New Favorites from Restoration Hardware

When my gigantic Fall Restoration Hardware Source book arrived I was not expecting much. However, I was pleasantly surprised by some of the new items. Here are some of my favorites.

Love this mirror. It would also be great painted a high gloss white, silver or gold leafed.

This is a great statement mirror.

Classic black and white sketches

and architectural etchings that would be fabulous as a large wall collection.

Looks like they were finally listening as they now have a couple sofas that come in a normal size length and depth. Not many people can use a 90" long or a 42-44" deep sofa.

Love this 1940's inspired Barrel chair. And it comes in a dark finish as well as their aged oak. Yeah!

The Trelliage nightstand and dresser.

A great Parisian inspired table. Wish that had done this table in a antique silver finish as well.

A iron and crystal French inspired chandelier. This comes in multiple sizes but the little one is my favorite.

A great mercury lamp. It's nice to have other options than crystal. And this lamp comes in a couple of great sizes.

And then the piece de resistance, the Ben Soleimani (of Mansour rugs fame) rug collection is to die for. Now this is high-end rug design for the masses. They didn't skimp on the materials and go for acrylic or olefin. These are gorgeous wool rugs woven in India. The prices are amazing for the design and quality. A couple of my favorites.

(okay, so this ones pretty expensive but it's a show stopper)

Good work Restoration. Now try to add even more normal scale pieces and other finishes back into your line for those of us that don't have a gigantic french or European inspired house.

Thanks!

Restoration Reinvention

I received my new Restoration Hardware catalog yesterday.  Being a fan of Belgian and European inspired designs I love the way they are trying to differentiate their brand from Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma Home and Crate and Barrel.  

However, I have a couple questions about their new positioning.    Is the mass American public going to understand this look?  Restoration can't survive on just attracting interior designers or ex-pats.     My biggest question is who are they targeting with the scale of these pieces?  

Yes, there are still some items that will work in a regular house.  But, there are a lot of pieces that are so jumbo sized it's crazy.  I can't imagine that the original pieces these were based on were this large as most European spaces aren't as large as ours.  Did they base these designs off pieces that were in public spaces like hotels, restaurants or buildings and not re-scale them for the average house? 

 

Do they understand the size of a room you need for a 118" sofa not to mention the door you need to get it into your house.  It's hard enough trying to get an 88" x 42" deep sofa through most doors.  

Here are a couple of my favorite "bubba" or "gigantic american" sized pieces.  I thought American's we were trying to simplify our lives and downsize?  I guess not.  

 

This sofa is 118" inches long and 44" deep.  That's one long sofa.  
This sofa is so huge it's crazy.  It's 136" long by 109" inches deep.  Really - is this a bed and not a sofa?  109" inches!!!  Most sofas are 40-44" inches deep.  I want to see the room that this sofa fits in! 

This table is 108" inches long without it being expanded.  Expanded it goes to 144" inches. Again, you need a mega dining room for this piece.

This lamp is 63" in diameter.  That's twice the size of most people's upholstered chairs.  Really.  The look is great, but who has the space?

This would be great in a vaulted entry due to it's size (48" high) but it's too large for anywhere else.  Again, taller than most large wing chairs.  That's one big chandelier. 

Restoration:  I want to see you succeed.  We need more home retailers.  I want people to actually purchase these items and not just think they are pretty in the catalog.   

Please keep the average American house in mind when you are developing new pieces.