penny saved the day by adding a pop of color to spice things up.

There are lots of great watermelon things I’m fond of…

Watermelon Jolly Ranchers. Watermelon Bubblicious. Watermelon martinis. That “Watermelon Crawl” song from way back in the day that spawned a sweet line dance. And most recently, watermelon colored jeans.

My husband doesn’t share my enthusiasm for fruity legwear. When I asked him what he thought of my new denim {scored on clearance at Kohl’s for $20, FTW} he wrinkled his nose and said, “meh, they’re alright.” To which I responded by donning them at least three days in a row over the weekend. They’ll grow on you, babe.

Old Navy v-neck cable sweater | striped tee picked off a clearance rack somewhere | LC Lauren Conrad yellow cut-off shorts (Kohl’s clearance, $13) | TOMS ballet flats (m.marie) | Olsenboye foldover tote c/o jcpenney | watch c/oKenneth Cole | nail color: Essie in Sand Tropez

Today’s look is cool early spring on top, warm summer on bottom. It’s been awfully windy the last few days, requiring a little extra cover to ward off the chill. Like a mini-hurricane, but without the rain and projectiles.

Unless you count flying food… Yesterday Chad and went to our favorite little burrito place for lunch and thought we’d take advantage of the gorgeous afternoon and dine al fresco. By the end of lunch, half our tortilla chips blew away and Chad’s Landshark nearly capsized twice.

While we’re on the subject of halves, here’s a useless random Keira fact for your Monday: I live on half-and-half iced tea. Half sweet, half unsweet, extra ice. All day, every day. It was my pacifier when I quit my Diet Coke habit, and has since spiraled into an addiction all its own. I love it so much I’m naming blog posts after it. {help.}

I’m kinda sorta back to normal today after Valentine’s Day. Almost. I seriously can’t believe it’s Thursday already.

Cleaning up after a holiday is almost as much work as the holiday itself… More on that later, when I can form complete sentences again.

HOLA Pretty Penny readers! I am so happy to be hangin’ with you guys today. I’m Iris from A Florida Girl and am a real life friend of your beautiful and talented, Keira.

The husband and I just moved up to North Florida into a house that needs a little ton of love. So, needless to say, I am up to my ears (and hair) in paint, dust, and remodeling projects. Since this is pretty much what my life consists of right now, I thought I’d go through one of my smaller painting projects with you.

Raise your hand if you have a piece of furniture that needs painting in your house. Yep. That’s what I thought. So, maybe I can send a little motivation your way to pick up the sponge roller and get ‘er done already. Or, maybe you want to just drink tea eat M&M’s and read about my adventure. Either way. I’ll allow it.

You ready, baby? Aight.

Enter yellow, peeling, neglected cedar chest.

My husband’s sweet Nana willed this to us when she passed away last year and it has just been hanging out at the foot of our bed since we moved. It also holds all of my out-of-season clothing since my closet is about the size of Polly Pocket’s.

It is a really heavy piece of furniture with great bones, so I’ve always been pretty stoked on it. I have also always known that it was just a matter of time before I got my grimy, little, paint splattered hands on it and whipped it into shape.

After some contemplation about paint color, I decided I wanted it to be on the darker side to create a contrast since it sits against our completely white bedding. I also decided that I wanted it to have a nice, glossy finish, because I’m fancy like that. So, I went with a color called Almost Charcoal in a high gloss finish. I always have my paint colors matched in Lowe’s Olympic brand because it’s low VOC, cheaper, and actually a really great, thick paint.

I started by lightly sanding the entire piece with 100 grit sandpaper and then I broke out the oil based primer. Why do I use oil based primer? WELL, I have found that it covers a lot better and prevents stains or wood grain from showing through on your final product. It’s okay to use latex paint over oil based primer. The thing you want to avoid is applying latex paint over oil based paint. Unless you really like that gooey, bubbled look.

I gave the entire chest a thin coat of primer with a small foam roller brush. As you can see, the primer doesn’t have to be perfectly even in tone. As long as the whole piece is thinly covered, you’re golden.

When the primer was completely dry, I went ahead and applied my first coat of latex paint. I really like using a sponge roller rather than a paint brush on wood painting projects because it helps tremendously in spreading out the paint evenly across the surface. Three or four thin coats are always better than one thick, goopey one.

Here she is after getting her second and third coat of latex.

Since I wanted this to be super shiny and glossy, I decided to go the extra mile and apply a coat of water-based poly to the top. If you want to do this yourself, I would highly recommend Miniwax. Some other brands have been known to crack or yellow over time.

I applied the poly with a paint brush, making sure to use thin, even strokes. Just a word of caution, when applying any paint or poly, you cannot go back over a surface that is still wet to try to smooth it. It will give you really bad lines and drag marks. The best thing to do is work your way from one side of the furniture to the other and wait until it’s completely dry before going back over places for touch up. Also, make sure you wait a full 72 hours to let everything dry before using the piece.

Thar she blows.

Stella Cedar done got her groove back.

So, what about you guys? Have you painted anything lately? Anyone else hoarding old furniture that’s in need of some love?

This is the time before every holiday that I start wringing my hands and biting my nails. We’re doing all of our Valentine’s prep — getting vases ready for flowers, making dozens of bows, counting balloons, and routing deliveries — and it’s eerily quiet…

So naturally, I panic. Everyone in town forgot about Valentine’s Day. This will be the worst holiday ever. No one will place orders. What am I going to do with 100 dozen roses?!

What I should do is savor the peace and enjoy these final moments of blissful quiet before the chaos sets in. And remember that this particular holiday is typically the opposite sex’s responsibility, and they’re not the best planner-aheaders. In about 48 hours when dudes all over suddenly realize Valentine’s Day is Tuesday, it’s going to get wild around here. The phones are going to ring off the hook, my fingers will be full of rose thorns, and my only form of sustenance will be Diet Coke, Valentine’s chocolates, cupcakes from the bakery next door, and Lara Bars (because healthy eating is important). The madness will continue, unabated, until Wednesday when we’ll close the shop for the day to recuperate from the love fest.

I’m going to try to maintain some kind of normalcy around the blog through the madness; including a couple of guest posts from my friend, Iris! Bear with me if I look like an extra from Night of the Living Dead in upcoming outfit posts.

UPDATE: A few of you asked for a how-to on tying a scarf this way. I made a little video to give you an easy step-by-step!

]]> http://aprettypennyblog.com/2012/02/08/the-calm-before-the-storm/feed/ 17 keiralennox IMG_0544 IMG_0586 IMG_0567 http://aprettypennyblog.com/2012/02/07/beauty-on-a-budget-make-it-yourself-beach-spray/ http://aprettypennyblog.com/2012/02/07/beauty-on-a-budget-make-it-yourself-beach-spray/#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:00:21 +0000 keiralennox http://aprettypennyblog.com/?p=1977 ]]>

As my hair gets longer and longer, I’m really into texture and wave and curl. It’s mostly because I’m lazy, and when faced with the decision of an hour of blow-out/flat iron vs. quick easy waves, the latter wins every time.

Until recently, beachy tousled waves eluded me. All the magazines say I need to drop about $30 on a little bottle of surf spray from a-famous-brand-that-shall-go-unnamed to get the look I want, and they’ve almost convinced me to make the splurge…

Almost.

I hit The Internets to look for some kitchen beautician alternatives. My fellow bloggers never disappoint. There were several variations, but the basic recipe is super simple. You probably have all the ingredients right under your nose…

Ready?

Search your bathroom cabinets and find a spray bottle with a fine mist {I used an old body spray bottle}. Clean it really well to remove any traces of its former inhabitant. Fill the bottle about 3/4 full with warm water, and add a couple healthy spoonfuls of sea salt. [Note: some bloggers suggest epsom salt, but I felt like this could leave a yucky film on your hair, and sea salt is probably as close as your going to get to er, the sea.]. Shake things up to dissolve the salt. Then fill the remaining space in the bottle with a water-based hair gel. Shake it again. Done and done.

Since mixing up my first batch last week, I’m a woman obsessed.

There are a couple of ways to use it. In the photo on the left, I washed my hair in the evening and towel-dried, then rubbed a nourishing oil into the ends — I love Shu Uemura Essence Absolue – and sprayed the beach spray generously throughout my damp tresses (avoiding the roots). I slept on it, woke up, and sprayed a little more through the ends. In the photo on the right, I did the same thing at night, but curled my hair with a large barreled curling iron and re-misted.

I haven’t tried the original, so I can’t give you an apples-to-apples comparison to the DIY version. But I will say that this is the closest thing I’ve found to spending a day at the beach to achieve easy surf hair. So it’s a win.

LC Lauren Conrad gray cut-offs (Kohl’s clearance) | Anthropologie plaid blouse (secondhand) | Madison cardi (Belk sale ages ago) | Antonio Milani yellow leather espadrilles | Olsenboye foldover tote c/o jcpenney 

Last night, my friend Lauren and I glanced through her February JCrew catalogue as we semi-watched the end of the Superbowl and cooked up the most amazing bite-size s’mores with Perry and Meghan (Pinterest has changed our lives… or at least our get-togethers). We were smitten with the bright color palettes, creative pattern mixing, and bold bags and accessories. We decided we both need skinny leopard belts, more vibrantly hued pants, and a bevy of candy-colored ballet flats. For starters.

While I rarely shop at JCrew — as in, my last purchase was over three years ago, and it was from an outlet  – I always defer to their catalogues and website for new styling ideas. That Jenna Lyons is a genius, and her style guides are cool, sophisticated, and completely wearable. I took bits and pieces from the catalogue as inspiration when I dressed myself through my Superbowl food hangover this morning.

I’m craving more color in my closet for spring. I fed this craving by binging on colorful pants and shorts at Kohl’s Saturday afternoon after a whirlwind day at the shop {three cheers for retail therapy!}. All on clearance, of course. I’m a reformed shopaholic, remember?

It’s gonna get Rainbow Brite up in here, ya’ll.

LOFT tee | LC Lauren Conrad faux leather pleated shorts (purchased on sale with Kohl’s cash) | Seychelle’s gypsy sandals | Big Buddha clutch via Hautelook | vintage necklace (m.marie)

We’ve had the most glorious spring weather this week! What? It’s still winter?

While some of you are bundled in sweaters and snoods {jealous}, we’re kind of sweaty in the sunshine state. TMI? Is it ladylike to discuss perspiration?

Well anyway, temps have lingered around the 80′s so I’ve decided to stop fighting Mother Nature and just dress like it’s May. Shorts, brights, sandals, done.