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martinca_gw

OH DEAR HARBINGER OF SPRING

8 days ago
last modified: 7 days ago

My heart doth thrill to the beauty

It brings me every year

Oh how it minds its duty

To announce that spring is near

No pastel pinks! Not red! Nor blue!

Dare touch these precious pages

Glowing in desert hues.

Thanks to Diana for her appreciatipn of my lit’ry effort.

Comments (36)

  • 8 days ago

    Spring lands with a thud on the doorstep!

    martinca_gw sunset zone 24 thanked bpath
  • 8 days ago

    I'm so happy that I was able to stop that delivery. I always felt like I could hear the trees screaming as they were destroyed to make those RH catalogs.

    martinca_gw sunset zone 24 thanked Fun2BHere
  • 8 days ago

    I;d forgotten all about that tome! Now if I can only get Viking to stop sending multiple brochures a week.

    martinca_gw sunset zone 24 thanked maire_cate
  • 8 days ago

    I think they’ve spent more $$ marketing to me, than I have on them.

  • 8 days ago

    There’s an RH outlet store opening near me, between the big box hardware and Sam’s Club, in the shuttered BB&B. Classy.

    martinca_gw sunset zone 24 thanked bpath
  • 8 days ago

    RH is consistent. They haven't strayed far from their "look" in 15+ years.

    Unlike other companies that have changed quite a bit, like Arhaus. I used to like that they had color/pattern in some of their upholstery and some quirky/unique decor ... now they have gone in the RH direction.

  • 8 days ago

    20 of them are abandoned in our apartment building lobby. Nobody knows how or when they got on the mailing list and they sit unclaimed destined for the recycle bin.


    They certainly have changed from their original faux industrial Restoration Hardware days.

  • 8 days ago

    I received a giant Serena and Lily catalog in the mail today. Hopefully I am off of the RH mailing list. It seems so wasteful.

  • 8 days ago

    This made me think about how much we enjoyed perusing catalogs when I was young - Sears was a biggie and it seems like every other department store had one too. My sister the expert shopper to this day, even made up something called 'the catalog game'. You got to pick only one thing from every page to pretend buy. If you couldn't find anything on a page, you got 2 from the next one.

    I've never received RH catalogs, tho.

  • 8 days ago

    Carolb, don't jinx yourself ... the 20 in Kendrah's lobby might end up at your house! ;-)

  • PRO
    8 days ago

    Oh my goodness, mine was forced through the mail slot, WHAM! My husband took one look at it and laughed all the way to the recycle box!

    Love the poem @martinca_gw sunset zone 24!!!!

    martinca_gw sunset zone 24 thanked Diana Bier Interiors, LLC
  • 8 days ago

    I didn't know what you were talking about and finally after reading some of the subsequent posts, I understood. Somehow I guess my shopping habits are not worthy of it so I never got it.

    I did relate to carol's post and used to really wait anxiously for any catalogue that would come. I remember asking neighbors who were induncated to pass them along to me. I know I've mentioned before how the Spiegel one really connected with me... and I miss it.

    I don't think I get any big ones by mail anymore other than some travel ones.

    martinca_gw sunset zone 24 thanked salonva
  • 8 days ago

    Oh, the Spiegel catalog! Back when we had to fill out the order form and mail it in with a check!

    martinca_gw sunset zone 24 thanked Sueb20
  • PRO
    8 days ago

    Amazon seems to have replaced catalogs but Lordy I remember the Sears catalog. I awaited it every year near Christmas.

    martinca_gw sunset zone 24 thanked Norwood Architects
  • 8 days ago

    "They" seem to also be pushing brown and greige as colors for fashion this spring, as well. I know very few people who look smashing in brown.

  • 8 days ago

    Also received one in the mail yesterday addressed to DD. She has never lived or gotten mail delivered here before. Off to stop it.

    martinca_gw sunset zone 24 thanked Allison0704
  • 8 days ago

    I haven’t gotten one in years, nor looked at their site. It used to be the gloomiest decor and photos. Arhaus, too, although they’re currently offering things that aren’t all gray and charcoal/black ala Dungeon Chic.

    I’m another who dearly misses Spiegel’s. I’ve posted before that I still have things I ordered from them in 1993, for my first house. I have the king pecan pencil post bed, a much loved ecru Matelasse (made in Portugal and soft as butter), a fun and colorful “Victorian Crazy Quilt”, and some lovely floral and striped curtains. All so well-made and very special to me. I also ordered clothing and shoes over the years. We had an outlet in Fort Worth I visited often, but the best of all was visiting their headquarters on a trip to Chicago. :)

    martinca_gw sunset zone 24 thanked Jilly
  • 7 days ago

    I also opted out of the RH mailings years ago, I am frankly surprised they are still sending those huge catalogs.


    Maire Cate, I get at least five pieces of Viking mail every week. We have already told them (in one of their post trip questionnaires) that we’re unlikely to sail with them again with the possible exception of a Scandinavian trip. Cunard bothered us for about six months and now sends nothing— ironically as we are already considering another crossing!

  • 7 days ago

    Somehow online shopping isn’t nearly as much fun as flipping through a catalog with a crayon, and dog-earing the best pages!

    While online lets you see the item you are interested in, in all its patterns and colors, that tactile activity of circling and smily faces made it memorable.

    When i bought my first townhome, the previous owner was involved in education and neurodivergencies, and she catalog shopped a LOT. so all her catalogs kept coming, t is also how I got into reading the J Peterman catalog! I never bought anything, but loved reading it.

    martinca_gw sunset zone 24 thanked bpath
  • 7 days ago

    Our friends received Spiegel catalogs - we just weren't a Spiegel family, I guess 😏

    I'm still getting gardening catalogs, but that's it.

    martinca_gw sunset zone 24 thanked carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10
  • 7 days ago

    I did not get Speigal much, but I loved the Sears and Penneys catalogs! Twice a year for each and I could spend hours! It was the internet of the 70’s and 80’s.

  • 7 days ago

    O.T. but as that never stops me 😆…We have one of their glitzy new restaurants. Recent review was not flattering: Glam was big time, food was meh.

  • 7 days ago
    last modified: 7 days ago

    I don't think I've gotten an RH catalog in a long time. When I did get them, they went straight to the recycle bin.

    I do like their bath towels. And I bought the vanities for our primary bath remodel from RH. I was worried about quality. Reviews of their furniture were not great. But I couldn't find anything else I loved. Once I found out that if I didn't like them (I couldn't see them in a store) they would pick them up for no additional charge, I ordered them (the return is included in the shipping cost). They've been in our bath for about 1.5 years are they still look like the day they were installed. Extremely happy with them. There are 2 of them. You can see the 2nd in the mirror. This pic is probably from the day the bathroom was completed, so no accessories.



  • PRO
    7 days ago

    Wow, gorgeous bathroom, @jsk!

    I used to like RH sheets--percale and generously sized. I don't think the quality is the same--the last set I bought never got as nice after washing as the old ones.

  • 6 days ago

    Spiegel made all of their money in their credit card business. They would extend credit to people who otherwise could not obtain any. Very high rates and fees. Predatory.


    I felt smug that I did not get an RH tome, then yesterday I got a veritable book from SnL. I think we need a class action to stop junk mail, virtuall and physical. It takes time and effort to dispose of it, and in some cases expense.

  • 6 days ago

    I love catalogs. I miss catalogs. I never got the RH hardware catalog, though.



    "My sister the expert shopper to this day, even made up something called 'the catalog game'. You got to pick only one thing from every page to pretend buy. If you couldn't find anything on a page, you got 2 from the next one."


    We did that, too! The joy kids find in the simplest of things... :0)

  • 5 days ago

    Bane of my existence is the constant mailings from Andersen Windows. We used them two years ago, and while we love the outcome, you'd think they'd figure out that we don't need anything else since we replaced every single window in the house and we don't need them anymore!!!!

    I also love the "order from one catalog" and you get 7 more from all their affiliate catalogs. porkchop, I'll send you all of mine!

  • 5 days ago
    last modified: 5 days ago

    I‘m really not much of a consumer but somehow I must be on every company’s catalog list. i receive dozens every month, sometimes as many as 6 or more on one day! Clothing, furniture, lighting, rugs, jewelry, art travel, etc. etc. The only thing I can think of that might account for it is my address?

    Btw, Spiegel brought back memories when I was a kid, they sold dogs then, being a dog lover even then that’s the first thing I’d look for.

  • PRO
    5 days ago
    last modified: 5 days ago

    Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

    How does your garden grow?

    With silver bells and cockle shells,

    But, not one F..king petunia.

    Cape Cod has no spring. It is January, February, March, March, late March, June.

    In this last (serious) snow storm we had no deliveries.



    I get a RH catalog every year. I have never purchased anything there. It weighs a ton, must cost RH $$$, and a huge waste of paper.

  • 5 days ago

    "Cape Cod has no spring."


    Cape Cod folk ain't got no spring,

    Heave away, heave away!

    Their catalogs ain't worth a thing

    They are bound for recycling.

  • 4 days ago

    Cape Cod has no spring.

    But such glorious summers! That week in July is one of favorites all year.

  • 4 days ago

    just when I thought it was safe to go out to the mailbox. It weighs three pounds. I don’t think I can recycle it, isn’t in the category of paperback book, which our recycling won’t take?

    On the plus side, it was accompanied by my refund check for, well, the difference between my Medicare payment overlapping Social Security’s. Maybe I can use to buy... hmm, nothing in there at that price point. I’ll go to lunch instead.

  • 4 days ago

    Here are my takeaways: reeded American white oak and bouclé. Marble. Photographed at a height of 3’. Everything. Bad typefaces. Repeated stories about the designers. Hard to tell the difference between this and Crate and Barrel. And, membership?

  • 23 hours ago

    Yeah the membership thing is annoying. But it saved us way more than it cost when buying the bathroom vanities. And it was good for a year so stocked up on towels during the year. I didn't renew when it expired.

  • 23 hours ago

    The RH catalog should come with antidepressants. I received it for many years, but not this year, thank goodness.

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