Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

June 11--Restoration Hardware's gargantuan annual catalog, which set a record this year with a bundle of 13 "sourcebooks" totaling more than 3,000 pages and weighing 17 pounds, has sent critics on social media into 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.

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 Hardware's mega catalog, at the time a semi-annual affair numbering 616 pages and weighing more than 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.

In an article last month in Racked, Restoration Hardware CEO Gary Friedman described the massive catalog investment as a way to stand out from competitors that the Internet can't provide.

"It's important to have the physical manifestation of the product so the customer can know what we have," Friedman was quoted as saying. "When you see their book, and its six pages, and then you see ours, which is 300 pages, you think, 'wow, these guys have a lot!' and that's the difference.

"There's also a way to integrate the way you shop, how you organize your selection to the customer," he continued. "We do it in two ways, by offering a category-dominance approach or lifestyle books where you can find inspiring ideas. They are both necessary to shopping."

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Restoration Hardware's Catalog Lands With a Thud

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

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June 17, 2014 - Southern League (SL) Pensacola Blue Wahoos PENSACOLA, Fla. - The Blue Wahoos will look much different when the second half of the Southern League season opens play on Thursday, June 19th. Most notably, Gulf Breeze product and Cincinnati's 2013 fourth round pick Ben Lively. The right-hander headlines a list of seven call-ups from Bakersfield that will join the Wahoos to start the second half as Pensacola looks to improve on its fifth place first half finish.

Lively, drafted last year out of the University of Central Florida, was named the starter of the California League All-Star game after leading the league in nearly every pitching category through the first half. He was the league leader in ERA (2.28), wins (10), strikeouts (95) and WHIP (0.92). He was among the leaders in opponent batting average (3rd, .201) and innings pitched (79). Lively began the season allowing just one run over his first five outings. Entering the season he was ranked as the Reds No. 12 prospect according to MLB.com.

The Blue Wahoos will also get the addition of 2012 first round pick and Reds No. 3 prospect Jesse Winker. He was hitting .317 with 13 home runs and 49 RBI over 53 games in the Bakersfield outfield. He ranked among the league leaders in batting average (8th), on-base percentage (3rd, .426), slugging percentage (3rd, .580) and home runs per at bat (2nd, 1/15.77). With the addition of Winker, the Blue Wahoos now have four of the organization's top five prospect on the roster. The others are Robert Stephenson (No. 1), Michael Lorenzen (No. 3) and Carlos Contreras (No. 5).

Joining Winker in the outfield will be Kyle Waldrop and Marquez Smith. Waldrop was Bakersfield's top hitter with a league-best .359 average. He was also among the league leaders in doubles with 20. Smith is returning to Pensacola where he played in 21 games a year ago. He was the team leader in home runs with 15, good for second in the league, and RBI with 67 while hitting .298 for the Blaze.

The bullpen will get the addition of RHP Carlos Gonzalez. He had a tremendous first half out of the Bakersfield bullpen with a 0.57 ERA. He ranked third among California League closers with 15 saves.

Other additions include infielders Ryan Wright and Seth Mejias-Brean. Wright, a fifth round pick in 2011, spent most of his time at second base and hit .311 with eight home runs and 41 RBI. Mejias-Brean, drafted in the eighth round in 2012, has spent most of the year at third base with a .300 average and 11 home runs and 45 RBI.

To make room for the additions, Justin Freeman, Rey Navarro, Steve Selsky and Juan Silverio have been transferred to Triple-A Louisville. Mikey O'Brien was transferred to Single-A Bakersfield. Ray Chang and Josh Fellhauer will both begin the second half on the disabled list with undisclosed injuries. Left-handed reliever Lee Hyde was released by the organization.

The players will be available to the media following a team workout beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday morning at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium. The Blue Wahoos will open play on the second half of the season at home Thursday against the first half north division champion Huntsville Stars. It will be a Seville Quarter Thirsty Thursday with additional drink specials made available throughout the game as part of the Wahoo Waddle. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m., gates open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are still available for the entire series at BlueWahoos.com or by calling (850) 934-8444.

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Local Product Ben Lively Highlights Second-Half Roster Overhaul

The Nest got people to look at formerly mundane appliances like a thermostat in a new way, as something that should be smarter and could stand to get better-looking too. We loved the last Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat that we tested, but dinged its design compared to the circular elegance of the Nest.

Now the company that invented the Round thermostat back in 1953 is back with a new line of smart home devices called Lyric. And first up is, you guessed it, a smart thermostat. It looks familiarwhich is to say, beautifulbut it takes a different approach to saving you money than the Nest. Instead of trying to learn your patterns over time, the Lyric thermostat doesnt worry about patterns. Instead, it uses your phones geolocation features to start conserving energy as soon as you leave your house.

The Lyric thermostat assumes that if your smartphone is at your house, so are you. You can register your familys phones with the app, and itll use the geofencing features in iOS and Android to tell when everybodys left for the day. Once you get within a few miles of your house, the thermostat springs back to life, heating or cooling your house so its at your preferred temperature (or at least getting there) as you stroll through the door.

Looks familiar, works a little differently.

The Fine Tune feature is pretty smart too. You know how sometimes the weather forecast has two temperatures: the real air temperature, and whatever it actually feels like, adjusted for the wind chill or the heat index? The Lyric is programmed to make those same adjustments inside your house. Fine Tune factors not just the indoor temperature, but also what its like outside, and the humidity (the Lyric houses its own humidity sensor), so it can make adjustments like running your systems fans more or bumping the temperature up or down a degree.

A proximity sensor lights up the Lyric when you walk up to it, showing you the temperature and status. LEDs around the outside of the Lyric cast a glowing ring on your wall: blue when its cooling, orange when its heating, and green if its in energy saving away status.

Glanceable weather on your way out the door? Nice touch.

You can twist the ring to make adjustments to the temperature, or press one of the touch buttons. One button sets the Lyric to away, which can be handy if youre leaving your phone behind on purpose. The other button shows you a brief glimpse at the weather forecast for the next 12 hoursenough to see if you should grab an umbrella on your way out.

The Lyric app is as smart as the thermostat. First, it walks you through every step of the installation process with videos and even interactive guides. For example, when you remove the front of your old thermostat, youll see different colored wires attached to lettered connections. Since most people dont have a lot of thermostat-installing experience, it can be intimidating.

Lyric's app for iOS and Android lets you set up profiles for various activities.

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Honeywell's Lyric brings geofencing to smart thermostats

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