Martha's Red Experiment

Martha's love/hate relationship with the colour red is well known to those around her. She has banished all red flowers from her gardens, yet admires the crimson tones of autumn leaves, particularly on Japanese maples. She rarely wears red clothing or lipstick, but will if the occasion calls for it. In decorating, too, she prefers restrained neutrals, calming greens and pastel blues to the louder warm tones on the spectrum. But when she purchased her property in Bedford, New York, in 2000 she embarked on a daring decorating colour scheme for one of the houses on the property: red! 

In what I believe was the Summer House (the 1770s Colonial on the property once inhabited by the previous owner, Ruth Sharpe) and prior to the complete renovation and restoration of the buildings on the property, Martha used red as the foundational colour to unite each of the rooms in this house, throwing all caution to the wind. She enlisted the help of Kevin Sharkey, who was then the decorating editor at the magazine, to help her realize her vision. She was initially inspired by a set of red roll-down blinds that were used by the former owner in the formal living room, which she found intriguing, and also by the many red-hued decorations, artworks, rugs and fabrics she had collected over the years but had never used.

The historical use of red in Chinese and European decoration, furniture and porcelain was another guiding factor for Martha. She went all in and confidently incorporated these elements into the mix: a chinoiserie chest of drawers and an armoire, a Chinese screen, Asian prints on the walls, red-patterned damasks and toile in the bedrooms. The effect is bold but enveloping and still adheres to Martha's preference for monochromatic spaces, albeit in a more dramatic way. One is still presented with a space with a cohesive palette and atmosphere, which is always important to Martha's design sensibility. Light shades of green were used as a counterpoint to the rich saturation of red, particularly in the bedrooms upstairs, which called for a more serene palette. Red was still used, however, as punctuation throughout the rooms and hallways, as well as an upstairs sitting room, guiding the eye from one space to another seamlessly.

This colour scheme was, ultimately, just an experiment. The house was eventually gutted and renovated from the ground up and the use of red in its rooms only lasted a short while, but it was done to the fullest with the best results imaginable. {Photos by Jose Manuel Picayo Rivera from the November, 2001, issue of Martha Stewart Living}

Martha's Fans Bring "Entertaining" to Life

To celebrate the republication of Martha's first book, Entertaining, I asked the members of the Martha Moments Facebook group in early October to submit photographs of something they had made from its pages. They more than delivered! What a talented group of individuals. It is worth noting, too, that they are not paid influencers. These are everyday Americans with an honest love of Martha's work who enjoy cooking and baking recipes from her books on a regular basis. Among the creations: croquembouche, a pear tart, cranberry and chocolate-pecan tartlets, carrot loaf, poached pears, classic apple pie, mile-high lemon meringue pie, buttermilk biscuits, applesauce spice cake, stuffed chicken breasts, chicken pojarski, various hors d'oeuvres, Martha's eggnog, vodka frozen in ice, and more! I'm so impressed. Below are photographs of their creations.

Anthony Picozzi made Martha's poached pears. A beautiful presentation, as always.

Bernie Wong and Dennis Landon made Martha's almond pear tart, cranberry tartlets and chocolate-pecan tartlets. Their guest, Nathan Schmidt, made Martha's carrot loaf during a fun afternoon of visiting and baking together.

Bernie's almond pear tart looks perfect. 

Dennis's tartlets displayed exactly as they were in the book on a heart-shaped copper tray. 

Nathan's carrot loaf looks so appetizing!

Justin Giannunzio also made Martha's carrot loaf and displayed it in much the same way as Nathan! (Neither of them knew the other was making the loaf as their submission - a fun coincidence). Justin displayed his first-edition copy of the book in the background, signed by Martha.

Jack McKee made Martha's classic apple pie and her mulled apple cider. Look at that perfect pie crust!

Kevin Link made the applesauce spice cake, which looks perfect on a Martha by Mail cake stand.

Kristina Kloss made one of Martha's classics: croquembouche! It looks fabulous on another Martha cake stand.

Laura Guisbert-Clark made the mile-high lemon meringue pie. Looks divine!

Alison Geradot made the kiwi tartlets in the book. Yum!

It was the buttermilk biscuits for Annamarie Pearson. They look so fluffy and perfect!

Todd Hall made Alexis's brown-sugar chocolate chip cookies from the book.

Not everyone chose to bake. Brian Utz always uses Entertaining as an inspiration when preparing curdite platters, paying attention to how the vegetables are prepared and arranged. One of his go-to Martha tips is using a hollowed-out cabbage to serve the dip!

Brian's dining table all set up for guests!

Another one of Brian's beautiful tables, laden with fruits and vegetables, inspired by Martha's lessons in presentation.

During holiday time, Trellis Smith and his partner Lucas always serve vodka frozen in a block of ice, decorated with lemons and cranberries - an Entertaining original.

They also serve Martha's famous eggnog! 

William Silveira and his partner Robert Ahlers made Martha's stuffed chicken breasts from the book.

They look scrumptious!

Megan Dunton endeavored to make several savory recipes from the book, including Martha's chicken pojarski, which she says was a big hit with her family. (Notice the Martha by Mail Danish Fern dish).

Megan also made almond-stuffed dates with bacon, which she says are hearty enough to serve as a small accompaniment or side dish to a main course, such as roast chicken.

Roquefort grapes are an unusual but delicious choice as an appetizer. 

The easiest recipe in the book, according to Megan, is the cottage cheese and dill dip. She says she will never have cottage cheese any other way!

For Kemp Harper and Kevin Boling, it is the style of Entertaining that influences their aesthetic at home, although they always enjoy making Martha's pumpkin soup and cranberry-currant sauce from the book each Thanksgiving. (You can read more about Kemp and Kevin in an earlier post).

As for me, well I've only ever made one recipe from the pages of Entertaining, and that's coeur a la creme, a pillowy, creamy confection using a heart-shaped mold - one that was given to me by my friends Bernie and Dennis. It floats on a little pond of raspberry sauce. 

Thank you to everyone who participated in this fun little assignment. It's encouraged me to look a little closer at the recipes in the book and pull out my apron!

Guest Blog: Reflections on Entertaining

Kemp Harper and his partner Kevin Boling live in a beautiful Colonial Revival home in Indiana. It has been featured in magazines, on social media and YouTube decor and interior design channels. Much of the home's renovation and redecoration was inspired by Martha's design aesthetic and philosophy. Below, Kemp reflects on how one book, Martha's first book, "Entertaining", influenced many of their design choices and their style of entertaining.

In celebration of the reissue of Martha Stewart's Entertaining, I wanted to share just how much this book has meant to us over the years. When we moved into our Colonial Revival home in 2016, Entertaining became a cherished guide that shaped the way we host and create beautiful moments with guests in our home.

Many of Kemp's table settings are influenced by Martha's aesthetic. Here he is posing in homage to the cover of the book, Entertaining. Notice the chairs?

It's a well-loved, well-worn book in our household, especially the Thanksgiving section, which we revisit  year after year for the pumpkin soup and the cranberry currant sauce. But beyond just the recipes, Martha was truly the inspiration for how we like to entertain. Thanks to her, we learned to embrace the idea of guiding our guests through different spaces, making each room a part of the experience. We start with hors d'oeuvres in the breakfast room, move on to cocktails in the library, and then serve the main course in the dining room. It's Martha's influence that taught us to make each corner of our home part of the celebration.

Kemp with his partner, Kevin, in their vegetable garden.

What makes our copy even more special is that we had the incredible privilege of having it signed by Martha Stewart herself at her Turkey Hill home, where the book was written, photographed and produced. It felt like bringing everything full circle - having this treasured book signed in the very place that shaped Martha's own journey was truly special to us. It's more than just a book to us; it's a piece of our home's story now.

During the warmer months, Kemp and Kevin frequently entertain outdoors, finding new spaces on their property to set up tables and dining areas, just as Martha does.

Be sure to follow Kemp on Instagram @thecolonial_on_park

"Entertaining" Revisited

Martha's iconic first book, Entertaining, is being reissued this fall in its exact original format. Below are some thoughts on the book and its legacy. 

I was six years old when “Entertaining” was first published. It was not a book in my parents’ library, and I didn’t get my first copy until I was in my early 20s – a first edition that was badly dogeared that had very clearly been enjoyed by someone else for years. I got a more pristine copy a few years later at a bookstore in Toronto. The woman who sold it to me smiled broadly when I paid for it, saying she too had the book at home and looked at it every year during the holidays. I still have both of my copies and I treasure them.

The book will be re-published on November 4th, 2025, in its exact original format. Order here.

Full disclosure: I have only made one recipe from this book (a pillowy, heart-shaped confection for Valentine’s Day called Coeur a la Crème) and yet it is very much a special part of my book collection. Entertaining is special because of its significance in the arc of Martha's career - her first book, the first time she put pen to paper to document a style of entertaining that was beloved by everyone she had worked with as a caterer but that had not yet reached the American reader. It is also special because of its uniqueness in the world of publishing. It was the first cookbook to use full-page colour photography and the first book that blended cookery with elements of lifestyle: inspiration for table settings, flower arrangements, gardening advice, and guidance for hosting a party at home, whether it was an intimate gathering for four to six or a special occasion for dozens of guests. 

What the book really represents to me, at its core, is imagination. Each page is filled with an inspiring display of Martha’s sense of wonder for the world around her; her curiosity about unusual ingredients, her ability to source inspiration for a dinner party from the pages of classic novels, her use of found objects and meaningful collectibles on her tables and place settings. To me, that’s what this book is about: wonderment, enthusiasm, curiosity and potential.

Martha’s critics always jibe that entertaining at home using Martha’s edicts is unattainable, unaffordable, impractical and not especially enjoyable. But they’re missing the point. I can’t count how many times Martha has said in her television specials or written in her books that her content is merely a guide, a presentation of ideas and possibilities meant to inspire the reader. In the introduction to the second edition of the book, printed in paperback in 1998 with an updated cover, she writes, “This book was planned as a guide – a reference, an inspiration, and a compilation of usable, delicious recipes for any size gathering.”

She has never assumed or expected that a reader will mimic every detail on every page, right down to the damask napkins and the pumpkin tureens - (but if they wanted to, they could!) She is presenting a concept of entertaining that requires effort and organization, yes, but also the specialness of individual expression and a certain level of thoughtfulness that any guest would appreciate.

The world presented in the pages of Entertaining is entirely Martha’s, and that is very much the point. If harnessing one’s individuality and personal expression in the art of entertaining is the lesson she wants to impart to the reader then, of course, Martha must demonstrate it herself. This is her way of entertaining.

In Martha’s case, the eggs used in the oeuffs-en-gelee were laid by her own hens. The apples in her homemade pies were grown in her orchard – an orchard she had planted herself years prior, after careful research about orchard plantation. The dishes on her tables are mismatched but perfectly curated – some expensive and rare, some more common, some inherited, some found at tag sales and flea markets. Martha took every lesson she had learned about the art of making a gathering of friends and family feel special (lessons she learned mostly through osmosis during her years as a caterer) and then documented them in this book so that others could take part in this dream.

In Entertaining, she made real the imagery she saw in her mind of crowded dessert buffets set upon layers of antique quilts draped over long oak tables. She executed the French-influenced menus she had developed as a caterer, narrowing and expanding them to include a few guests, a dozen - or several dozen. She found new spaces in her gardens and the rooms of her home to set up small dining tables, inspired by what was blooming that season, or how the view from a window in a particular room at a particular time of year seemed to be a little extra special. 

The grandeur and scale of the parties presented in the book is not meant to seem daunting, nor is it meant to be perfectly replicated by the host or hostess; the book is spectacle for the sake of inspiration, a warming fire to ignite one’s own spark to imagine beyond the ordinary – whatever that may look like to you.

The book will no doubt continue to inspire countless readers as they embark upon hosting their first gathering at home. Remember that the main lesson here is not about doing everything on a grand scale, it is about expressing yourself with imagination, thoughtfulness and individuality.

Martha's Special "Fall Recipes" Magazine

Fall is here - at least unofficially - and what better way to welcome the season than with some of Martha Stewart Living's best fall recipes, all collected into one special issue magazine. This special issue is called, quite simply, "Fall Recipes" and is on newsstands now. It is also available to order on Amazon while quantities last. 

This is the third special issue that has been published so far this year by People Inc.: Martha Stewart Fresh came out in the spring, and a reprint of last year's Halloween magazine is currently on stands with an updated cover. There will also be a reprint of last year's Holidays issue with a new cover. 

The magazine includes everything from a grilled cheese and tomato soup pairing, easy one-pan dinners, vegetable roasts, potpies, baked breakfast treats, fruit-laden desserts, cookies, cakes and more! I'll be adding it to my collection of Martha's special issue magazines!

Martha Launches Elm Biosciences

The day after Martha's 84th birthday this year, she announced the launch of her new skincare line called Elm Biosciences, co-founded with her dermatologist, Dr. Dhaval Bhanusali. (The name of the brand was inspired by the name of the street, Elm Place, where Martha's childhood home was located in Nutley, New Jersey).

Preordering for the new skincare line is now live; shoppers can preorder two new products that will ship out on September 17th - the A30 Elemental Serum ($135), an antioxidant serum with the A30 complex at its base, which targets visible signs of aging such as dehydration, irritation and UV damage, and the Inner Dose Daily Skin Supplement ($50), a capsule that addresses hormonal imbalance, inflammation and oxidative stress. All items preordered will be shipped on September 17th.

According to a press release, the new skincare brand consists of "a dual-pathway system designed to treat the internal and external drivers of aging, simplifying daily beauty routines while delivering powerful, clinically-tested results." 

Martha says: "This brand is targeted to a very broad audience. Cells die. Skin ages. We're aging the minute we're born. So we have opportunities here to halt that, or at least prolong the health of our skin. And that's what we're trying to do here."

These clinical tests have been ongoing since 2020 when Martha began developing the line with Dr. Bhanusali. The line has the backing of 350 dermatologist advisors who worked on testing the products. 

Click here to order and explore the brand!