Valentine's Day Decor for Grown Ups

9 ideas for Valentine's Day decorations that adults will love.

Valentine's Day is billed as the most romantic holiday, but it can often seem like the day is designed to appeal to tiny tots, not grown-ups. All those cute-as-can-be cupids and frilly hearts can seem a little too much to an adult aesthetic.

To solve this overdose of saccharine design, ShelterPop rounded up our favorite grown-up-friendly Valentine's Day decorating crafts. These ideas all stick to the traditional V-Day palette of red, white and pink, but they're long on style and short of over-the-top-cutesie-ness. Don't worry, the kids will like them too!

At right is a simple, quilled paper garland from How About Orange. We like the clean, graphic look of this easy DIY project. For a full tutorial on how to make the garland, check out the full post on How About Orange.

We love the idea of sending a "living valentine" instead of the traditional card or a soon-to-fade bouquet. Both Brides.com and Sunset magazine's site offer ideas for creating a Valentine's Day arrangement of live, blooming plants. It's the greenest way to say "I love you."
A vase of flowers is a classic V-Day treat, dress yours up with one of these vase-within-a-vase ideas. Martha Stewart fills her outer vase with pastel conversation hearts, while QuickandSimple.com has the clever idea to use red pistachio nuts as a filler for a bouquet of carnations.

For an alternative to fresh flowers, we loved this fabric flower bouquet from BurdaStyle, which we spied on the Etsy Storque blog. You could create one as a decoration to use year after year or make one as a gift for a friend.

Better Homes & Gardens has a whole section of their site devoted to Valentine's Day ideas, and we were crazy for these easy paper crafts: A paper heart garland and 'love' votive wraps.

For a pretty craft that would be pretty long after Valentine's Day has passed, we loved Martha Stewart's Lacy Votive Holders -- so simple but oh-so-sweet.

For more romantic decorating ideas, check out these posts:
- 9 Ways to Create a Sexy Bedroom
- 10 Feng Shui Tips for Love and Romance