Lots of big-box retail chains are exploring smaller concepts, but Garden Ridge still believes bigger is better just not when its painted orange.

After testing a couple of stores in Michigan and three in St. Louis, Garden Ridge is officially changing its name to At Home. It will spend $20 million this year to convert all of its 71 stores in time for the holiday shopping season, including six in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Its ditching its traditional orange signs for a gray, blue and white color scheme. And a house symbol stands in for the o in At Home, so theres no confusion about whats sold inside, CEO Lee Bird said.

The company plans to open 200 At Home stores by the end of the decade and has the potential to open more than 500, Bird said. Garden Ridge moved its headquarters from Houston to Plano earlier this year and changed its corporate name to At Home Group Inc. last week.

With an average store size of 120,000 square feet, At Home is as big as a Wal-Mart or Target, and the entire store is devoted to home decor.

Garden Ridge needed major changes and a new name in advance of a national rollout, Bird said. The brand is well-known in Texas, but in other states people would come in and ask, Wheres the lawn fertilizer?

While the retailer plans to build some stores from the ground up, its getting attention from shopping center landlords because At Home can work as a mall tenant in vacated department stores and fill big-box spaces in strip shopping centers.

Target closed nine stores last year, and we bought seven, Bird said. Weve opened a couple mall locations and may have more. Garden Ridge now occupies a former Dillards in Richmond, Va., for example, and mall space vacated by Belk in Hattiesburg, Miss.

The conversions from Garden Ridge to At Home are underway. The company is opening 16 stores this year, some in new markets, putting it in 21 states.First local conversionThe Lewisville Garden Ridge was the first local conversion, becoming an At Home store earlier this month. Stores in Plano, North Richland Hills, Mesquite, Fort Worth and Grand Prairie will be converted by September.

Carmen Tate, 48, of Lewisville said she thinks the store is now more organized. She came in for a $39.99 table umbrella and found a $19.99 solar lantern. I have a cottage-style house with a front porch, so I have found a lot of things here, she said.

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Garden Ridge is evolving into At Home

High-end home dcor retailer Restoration Hardware is getting blasted for its latest mailing.

Instead of sending several catalogs throughout the year, they're sending customers one batch with their entire inventory.

The problem is, its a whopping 15 pound bundle of catalogs, which is causing customers to shake their heads.

The super-sized catalogs contain more than 3,300 pages of inventory.

The company says the once-a-year mailing will actually save money and paper.

But customers have been returning the catalogs to the Restoration Hardware store in Seattles University Village shopping center.

"I don't need these and I didn't want to recycle them because I thought it was a waste, said Rachel MacDougal, of Seattle.

Another University Village customer, Cady Miller, said, It seems unnecessary to receive something like that. I don't even get the phone book at home."

That reminded us of 2010, when the City of Seattle banned the Yellow Pages, saying it was a waste of paper.

More than 75,000 Seattle residents opted-out of getting the Yellow Pages.

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Massive Restoration Hardware catalogs 'obnoxious'

Restoration Hardwares gargantuan annual catalog, which set a record this year with a bundle of 13 sourcebooks totaling more than 3,300 pages and weighing 17 pounds, has critics on social media in an indignant tizzy.

People who got home to find the encyclopedia set for farm tables and distressed leather arm chairs on their doorsteps have taken to Twitter during the last week to call the catalog wasteful, appalling, hands down the most reckless/unnecessary marketing ploy ever and a risk for shoulder injuries from lugging it inside.

A tumblr.com page called Deforestation Hardware is organizing a mass return of the unwanted mailings Saturday to an RH Baby and Child store in Santa Monica. (To be fair, some people love the catalog.)

It seems almost quaint that just three years ago people felt similarly ecologically and philosophically affronted, if somewhat impressed, by the 2011 debut of Restoration Hardwares mega catalog, at the time a semi-annual affair numbering 616 pages and weighing a mere three pounds.

Industry analysts quoted in stories about the tome at the time reasoned people could be more likely to linger with and less likely to toss a beautifully photographed catalog that felt like a coffee table book. It has grown bigger every year since.

In a delivery confirmation email sent to recipients of the recent monster catalog -- which includes nine category books and four lifestyle books, though not everyone received all of them -- Restoration Hardware highlighted that the heavier load equates to a lighter carbon footprint, as they all come in one package just once a year.

Combined with our carbon-neutral shipping practices and our responsibly sourced paper, that adds up to a significantly reduced impact on the environment, the email said.

Restoration Hardware CEO Gary Friedman told analysts during an earnings call Wednesday afternoon that the negative comments on social media about the gigantic catalog represent one-tenth of 1 percent of the people who received them and that the mailings have generated even more business than expected. There have been slightly more people asking to opt-out of the mailings than last year, he said, but youd expect that because the book is twice as big.

No one has an offering remotely comparable, Friedman said. The catalogs are a physical manifestation that communicate the dominance and unique point of view of the brand in a way the retailer cant online, where all the Web store fronts look the same size, he said.

Despite steady and significant growth in online sales, paper catalogs remain important to business not just at Restoration Hardware but at other retailers that count on them to generate interest in their products and drive customers to their Web site and stores.

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Restoration Hardware's 17-pound catalog lands with a thud

Restoration Hardware Holdings (RH) surged nearly 14% on Thursday after the company posted a first-quarter beat and hiked its outlook.

The retailer, which sells luxury home goods, has benefited from an uptick in home sales and construction, despite a slowdown in the first half of the year. Restoration Hardware is also changing its business model, phasing out mall locations in favor of larger stores.

After Wednesdays closing bell, the Corte Madera, Calif.-based company said it signed leases for six design galleries and is in talks for at least 25 more.

Once our real estate transformation is complete in North America, we believe we will deliver $4 billion to $5 billion in annual sales, chairman and chief executive Gary Friedman said in a statement.

For the full year, Restoration Hardware is forecasting per-share earnings of $2.24 to $2.30, up from a previous estimate of $2.14 to $2.22. Its outlook for revenue was raised to between $1.86 billion and $1.89 billion, compared to $1.825 billion to $1.86 billion.

The company also provided guidance for earnings of 62 cents to 64 cents a share and revenue of $443 million to $453 million in the current period. Analysts were looking for 61 cents and $452.1 million.

Restoration Hardware reported a profit of $1.8 million, or four cents a share, for the first quarter ended May 3. A year earlier, the retailer booked a loss of $161,000, or less than a penny a share.

Excluding one-time items, adjusted earnings climbed to 18 cents a share from six cents. Revenue jumped 22% to $366.3 million, as same-store sales rose 18%. Gross margin ticked higher to 34% from 33.8%.

Wall Streets consensus estimate called for a profit of 11 cents a share and revenue of $347.7 million.

Shares rallied to $81.11 in recent trading, bringing the stock to a 20.2% gain since the start of 2014.

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Restoration Hardware Sparks Rally With Beat-And-Raise

The moment you buy a home and start its restoration, you realize how cheap and easy it is to own and operate a car. So why not just forgo the whole house thing and get a car instead?

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I'm sure a lot of you are thinking that if you're buying a car instead of a house, you should get some kind of all-terrain conversion van. Reader bpromersberger has a better idea, and it's all about a Zonda.

If you have one chances are you'll be making lots of friends, friends that might let you crash at their place if you take them out for a drive. Essentially couch surfing in the most debonair of sorts.

Suggested By: bpromsberger, Photo Credit: Pagani

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Some of you pointed out how easy it is to sleep in any five-door hatchback. But why settle for any old Mazda 626 when you could have a leather-lined, supercharged musclewagon?

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Ten Cars You Should Buy Instead Of A House

If you're a fan of traditional dcor, you probably appreciate the elegant lines and rich history of neoclassical style.

Interest in classical style really took off in the second half of the 18th century, when Scottish architect Robert Adam began using its elements in fancy homes, says London designer Adrienne Chin. Adam recast urns, sphinxes and vine leaves as decorative elements in mirrors and moldings.

"Adam's style owed much to the archaeological discoveries of Greco-Roman domestic architecture at Pompeii and Herculaneum," says Chinn.

The historical discoveries also inspired the development of neoclassical furniture, which replaced the fussy rococo style with more linear, geometric silhouettes.

Below: A bust of Ariadne cast from plaster is hand rubbed to give it an aged look as an elegant objet d'art from the neoclassical era. (AP Photo/Restoration Hardware)

Today, Greco-Roman classicism is the basis of many interior dcor styles Louis XV, Regency, Federal and Georgian among them, says New York designer Elaine Griffin. "As the oldest recognized style, classicism carries with it the approbation of time and taste," Griffin says.

And while it never falls too far off dcor's radar, it's really enjoying a moment now.

"Classicism's clean, sleek lines are back with a vengeance this summer, both in a refined way and in over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek style statements," she says.

There are many ways to introduce the style into traditional or contemporary spaces, and at various price points.

"Lamps are a great way to bring a neoclassical touch into your dcor classic urn shapes, columns or classical motifs like acanthus leaves look elegant, particularly when paired with a black card or pleated silk Empire lampshade," Chinn suggests.

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Ancient Greek motifs getting a fresh look from home decorators

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Community One to dedicate most recent home renovation project

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Developer reduces number of condos planned behind historic Sequoyah Hills area home

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