RH Austin rooftop garden showcases contemporary outdoor furniture
Three weeks after its grand opening, I climbed the glittering, mirrored grand staircase at the 62,000-square-foot mansion known as RH Austin (Restoration Hardware, rebranded), one of the anchor stores in the new Northside section of The Domain shopping center in north Austin. After a cursory inspection of the posh but oppressively muted gray, black, and white interiors displayed on the lower three floors (y’all know I adore color; they have fabulous light fixtures though!), I reached my intended destination: the 4th-floor rooftop garden terrace, 11,000 square feet of modern patio furniture and accessories beautifully displayed in outdoor rooms accented with artfully potted succulents, mosses, agaves, yuccas, olive trees, and even native cenizo.
It’s a wow-inducing space, a green roof with party-ready cushy seating, statement-making outdoor chandeliers, fountains, and gas firepits.
Arbors and fabric canopies provide a sense of enclosure and shade, making for comfortable browsing even on a warm day. Although they’re for display only, I coveted these swagged, retractable canopies for our baking hot deck. Shade is essential in Texas, and so few quality options are available to homeowners making their own gardens. (Installers in Austin, let me know if you do these! Leave a comment below.)
Scrumptious bowls of succulents and other plants adorned tables throughout the terrace. I asked one of the managers about the plants, and he told me they’re not really for sale, although for the right price…maybe. But generally, he said, the plants are there to enhance the furniture displays and make the place seem like a real patio garden, not just a bunch of furniture, plus they offer design inspiration.
Even sans price tags, I bet they’ll get a lot of people wanting to buy their containers. They’re beautiful.
Wouldn’t you like this to be your “home away”?
I love that circular fire table.
Olive trees and yuccas in pots offer greenery and symmetry.
Another lovely succulent bowl
And a shallow trough planted with moss. I don’t see how this could hold up under the Death Star here in Texas. But maybe in the shade…if you mist it every day?
Notice that RH’s restrained color palette — gray, tan, white, and black — is all that’s offered for outdoor furnishings too. But I don’t mind it in a garden setting, where it feels restful and modern and blends with silver-hued plants like cenizo.
Good outdoor lighting is often overlooked in a garden (including, sadly, my own), but RH has that covered too. Check out these 1970s-reminiscent basketweave-style chandeliers.
You’d need to use them in a covered space so they’d last, but I bet they make a cozy, shadow-casting light.
I’d love to see them glowing at night.
One more look
Another beautifully styled seating area, with potted olives, cenizo, sedum, and other succulents adding living color.
A tire-shaped white bowl displays a froth of green sedum.
I like this zinc fountain too, with enough spillage to mask street noise. Just fill it up, plug it in, and voila.
Agave in a bowl of what looks like weathered tropical hardwoood — great texture.
Candy-colored succulents in another wooden bowl
Contemporary dining tables and chairs that look like they’d be at home indoors, sheltered by retractable fabric awnings
At the center of the green roof, a sunny space is anchored by four gray sectional sofas shaded by giant white umbrellas. Long rectangular fire tables provide a place to set a drink or warm your toes on a chilly evening.
Another view, with Koosh ball-shaped Yucca rostrata shimmering above square black pots.
One last look at the rooftop garden
RH Austin has a couple of ground-level garden terraces too, with more of a courtyard feel thanks to high walls.
All of their outdoor spaces offer plenty of inspiration, especially for gardeners who love modern or contemporary classic style…and who have deep pockets.
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I smiled at your reference to RH’s color scheme in furnishings. I like muted furniture colors but RH’s offerings have veered from refined to downright depressing in my view. I receive several pounds of their catalogs every year and no longer even bother looking at them. Still, I liked the fabric awnings – just not in black.
Their enormous dead-tree catalogs have pissed off a lot of people. (I’ve opted out online.) And yeah, their charcoal color scheme is so NOT my style for interiors. But like I said, I actually kind of like it for the outdoor furniture. That rooftop terrace is really something. —Pam
I love the look of the cushy outdoor furnishings. They just aren’t practical in my area unless they are under a roof. Now if I had a staff that could take those cushions in and out daily… 🙂
Right? Although some cushions do dry out quickly. I have some from Crate & Barrel that dry really fast after a rain. But I also have some from Target that are sopping for a week afterward. So maybe it all depends on the material? But then there are squirrels, who sometimes like to chew on them…sigh. —Pam
(you can keep the furniture) but OH those succulent bowls are a maz ing. Sigh!
They are very nice indeed. —Pam
The muted tones are soothing but I just want to add some bold orange or blues to the space. I adore orange accents! The succulent bowls are WOW-amazing!
Ooh, yeah, blue, orange, or chartreuse would really spice things up! —Pam
I think that moss is dormant. Or dead, lol. I do like the modern look of the furniture and other furnishings but can’t help but think the dark grey and black would toast my rear end in the South!
Dark gray and black are a garden trend right now, climate be damned, Jean! 😉 Seriously, I’m seeing a lot of charcoal-painted contemporary houses around town these days, and black or near-black fencing is in too…including at my own house. —Pam
enjoyed this tour for the plantings & containers (oooh, that frothy sedum bowl!), but even as a person who truly loves a mostly neutral palette, the RH take leaves me quite cold (as in almost dead and buried)…the spaces are so matchy-matchy, so perfectly squared & aligned, SO bloody chic that I fear the addition of any actual living persons would ruin their look!
thanks for the tour…must run out to the courtyard now & make sure some of the chairs are crooked & not every plant has a twin! 🙂
And there’s no realistic additions of squirrel-gnawed acorns covering everything either, as in my garden — ha! I guess that’s one advantage of a garden patio in the sky.
Certainly it’s an idealized display, and I wholeheartedly agree with you about RH’s dead-and-cold vision when it comes to their interiors. Still, I thought the rooftop display was well done. Their outdoor furniture is lovely and fulfills a need for a modern aesthetic that the masses (well, the well-moneyed masses) can access without needing a designer to procure it. I can’t think of another store in Austin that displays modern outdoor furnishings in a garden setting like this, so you can really envision it for your home.
Of course, the store that everyone would go completely gaga over would be an L. Peterson garden store, with your warm-modern style including plenty of one-of-a-kind and sometimes tongue-in-cheek accessories, sparkling Mexican lanterns, and fabulous dry-garden plants. OK, Linda, when are you going to open for business? Seriously, I’d be there every week. —Pam
i’ll put that little venture at the top of the list for my NEXT life, troublemaker!
The photos are gorgeous! I have to agree with the other commenters: it’s a very somber color palette. It would be GREAT with more green as a backdrop, though! I’m now coveting all those containers and the zinc fountain! I’ll just have to get 2nd and 3rd job to pay for them. 🙂
Right? But remember, the containers aren’t for sale! The zinc fountain was though. —Pam
Thanks for the tour Pam.
I love seeing all those lovely but spendy outdoor rooms.
The succulent bowls are amazing. I made a big square footed bowl a few years ago out of limestone. It’s a fruit bowl right now, but seeing some of those pictures is making me rethink that.
If you come to the San Antonio area there’s a great nursery for prickly stuff….Paul’s Desert 200 Schertz Parkway in Schertz. Great plants, nice folks.
Thanks for the tip about Paul’s Desert, Linda. I hope to visit sometime. —Pam
Tire shaped planter…droooool…
I know, I love that one too! —Pam