Neutral Valentine’s Day Mantel (with “L’Amour” Sign)

I’m not usually one to get all hyped up and excited about Valentine’s Day. In fact, we rarely celebrate it because we’re a busy household and it usually falls on a weekday. But this year, we’re taking time to slow down and appreciate everyone around us. We usually always have gift bags with swag and candy for the kids, but the husband and I are also going to be celebrating.

In honour of the special day, I also found time to put together this fun Valentine’s Day mantel in neutral colours. At the center is this wooden L’Amour sign that cost me $0.00 by using scrap wood I had in my garage.

This wood was left over from two previous projects. Lol. That’s right…. 2! I first made the headboard for my youngest daughter’s bed with a piece of 4×8 plywood. You can see that post here —–> How to Build a Fabric Headboard. Next, I made this Harvest sign from the long 8×1 foot piece, which you can read about here —–> Fall Harvest Porch Sign. 8 feet is really long, so I cut it down to about 5.5 feet, which left me with THIS piece.

I started off by painting the wood using some white paint I had lying around. I only gave it one coat. It was fine with me if the wood tones bled through a bit.

Next, I went to my printer and chose a font I liked. I then printed out the letters for my Valentine’s Day sign that would read “L’Amour”. Little known fact about me: I went to French Immersion school. I used to dream in French…. Oui, c’est bon. But, I can tell you, it’s not like riding a bike; if you don’t use it, you lose it… Quel dommage!

So, once I cut out my letters, I placed them on the wooden sign. I was going to tape them in place, but my kids are constantly stealing my tape, so I couldn’t find it. And yes, I’m clearly running low on ink….

I traced the outline of the letters on to my sign with a black marker.

Next, I used some black craft paint to paint inside the lines. For the edges, I used a small fine tip brush to make sure it was as neat as possible.

Voila! Ha..more French!!! C’est L’amour.

The L’Amour Valentine’s Day sign is just one part of this mantel and I wanted to use things I had around the house to make it a $0.00 project. I pulled out my Valentine’s Day bin and found a bunch of stuff in muted tones, which fit in perfectly with my idea of a neutral mantel.

I made the striped black and white hearts a couple years ago. They are made from a hard cardboard and I picked them up at the dollar store. They started out a bit gaudy with red and pink colours, but I simply turned them around and painted stripes on the back, which makes them more neutral.

Everything else is just odds and ends from my craft stash.

Overall, I’m pleased with how it all turned out. Do you have any fun plans for Valentine’s Day? Even watching Netflix with a bottle of wine sounds perfect to me.

See you soon my friends,

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