I don’t think it’s a secret that I LOVE to decorate for the holidays, and Valentine’s Day decor my be my favorite. While I don’t really care about Valentine’s Day in the respect many women do, I fucking love pink and red together. I just think it’s the cutest color combination. I also adore anything with hearts on it. So I guess what I am saying is yes I am a girly girl, and also one that might as well be eight years old with my affliction for pink and red hearts. But I don’t care a ton about the day itself – just bring on the DECOR!
There’s not a lot to say about my decoration style, as I feel like the photos speak for themselves. The smaller items on the tiered trays are mostly from Hobby Lobby with a few items from Etsy. The mug hats I got here, and I got the wooden signs and rolling pins from here. As you can see from the two photos, I do switch the way I lay out the tray decor differently year to year.
How to begin staging your Valentine’s Day Decor:
As with all the holidays, I start out by just laying all of my shit out on the counter. Then I group things in smaller collections of what I think goes together. For instance, I only have a handful of blush pink pottery, so I gathered that together for the chicken wire shelf. Then I tossed in any tiny wooden/glass items from Hobby Lobby that would A. Fit in the short bottom drawer of the shelf, and B. Match the ceramics. Then BOOM, first tray done. I also like to stagger items at different heights so everything isn’t all in a straight line.
You knew I had to add in one of my many Target gumball machine makeovers. They come already painted in bright red and while most people prefer to strip the paint with citristrip before painting over with fresh spray paint, I took the lazy way out and just painted on top of the red for this particular canister. I used Krylon’s Chalky Finish spray paint in the color “bonnet pink”. I did tape over the top glass part of the canister with painter’s tape so as not to spray that pink. Then I hit it with a coat of paint, let it dry for a couple hours, and then did a second round.
I will say, read the directions on the paint can. It specifically gives you a range of temperatures that are best for the paint. I painted my first canister while it was only about 35 degrees outside. (It was winter in Colorado, so you gotta do what you gotta do.) Anyhow, it was TOO cold and made the paint come out almost chunky. I ended up having to strip it and start over again. So learn from my mistake and follow directions on the paint can carefully. I then stuffed the bottom of this sucker with paper towels and then filled the top half with wooden conversation hearts, also by Rae Dunn. I’m a whore for that brand if I’m nothing else.
Valentine’s Day Decor for your China hutch:
As you can see from the photos below, I revamp my hutch to look entirely different year after year. The top photo is how I laid it out in 2022 and the one below that is from this year!
The way I see it, my China hutch is made to hold pottery, so why not shove as much shit into it as humanly possible? All of the canisters and mugs are Rae Dunn pottery from Home Goods. You can go mono-chromatic on each shelf, or scatter the reds, pinks, and whites as you see fit. In 2022, I spread out the color more than I did this year.
Coffee Bar/Hot Cocoa Bar inspo:
Next, I did up the coffee nook. The tiny coffee cart above is last season’s “it” item from Target’s Bullseye’s Playground. (Formerly known as “The Dollar Spot.”) It cost $5 and is so stinking cute. I’ve seen some creative displays where people put tiny alcohol shooters on it and put it on their bar. I wanted mine to hold coffee accoutrements that I access daily. Aka, cream and brown sugar. On the bottom shelf I just have a tiny mug holding heart-shaped sugar cubes that I made alongside some heart shaped spoons I got off of Amazon. The garland is from this shop here.
For my birthday, Vince get me a sideboard that I could use as a coffee/tea station. So in the photos above in 2022, I used the counter under our microwave as my coffee corner. However, now that I have this awesome sideboard in our dining room, I use it as hot cocoa or coffee bar. My kids really wanted a Valentine’s Day hot cocoa station so that’s what I did for 2023!
You can’t go wrong with sentimental Valentine’s Day decor! While I love my ceramics, my favorite decor might be these hearts I stick to our fireplace every year. The girls decorated these themselves a few years ago so it’s always fun pulling them out each year. The felt heart garland I got off of Etsy here.
Yes, I am one of those weirdos who actually uses my bookshelves for books! I have so many, I had to get shelves for our basement storage closets where we house my overflow of books. The Valentine’s Day decor you see peppered here and there are felt duos from Target. (The donut and donut hole, the PB&J, the strawberries, bananas, etc.) The other items are just trinkets my husband and I have collected on our various vacations. And the birds on top of the bookshelves are from Target over the years.
The last few photos are just different angles of our kitchen and formal dining room so that you can get the full scope of all of my Valentine’s Day decor. Christmas it the holiday where I decorate other floors of our house, but with V-Day, I keep it all to our main level.
Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you! And if you need ideas on how to throw a great Valentine’s Day party for your kid’s classroom, check out my blog here. I also have gift ideas for your Valentine in my own shop here. And I have other ideas for you here and here. As always, thanks for reading!
