Martha Stewart’s expert secrets to make a house a home
How to make your home magical like Martha
From cooking and entertaining to crafting and organising, there isn’t a homemaking topic Martha Stewart hasn’t covered and conquered. She has spent years moulding a successful and inspirational lifestyle brand and is an expert at sharing her artisan know-how with fans around the world. We’ve picked our favourite looks and decorating tricks so you too can make your house into a beautiful home. Click or scroll for more…
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Choose your favourite Martha look
Martha Stewart’s interiors are justifiably world-famous, and she’s made it easy to get the look thanks to her signature decorating themes. Her classic and glamorous tastes adorn the décor in all her homes which are designed to suit each location. For instance, in the Lily Pond Lane Hamptons abode, the overarching scheme is coastal-inspired and her home in Bedford is traditional with a farmhouse twist. While her breathtaking Skylands retreat is elegant and colourful. Read on to choose your favourite Martha Stewart look…
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Embrace Hamptons’ style
The Hamptons theme is especially strong in her gorgeous house in Lily Pond Lane. “I still can’t believe how beautiful it is out there,” she has said on Martha.com. To get this heavenly Hamptons’ style, choose a light and airy scheme and layer with coastal accessories and splashes of blue.
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Find your farmhouse vibe
Martha’s first house in Connecticut was known as Turkey Hill. It had many of the distinctive farmhouse characteristics that we’ve come to know and love complete with all-season gardens and vegetable patches. Pictures from her original cookbook show the farmhouse dining room and kitchen with her grandmother’s china, and garden poppies. “A farmhouse needs an appreciation of craftsmanship,” explains Martha on Marthastewart.com. To get the look, bring in antique and vintage pieces that celebrate artisan skills, pre-loved wooden tables and dressers are perfect, so are mix-and-match chairs in pale woods and chalky neutral tones.
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Keep it classic
As well as coastal decor and her own modern take on country decorating, Martha prides herself on creating traditional looks that feel opulent but comfortable. Skylands is her 63-acre woodland retreat located in Maine and the harbourside estate represents the best in rural living money can buy. Get your own take on the grand country look with rich earthy colours, warm wood cladding and large, soft area rugs spread out in front of open fires.
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Create a clean backdrop
Whichever style you choose, all of Martha Stewart’s interior design projects start with a clean and neutral backdrop. She often uses classic neutral colours that suit the age and style of the building, from pure, brilliant white paint to warm ochre in a farmstead dining room. She then adds warmth, texture and character with homely furniture and useful accessories. Martha’s design mantra is to make a room that is functional, comfortable and inviting.
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Pay attention to the details
Having been in the homes and interiors industry for decades, it’s no surprise that the glamorous 80-year old has her own range of homeware with well known-brands all over the United States of America. Getting a Martha Stewart-style home is as easy as shopping at your local Target where you’ll find these pretty ‘ticking print’ tie curtains that are perfect for a farmhouse-style kitchen. You can also shop her online store for “everything” at Martha.com.
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Celebrate the seasons
Martha Stewart’s sense of style isn’t just about interior decorating. Her ethos is about making your surroundings beautiful, bringing in the best of seasonal extras to make a space feel special. You could add uplifting bulb flowers to schemes in the spring or celebrate summer with wild meadow wreaths and fill your porch with pumpkins and maple leaves come autumn and Halloween. And, we’ve not even mentioned the holidays yet. Read on…
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Make Christmas your favourite holiday
Martha is the queen of Christmas and knows how to be the most incredible hostess at the festive time of year. For a perfect Christmas, Martha recommends that you “assess your budget and occasion, include tried-and-true dishes and strategize your shopping”. Also, concentrate on low effort, big impact details such as making and decorating cookies for place names. Lastly, it’s no secret that Martha’s favourite Christmas décor colour is gold.
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Collect copper cookware
If you search for photos of Martha Stewart’s kitchens, you’ll see she’s always had copper pots hanging from racks and stacked on open-shelving in her envy-inducing cook spaces. “Copper isn’t just there for decoration, we definitely use it. But it’s also important to look good, so every pot is polished before it’s hung back up”, Martha told Frederic magazine.
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Invest in professional appliances
One of Martha’s favourite kitchen appliances is a professional cappuccino machine, which she also uses to create an instant breakfast favourite. “You put eggs in a cup or bowl with a tiny bit of butter and dash of salt and steam them with a milk steamer. In about 30 seconds you have beautiful eggs. I learned how to steam eggs like that from Buvette in West Village,” Martha told Frederic magazine.
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Choose uplifting linens
Open shelves and plenty of clean linens are staples in Martha Stewart’s kitchens. She believes in decorating with what you use, so choose uplifting colours and prints to liven up the heart of the home. Use them to wash your hands and dishes then hang them up or drape them over your sink to provide instant colour.
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Be a king or queen of the kitchen
Martha believes that a kitchen is a workplace and to be a great cook you need to save up and invest as much as you possibly can on your oven or stove to reap the rewards. She also has a huge range of enamel cast iron pots and pans available at Macy’s which any experienced homemaker knows are cookware heroes!
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Build a beautiful larder
Martha believes in giving everything a home, especially in the kitchen. Her latest manual Martha Stewart’s Organizing puts food storage containers in her top 10 organising all-stars. “Those made of glass keep contents visible and nesting sets are convenient for storing make-aheads and left-overs,” she states in her book.
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Entertain outdoors
Martha’s first owned business was a catering company and she has always loved to entertain both indoors and out. To Martha, presentation is as important as the menu so always be ready for an open-air gathering or party. Martha, of course, owns an outdoor kitchen (probably at every estate) so why not install an outdoor alfresco cooking space of your own too?
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Keep a clean and tidy home
Martha has a mecca of cleaning checklists that cover every possible housework conundrum you can imagine ranging from annual maintenance and cleaning jobs to guides on how to organise your refrigerator shelf by shelf. Don’t be too disheartened if you can’t keep up with the Stewart cleanliness standard though; she told Artful Living that she usually wakes up with the sunrise, around 5am every day, and enjoys staying busy.
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Indulge in a double bathroom vanity
With houses and estates all over America, it’s obvious Martha Stewart has worked hard to earn of few of life’s little luxuries. One of those is to enjoy big, beautiful bathrooms with plenty of space for everyone thanks to these double vanity units. She has even designed a range inspired by her own furniture that you can buy from Martha.com, Amazon or Wayfair! This classic wood design offers plentiful storage and will make a focal point of an indulgent bathroom.
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Pick purifying paint shades
Martha certainly knows her paint colours. She first started her own line in the 1990s in a range of neutral tones, some inspired by eggs produced by her Araucana chickens and the richer ‘Colors of Skylands’ palette which echoed her home in Maine. Martha tends to decorate her own spaces in warm greys, soft whites and pastels.
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Accessorise with pretty motifs
We’ve concluded that Martha knows how to create the perfect backdrop. Then, she injects pops of colour and pattern perfectly into her schemes with beautiful and useful accessories. Fill your home with cosy comfort using cushions and quilts in classic floral prints and motifs to get Martha’s style.
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Organise closets like a pro
Martha Stewart has published stacks of organising manuals and so knows how to declutter and organise every inch of a home. She has a line with California Closets that are designed to take care of all your belongings. Martha’s top closet tips are to ditch wire and plastic coathangers for a matching set. Choose the right type of hanger for the right item, organise by colour and never overcrowd the rail or your clothes will crease and it will feel overwhelming and messy. She also swears by drawer dividers and has a neat hack that uses a cutting board with a handle to fold tops.
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Construct a command centre
”An orderly and organized life calls for creating and then sticking to clear rules, pre-set schedules and to-do lists that are dictated by your own lifestyle and that of your family,” says Martha in Martha Stewart’s Organizing. Many of her books and articles swear by finding a place in your home to keep the following essentials in one place; calendar, stationery, hooks and message board positioned above a handy work surface. Top tip: Martha loves using wall-mounted pegboards and grids!
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Renovate a country-style porch
Home comforts are a big part of Martha’s mantra and this swing porch sums up her relaxed country style. Styled by Simply Southern Cottage using Martha’s pretty floral patchwork quilts and cushions, it’s an example of how creating magical spaces can inspire moments of joy in everyday life. Find a nook or corner to makeover and create your own happy place to enjoy doing what you love, whether that’s reading a book or taking some time to relax.
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Fill your home with flowers
Yes, there is yet another string to Martha’s lifestyle bow and that’s horticulture. Not only is Mrs Stewart a keen gardener, she knows how to display her beautiful crops of blooms perfectly too. In her book Martha’s Flowers, she lists her personal preferences; antique garden roses, which her grandmother grew, lilacs, that she harvests by the armful, and all types of hydrangeas.
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Always make a comfortable bed
Martha says that “getting a good night’s sleep is one of the most important things you can do for your health”. Make your bed your Sunday morning sanctuary. She advises investing in a mattress protector, topper and the perfect pillow for how you sleep. Then, layer the bed up with high quality 100% cotton bed linen that’s printed with classic Martha Stewart pretty block print motifs.
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Become a cracking crafter
Martha Stewart was asked what quote inspires and captures the essence of her outlook in life. Her response was: “To learn something new every day. If you learn something new every day, you can teach something new every day.” She has certainly learned almost every craft possible through home economics classes at school, which she installs into her homemaking today. So, pull up the sewing machine, dig out the knitting needles and take some time to learn a practical new skill.
