Easy Decorating Tips to Add Romance

Jessica Ackerman - It can be a lot of fun to decorate your home with romantic touches. Although many people immediately think of romance when it comes to Valentine's Day decor, romantic accents can actually be quite nice to use throughout your home all year long. This year when choosing your Valentine's Day accent pieces, try looking for versatile items that you can also use to decorate your home throughout the rest of the year. Here are a few design tips you can use to give your home a warm, inviting, and romantic look.

Focus on Hearts

Nothing says "romance" like hearts. When you think of Valentine's Day and love, chances are the image of a heart comes to mind. There are an almost endless number of ways to use a heart motif throughout your home. For example, if you want to add a bold and decorative look to your wall while also adding a touch of romance, look for heart-themed metal wall hangings. If you'd like to add hearts in a more subtle way, look for items that feature heart-print borders and prints. Although you might immediately think of red and pink hearts, heart prints that feature other colors often tend to be more versatile year-round. For example, a pottery or ceramic piece decorated with cream-colored hearts would look romantic and pretty any time of the year, without looking like a Valentine's Day decoration.

Add a Touch of Lace

If you want to add the look of romance to a room, think "lace." Lacy fabrics, lace accents, doilies, and other frilly pieces are the perfect way to add a romantic aura to a room. For example, imagine how romantic your bedroom would look with lacy doilies on the nightstands or dresser. Or, set the perfect romantic table in the dining room with a lace tablecloth. In the living room, small touches of lace can give the room a romantic and slightly formal look. Sheer lacy window treatments or even kitchen curtains that feature a lace trim will add a touch of romance.

Keep it Natural

Although you might enjoy hearts, lace, and frill during the month of February, throughout the rest of the year you might prefer a more natural decorating scheme. Wooden wall decorations that feature a subtle heart motif are a great way to add a small touch of romance to a room without going overboard. You could also use pottery pieces with subtle heart prints or a vase decorated with small hearts to add a nice look.

It's also important to remember that adding a romantic look to a room doesn't really require hearts, lace, and frills. For example, beautifully simple and yet luxurious white bedding can make a bedroom seem romantic, without the need to add any overtly-romantic accents. Or simply add a few satin pillows to your loveseat to splash on a dash of romance. In fact, sometimes even the simplest decor can be made to seem romantic, just by making it look warm, sumptuous, and inviting.

Jessica Ackerman is a Design Specialist on the Wall Decor & Home Accents website team. 

Recycle for Next Holiday Season

Irwin Weiner ASID - I don't understand why we throw everything away after the holidays are over and our gifts have all been unwrapped. Our neighbors across the street in Pennsylvania have a tradition of saving a specific piece of gift wrap from each year's haul and their rule is to keep reusing it to wrap gifts for successive years. They have been using one piece of gift wrap now for six years - and it's raggedy, to be sure, but the tradition has meaning. We saw a video on using cardboard squares to make a beautiful cardboard Christmas Tree (cut a hole in the center and insert a square onto a long dowel rod that's attached to a wooden stand, then spiral progressively smaller squares to make a great tree shape!), and this video on recycling envelopes caught our eye, too. Enjoy the New Year, and carry on with good recycling habits.