Creating a Formal Look with Simple Valentine’s Decorations

This summer I redesigned our living room and decided to use cream, gold and pink as my color palette. I have always wanted to do a room in that color combination and I have to say…

I’m in love!

It also works so well for Valentine’s Day!

I typically choose to keep this room’s decor very clean and more minimal, due to it’s formal nature.

Don’t get me wrong, I DO love to go “all out” — check out the post of our Valentine’s Entryway — and stay tuned for the rest of the house!! For here though…I think it needs to be simple : )

If you look at how we decorated the living room for Christmas, you’ll see I kept several of the accessories the same. That is why I always say, “Only purchase things you love and you will never tire of looking at them!”

The Mantel

 I reused my gold candle sticks and flicker candles from Christmas, but because I didn’t have a full garland like I did on the Christmas mantel, the tall candlesticks looked a little “leggy”. I negated this by filling in the empty space behind with some cute pink Valentine boxes I saved from last year (I ate the chocolate of course….giggle!).

 Then, to add a little life and give it some body, I added a simple rose garland.  And finally, just to make our hearts go pitter-patter : ) I added my favorite part… these fabulous oversized pink roses!

Aren’t they just gorgeous?!

 Oh!!! I almost forgot…. How cute are the cursive “Love” additions? These simple Valentine’s touches add so much! They were a little hard to read with the swirl in the mantel though, so I added some pink and white vases behind them to increase their readability.

The Coffee Table

I love to use my decor to create a “moment in time!” …to tell a story! So, for this simple Valentine’s look, I set up the coffee tableto look like we are just sitting down for a lovely tea party, complete with petit fours and tea sweetened with sugar cubes!!

I gathered some of my favorite china pieces, (remember how I said in our Princess Party that I’d use these beauties any chance I could?!) garnished them with some beautiful embroidered napkins and pink-rose napkin rings and laid them out along with our goodies (The petit fours are artificial by the way! Otherwise my kids would’ve eaten them by now!!).

P.s. I’ve linked a few adorable tea sets for you to shop below…some of them are even half off!!

A simple vase filled with gorgeous pink roses completes the look! I’ll fill you in on a little secret though… those roses are artificial!*Gasp* I know…can you believe it?! As much as I would love to decorate with all fresh flowers, it is not very realistic with the quantities I use. The key is to spend that extra dollar or two and invest in some quality flowers that look real. I found these beauties at Michaels!

I LOVE how the sun kissed the roses at the perfect moment!

NOTE: A Brilliant Trick!!

When using a clear vase and artificial flowers, always fill the vase with water! The flower stems are plastic so it won’t hurt them, but it will make your flowers look so much more real!! My photographer had to touch them to believe they were artificial!!!

The Side Table

I have a beautifully elegant table that usually lives in my entryway, but I pulled into the living room for this simple Valentines look. Don’t be shy to move your furniture around the house! I am constantly rearranging mine and it gives you a fresh new look without having to purchase anything new!

I pulled in coordinating candlesticks with the mantel, but because they are within reach of my kids and I wanted them to be lit with real candles, I got glass-enclosures. I did use one of the mantel candlesticks, however, as a riser for a bud vase. I found a cute inexpensive simple Valentine’s print in our colors and used it as my anchor for the table.

The rest of the room is filled with adorable little details here and there. One of my favorites is this cute little teddy bear I found at Walmart! I’m telling you… you can find gems at that store! I had no idea!! Have they really stepped up their game lately, or have I just missed out for years??

I hope you love this simple Valentines look! If you want to shop similar items, I’ve linked some of my favorite items below! Simply click (or double tap on mobile) to shop!

P.S. If you want to shop more of my favorite items, I’ve created a new tab on the blog with eye candy galore! Click here to shop favorites from past posts as well!

Hugs…. Jennifer