These days not a lot of retail stores can make me say, "Wow." The economy just hasn't been conducive for lavish build outs anymore. So when I was visiting family in Houston, my sister-in-law said that a friend suggested she take me to the new "Highland Village Restoration Hardware." Okay, I said, but we do have Restoration Hardware at home...
I had no idea what I was in for. Hands down the most spectacular retail setting I have seen in years. An 3-story retail mansion designed to show you just how beautiful real life can be. The gray-on-taupe-on-cement coloring embraces the very same color scheme Martha Stewart started trumpeting years ago and that's okay. It is gorgeous.
The photo above shows a lavish RH bedroom as you would see it in a furniture store - every pillow, lamp and sheet all tucked in its place. This isn't the kind of store you pick up and carry your purchases around. Here you're assisted by an iPad-toting salesperson who clicks and confirms your every wish electronically.
Have a chateau that you need to fill? Above is the perfect tufted couch for twenty of your closest friends to relax on. Can you believe the scale of this piece? Everything is bigger in Texas, that's for sure. But I love it!
And the crowning glory of this building is the 3rd floor greenhouse/sun room (with tent-like shades on the enormous windows to shield clients from the sun) that highlights outdoor seating, offers custom floral and succulent arrangements and has doors leading out to a rooftop living space. I can only imagine the glorious special events that the company can host here. It's genius.
If you are ever within driving distance of "The Gallery" at Restoration Hardware (Los Angeles and Houston), be sure to visit this stellar example of grand design - it will not disappoint.
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