Valentine’s Day Decor: Dressing Up Your Space for Love
Now that the festive season is behind us and spring is yet to arrive, our homes can feel like they’re a bit in between things. The tinsel and trees and baubles will have been safely stored for next year, leaving a decorative gap in their wake.
Luckily enough, Valentine’s Day gives us just such an opportunity to fill these spaces once more – albeit with a slightly different kind of cheer.
As with every other event of the calendar, the changes we make for the 14th of February don’t need to be drastic or expensive; a little can go a long way when it comes to bringing a hint of romance to our lived spaces. Let’s take a look at a few simple and effective tricks we can all use to love-up our décor.
Lighting
It might be a bit of a cliché, but nothing plays a more critical role in creating a romantic atmosphere than the lighting. Very often, the function of a room can be radically altered just by adjusting this one thing.
For those who have dimmer switches on their main lights and lamps: use them! For the rest of us, there are still plenty of ways to manipulate the light sources you already have:
- Bulbs: Light bulbs are available in a huge variety of strengths and hues. Try swapping harsh white-light bulbs with equivalents that have a softer, warmer glow. When it comes to light bulbs, the number of lumens indicates the brightness of the light given off. Fewer lumens mean a dimmer light.
- Shades: Pairing a lamp or light with a shade is quick, easy and effective. Not only is it useful for manipulating the amount and quality of light a room is lit by, it has the added bonus of being something which can be decorated with patterns or some kind of romantic symbol, too.
- Lamps: Where bright, central lights are perfect for creating a functional and uniformly-lit space, lamps are your best friend when it comes to bringing a close and intimate feeling to a room.
Scented Candles and Essential Oils
The word sensual is often synonymous with romance. In its broadest definition, sensuality means the arousal or excitation of the senses. For the purpose of this example, so as to avoid confusion, we could coin a new word for the use of smell as a mood-setter: scent-sual.
Or, well, maybe not…
Candles come in a dizzying number of fragrances and can transform a room’s ambience with a single stick. Essential oils are a perfect alternative if you already own unscented candles or want to rotate smells from the same source.
Throws and Cushion Covers
If you want to affect a large change across your interior design scheme quickly and affordably in response to the calendar – be it Valentine’s Day or any other annual event – a simple switch to the covers of your cushions and soft furnishings should always be in mind.
From the full-blown spectacle of furniture with designs of roses and cupid, to the more subtle traditions of using warm and deep colour palettes to evoke romance, a swap to the covers of your existing furniture can do it all.
Artwork
Artists can communicate a lot with very little and being sensitive to the emotional content of a piece of art sets a romantic tone without speaking a word. Again, more obvious images like hearts are an option here, but a little goes a long way.
Romance: It’s a ‘Thought’ Thing…
Sometimes, the saturation of events like Valentine’s Day across TV and social media can take a lot of the enjoyment out of them before they even happen. It’s important to bear in mind that any show of effort at this time of year is a token of love and shouldn’t be taken for granted. For the ones we love, remember: it really is the thought that counts.
