Valentine’s Day Mantle

Submitted by Iolanda Gillins, Event & Décor Concepts

It’s the love month! 

Many people think that Valentine’s Day is a holiday created by hallmark to sell more stuff. I like to think of Valentine’s Day more of a reminder to focus on who we love and why we love them. Regardless of how you feel about the holiday, it’s a fun reason to decorate your mantel and add some fun to your home in the dreary months of winter.

Here I will share some ideas with you to put on the love, baby! 

First, I thought about what colors I wanted to use, what colors I already had, and what would add to a festive Valentine’s mantle. I decided that I was going use red, black, and silver the backdrop of my mantle is already white so we looked around our house and found things with those colors. We found black lantern and a red one. I also found some white vases red florals red books and the little black love sign. 

I then started decorating the mantle with the largest things first. I put the lanterns by the fireplace the florals in the large white vases and then started playing with the books, I quickly realized that there was something missing, so I headed to Real Deals they unfortunately were closed so I went to Marshalls, and I found a few little things like a berry heart shaped wreath, a silver heart and a piece of black architecture accessory to complete the mantle. Then I remembered a picture of my husband and I kissing and what says love more than shared kiss. So that obviously had to go on the mantle. It is exactly what was missing I have two plugs on our mantle that I needed to hide. It was the right height and the right width to cover the outlets. 

Check Your Own Stash

When you’re decorating, whether it’s a mantle, a table, or a living room, be sure to check your own stash before purchasing anything new; this helps with a couple of things:

 1. It saves money. 

 2. It gives you a direction to start. 

 3. If you’re using what you already have you know you already like it and it just adds character to your home. This helps you build that curated home that looks like it’s taken a long time to create because it has.

 4. There is nothing wrong with adding to your collection by shopping for a few new pieces each year.

Here is a list of things to look for in your home before you start 

lanterns  •  plants  •  arrows  •  hearts  •  wreaths  •  decorative balls  •  mirrors
books  •  flowers  •  pillows  •  plates  •  vases  •  signs  •  bells  •  garland

Begin covering anything that you need to hide in my case it was two outlets, so we placed the photo over the outlets.

Then continued by placing your largest items on your mantle. We continued with the next largest item and so forth. Then we filled in small spaces with small accessories. 

TIP Take a picture of your mantel when you think you’ve completed it. Then look at the picture and see if there needs to be anything adjusted. For some reason when you look back at a photograph you see it from a different perspective, and you can see if there needs to be any adjustments. Once you make the adjustments stand back admire your work take an additional photo and share it with your friends.