The doors, or shall we say the 14-foot gates, opened on the imposing Restoration Hardware Gallery in Highland Village Friday morning, revealing to eager customers a plush European-flavored residential setting that belies any notion of a "store," that word banned from company literature.

The Gallery at Highland Village is 25,000 square feet of luxury and design inspiration that is so refined and casually elegant as to make one feel instantly at home. "I could live here," was the constant refrain of guests attending the opening party on Thursday night.

From the crushed granite garden that flanks the entryway to the fluffy white robes in the restrooms to the third floor roof top garden, Restoration Hardware has created an unimagined serene environment in the midst of this bustling block of Westheimer.

Entering through those heavy gates, shoppers arrive in the vestibule that leads to the ground floor where furnishings, accessories and lighting fixtures, all in pleasing neutrals, are assembled in vignettes so beautifully transitioned that the space evokes the esthetics of a vast mansion. Or as press material relates, the setting was "envisioned as a majestic estate with beautiful European proportions . . ."

Indeed.

The building was designed by Architectural Digest Top 100 architect Howard Backen and Jim Gillam of the California firm of Backen Gillam and Kroger in collaboration with Restoration Hardware chairman and co-CEO Gary Friedman and retail architect Richard Altuna. (It was not Backen and Friedman's first project together. The two partnered on Friedman's home.)

"I'm just very excited about this new project and I feel that we are very fortunate to be in this particular time for the company," said co-CEO Carlos Alberini, who along with Friedman and RH board members came in for the opening.

"We are delighted to have made this our first big, new creation in Houston. It is very much the first one with a lot of what you see here. We just opened a big store on Beverly Boulevard (in West Hollywood). But this was built from the ground up with this whole concept in mind. It's pretty remarkable."

The Houston store features a tea "atelier" by Bellocq, a biblioteque (library) of international design publications, a floral boutique operated by popular floral designer David Brown and a rooftop garden (7,000 square feet of divine open air space) that had opening night party guests swooning. The latter features the line's extensive collection of outdoor and garden furniture in a setting of trimmed boxwoods, olive trees and trickling fountains.

Next door is the highly sophisticated Baby & Child Gallery that continues the RH luxe esthetic translated into childhood dreams, a new view of nurseries and children's rooms. Collections are presented as installations that feature flowing fabrics, faux fur throws and crystal chandeliers in every room.

Why put all this money and effort into a Houston product? Alberini responds: