Restoration Hardware Tampa- Part One -

Recently, I made a trip to the new Restoration Hardware store in Tampa, which opened its doors this past November. The imposing 4 story, 60,000 square foot buildings architecture is classically inspired and so beautiful.

As you enter the ground floor portico, trickling water fountains gave me an instant feeling of peace and serenity, once inside, I was overwhelmed by the large lobby, with four enormous columns and a grand staircase at the rear of the space. There are four large seating areas with generous white sofas.

(Note: Have you ever been in a home or a shop that made you want to throw out everything you have and start over completely? That was exactly my reaction to this gorgeous store…Too…much…inspiration…)

The four seating areas in the main lobby have large white slipcovered sofas and chairs- I believe they are called the “Cloud” collection and that’s exactly what they look like, large fluffy white clouds.

I mean, these are some serious Sunday-afternoon-HGTV-marathon-watching sofas!

The first level was filled with gorgeous living room and bedroom furniture, here are a few photos of my favorite seating areas:

There are a few common design elements in each of these sitting areas:

Oversized chandeliers

Large, low coffee tables

Bookshelves filled with wrapped books and natural objects

Large solid colored down-filled throw pillows

Symmetrical furniture arrangements

Tall “statement” floor lamps

Neutral upholstered and slipcovered seating

Overscale mirrors

Everything is so beautiful…ready for more? Here are some photos of my favorite bedroom areas…

Here are some common design elements that I observed in the bedroom areas:

Solid colored bedding with lots of layers- quilts, duvets, shams

Symmetrical layout- pairs of bedside tables and lamps

Grid-style gallery framed artwork over the bed

Bench at end of each bed

Pair of tall, skinny mirrors above bedside tables

Pillows laid flat on bed and stacked

Dramatic chandelier centered over bed

Here are a few more favorite details I noticed on the first floor…

I fell in love with this large sea fan framed shadowbox- too gorgeous!

I loved the idea of framed script pages- so simple and elegant- especially since the text is in French!

I also loved the way they styled their bookshelves- so simple but elegant- I use a lot of covered books around the cottage, but liked the idea of adding little labels or tying them in twine for even more style!

So much inspiration- and we haven’t even been to the second floor! The store has four levels with merchandise organized by floor- next time, we will tour more of the new shop…thanks for joining me today.