https://twitter.com.DianeLaflamme
Martha Stewart is working hard so you can have a nice backyard.
No, the reigning queen of domesticity is not hunched over, feverishly weeding your lawn as you read this. But her goal to make all things beautiful has given the masses access to chic and affordable outdoor furniture and accessories.
The business magnate talks about what’s important in outdoor furniture in a conversation with the Citizen’s Paula McCooey.
To stay in touch with her Canadian partners at Home Depot, the American business magnate and media personality was in Toronto Monday doing what she does best — multi-tasking.
In classic Martha Stewart fashion she was zipping around the city, conducting an interview on Canada AM at the crack of dawn, meeting with Home Depot employees about her new line of products, lunching at trendy O&B, checking out Toronto’s high-end home furnishing stores Elte and Gingers, and visiting Jo-Ann and Michaels stores, where she carries her crafts line that includes her popular “glitter kits”. Oh, and then she whipped off an inspiring speech at Roy Thomson Hall for the Unique Lives & Experiences tour, an annual lecture series that also included comedienne Joan Rivers and Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert.
And in between all of that she squeezed in some time for the Citizen to discuss Home Depot and a partnership that began in January 2010.
“This has been a phenomenal partnership so far, and I expect it to continue to be very, very successful,” says Stewart, the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, a publishing giant that includes magazines, books, television and radio shows, along with merchandise.
Stewart says she works closely with six people on her design team to put her personal stamp on hundreds of different products, including her 15 styles of outdoor furniture that boasts everything from swivel rockers and conversation sets to party bars and umbrellas.
Stewart, who has homes in New York and Maine, understands the need to invest in stylish, yet lightweight outdoor furniture. The 69-year-old has seen a dramatic shift from the days, as recent as 10 or 20 years ago, when an outdoor chair could be as heavy as a concrete planter.
“It used to be cast iron furniture, remember? They started in the 19th century and then they were made by Fiske and other such foundries. And it was all cast iron, maybe wooden seats, but very uncomfortable and very heavy, year-round outdoor stuff. But now there are chaises, there are fixed cushions, a variety of water-resistant fabrics, and it’s a very different kind of thing. It’s outdoor living.”
She says people are trying very hard to spend more time outdoors, given the growing trend of screened-in rooms, and better furniture choices makes the prospect more exciting.
“People are realizing that they can enjoy outdoors as well as indoors, and the furniture is reflecting the more comfortable (choices).”
Stewart stressed that the goal at her company is to offer the best value, with comfort, stylish design and good construction — and keeping pieces lightweight.
“It is sturdy without being too heavy,” she says.
For those of us who are not, well, Martha Stewart, she and her team have produced indoor paint, furniture and decor that is colour co-ordinated with tags of colour icons to make mixing and matching simple and ensuring colours do not clash.
“We have a whole colour co-ordination scheme that is very, very useful for the homemaker,” says Stewart. “It enables people who think they are (design) challenged as interior designers to co-ordinate colour ... one of our paints, for example, (will match the) colouring of specific rugs, matched to a specific curtain, matched to a specific paint that we are using for kitchen cabinets.
The colour co-ordination extends to the outdoors “to a degree,” she says, and will continue to grow.
Does does Martha Stewart herself use her own products?
Absolutely.
She is now building a guest house on her sprawling property in Maine, where she is using her own furniture line and an array of blush-colour tones (in her low-VOC paint, of course) to create a welcoming atmosphere.
“I am creating a large tool workshop where I am using the entire Martha Stewart Living Craft Furniture line designed for the Home Decorators catalogue owned by The Home Depot. I use my paints exclusively for all painting projects. And I, of course, am building the interiors of a guest house using several items from the Martha Stewart Living Kitchens line.”
Stewart says there are some people who will walk into Home Depot and buy whole collections, however, she acknowledges many will want to refresh their decor in smaller steps.
“Many people have older pieces that they carry over from year to year. You can buy the table with two chairs, or you can buy a couch with two chairs and a coffee table. But many people do buy the whole set, and we try to keep a design at least for two seasons so that you can add to it.”
She says a great way to freshen an outdoor look on the cheap is to buy new cushions for older furniture if you’re not ready to make the leap to a new set. And her design advice for mixing and matching old and new? Pay attention to common tones.
“You can look for similar materials so you don’t have a clashing colour scheme,” she says. “And then you can get replacement cushions to refresh your older patio with some of the new things. And all of that is absolutely doable, so you don’t have to feel like you have to discard a whole set.”
Now that is a good thing.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
