Monday, September 24, 2012

Things I love...When the Restoration Hardware catalogue arrives


Imagine morning coffee and laptop in those chairs SIGH!
Today I was greeted by Restoration Hardware's annual catalogue - a tome weighing about 5 lbs. It amazes me how much it must cost to put this gorgeous book together. The shipping alone must be astronomical. It is beautiful however, even though the pages resemble castles rather than real homes. This time though, included was a great little booklet - little being the key word. It was titled "Big Style, Small Spaces". Not only was it demure in size compared to its counterpart, it featured smaller furniture in grandly styled rooms yet of a more quaint scale. The booklet was divided into residential themes - one of my absolute favourite techniques to display various decorating styles and eras.

Cigar leather: naptime
Themes such as Chelsea Penthouse and Paris Pied-à-Terre were pretty typical of RH's styling of its furniture spreads: industrial chic and understated glamour of old France. What I found surprising were gems like Napa Farmhouse and West Hollywood Apartment. Oooh, how my eyes flitted from theme to theme. It was a really fun take on their collections - not to mention the scale and pricing were both more reasonable for the average sized room in the real world.

Of course, the large catalogue did not disappoint. Broken-in leather collections that make me want to crawl into the pages and curl up. Beautiful art deco foggy glass tables in the Strand Collection look like mercury glass, are begging to hold a Martini glass or two. The shimmering Victorian Hotel Pendant is the cherry on top of the vision I have of my dream dressing room. Too heavy to prop on my chest to read in bed, this will find its place on my coffee table. Maybe, considering the gorgeous photography and furniture, it is meant to be displayed that way afterall.