It was reported recently that Martha has sold her iconic home on Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton, New York. I know that many of Martha's readers and viewers consider that home to be a beautiful reflection of her design aesthetic. Second only to Turkey Hill, perhaps, it is the home Martha's fans considered to be most familiar in terms of its style vernacular - particularly throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. It goes without saying, then, that we will miss seeing it in the pages of Martha's books and magazines going forward. The home was reportedly sold to former Huffington Post publisher Kenneth Lerer.
I thought it would be fun to do a post about the house and the role it played in Martha's work. From a line of paints to a complete furniture collection based on the home's atmosphere and aesthetic, Lily Pond was enormously influential in the creation of many of Martha's products. It was an oft-used site for her magazine photoshoots, both indoors and outdoors, and was also frequently used as a set for her television show: season five of Martha Stewart Living features an extensive number of episodes filmed at this address, particularly cooking and gardening segments. Below is a brief history of the house, how it came into Martha's possession, how it influenced her business and a brief synopsis of some of its iconic style signatures. I hope you enjoy it!
Martha first fell in love with the Hamptons in the early '60s when she would vacation there with her husband. One of her favourite streets in the area, even then, was Lily Pond Lane, known for its stately width and the rows of majestic beech trees that line the street, as well as towering London plane trees and elms. In one of her "Remembering" columns, Martha describes her initial attraction to the street she would one day call home:
"I was attracted to its quiet, serene appearance, and though most of the houses were tucked behind privet barriers, some of the gardens were fully exposed. The most wonderful one was on the pond itself. It was breathtaking. I stood and gazed at the profuse and colourful flowers, making mental notes of the types that were blooming so perfectly - dahlias, salvias, asters, daisies and roses."
Thirty years later, Martha would have her own home on this lovely street. It was apparently Martha's daughter, Alexis, who encouraged Martha to purchase the old house in 1990, shortly after her divorce from Andy Stewart. It was a place to start a new garden, make new friends and create something that was entirely hers.
Martha completed an extensive renovation of the shingle-style summer home, which had been badly neglected. Replacing the cracking plaster ceilings with beadboard and removing the outdated heating system in favour of a more eco-friendly modulating gas boiler were among the necessary changes. Martha also completely renovated the kitchen, installing new marble counters, mahogany cabinetry and a beautiful floor of handmade cement tiles from Mexico that had been dyed a deep teal. She enclosed a screened-in porch to create an expansive breakfast area with wall-to-wall windows. Outdoors, Martha planted sumptuous gardens of climbing roses around her front porch and big patches of purple hydrangeas. There are over 1,800 tulip bulbs planted on this relatively small lot (just one acre) as well as hostas, Japanese maples and other shade-loving plants. The interior features large, open rooms with hardwood floors and big, bright windows. The six bedrooms played host to numerous guests during the summer months, when Martha entertained there frequently.
"I was attracted to its quiet, serene appearance, and though most of the houses were tucked behind privet barriers, some of the gardens were fully exposed. The most wonderful one was on the pond itself. It was breathtaking. I stood and gazed at the profuse and colourful flowers, making mental notes of the types that were blooming so perfectly - dahlias, salvias, asters, daisies and roses."
Thirty years later, Martha would have her own home on this lovely street. It was apparently Martha's daughter, Alexis, who encouraged Martha to purchase the old house in 1990, shortly after her divorce from Andy Stewart. It was a place to start a new garden, make new friends and create something that was entirely hers.
Martha completed an extensive renovation of the shingle-style summer home, which had been badly neglected. Replacing the cracking plaster ceilings with beadboard and removing the outdated heating system in favour of a more eco-friendly modulating gas boiler were among the necessary changes. Martha also completely renovated the kitchen, installing new marble counters, mahogany cabinetry and a beautiful floor of handmade cement tiles from Mexico that had been dyed a deep teal. She enclosed a screened-in porch to create an expansive breakfast area with wall-to-wall windows. Outdoors, Martha planted sumptuous gardens of climbing roses around her front porch and big patches of purple hydrangeas. There are over 1,800 tulip bulbs planted on this relatively small lot (just one acre) as well as hostas, Japanese maples and other shade-loving plants. The interior features large, open rooms with hardwood floors and big, bright windows. The six bedrooms played host to numerous guests during the summer months, when Martha entertained there frequently.
When Martha leased Westport Digital Studios in the mid-1990s, Studio A was modelled after her East Hampton Kitchen.
In the summer of 2001, Martha partnered with Bernhardt Furniture to create two lines of furniture, both based on two of her homes: Skylands and Lily Pond Lane. The Lily Pond Lane collection borrowed heavily from the design aesthetic of the furniture Martha used to decorate the home. In the opening of the Lily Pond furniture catalog, the collection is described this way: "The Lily Pond Collection embodies the beauty of a sun-filled cottage by the beach with airy interiors and a cool, seaside palette that welcome casual, carefree living."
STYLE SIGNATURES
Each one of Martha's homes has a distinct and distinguished personality, usually composed of elements drawn from the area where the home is situated but sometimes inspired by a certain way of life. (At Bedford, for instance, Martha employs visual cues reminiscent of Shaker villages). At Lily Pond the decoration scheme was very much about the garden, about the sea and about summer.
As years passed and Martha's lifestyle changed, she found herself spending less and less time at Lily Pond Lane - only a weekend or two each year. As she herself would say, "When you're through changing, you're through." I'm sure Martha is extremely grateful for the 30 years she played caretaker to this beautiful, historic home.
If you're interested in reading more about Lily Pond Lane, click here. I also suggest buying the book "How to Decorate" by Martha Stewart Living, which was published in 1996. There are numerous photographs of Lily Pond Lane in its pages with very specific details about its decoration.
Warm, southern light floods the front hallway of Lily Pond Lane, where two tempered beiges – Liatris White on the walls and Lunaria White on the ceiling – emphasize the room’s formal style. The softly-coloured walls seem to recede, accentuating the woodwork and drawing attention to the furnishings, such as the Victorian Eastlake-style chair with needlepoint cushions. Contrasting various shades of white will keep an all-white room from looking sterile or monotonous. 
Martha took an inside-out approach to decorating for company, using garden furniture indoors during the off season, and bringing traditional pieces outside in the summer. A wicker chair, above, mingles comfortably with more formal furnishings; rattan garden chairs surround a marble-topped mahogany table. The look is eclectic, comfortable and inviting. 
Three different light sources give texture and depth to this corner of the living room. Glass and polished mahogany surfaces multiply the effects. A standing lamp illuminates an American Empire card table. An alabaster lamp glows on a Greek Revival display cabinet; strip lighting behind the pediment lights a collection of neoclassical metal urns.
“It’s very ultra, ultra,” says Martha about the 1920’s Venetian-glass chandelier in the dining room, which was found at a consignment shop. 
The teal in this 1920’s Venetian-glass chandelier led Martha to paint the entire ceiling of the library in a similar hue, creating a monochromatic effect. The recessed panels are painted Eucalyptus Green and the beams in high-gloss Hosta Green. 
The teal beadboard continues on the ceiling of the eating area off the kitchen.
Mahogany cabinets in the kitchen are stocked with collections of Jadeite and ironstone. Sturdy marble countertops house wide, functional sinks. The ceiling is painted to echo the teal floor tiles.
The paint colours in the butler’s pantry – Thyme Flower Mauve on the ceiling and Pansy Brown on the walls – were chosen to complement the pantry’s handcrafted mahogany woodwork. The nineteenth-century pendant lamp from Ceylon and cool white marble countertops continue the British colonial feeling of the house.
Handmade Mexican floor tiles in bright teal give depth and vitality to the kitchen. The green pigment was pressed into the wet cement as the tiles were being made. They were then air-dried and polished by hand.
The top of the customized table is composed of two pieces of marble; its sturdy wooden legs are reminiscent of Mission style furniture. Martha found the 14 matching grange chairs in Maine; they are stained rather than painted so the grain shows through.
Martha uses an old armoire in the kitchen as a small pantry to house some cooking essentials.
A small mud room off the kitchen doubles as a country-home office. A farm table with a durable galvanized aluminum top proves a stury and visually pleasing work surface. A wall-hung antique pantry cabinet provides storage for books and supplies. A 1950’s office chair and a vintage ceramic lamp complete the interesting work station. (I’m sure the technology has been replaced since this photo was taken in 1994!) 
Beadboard work lends a quiet pattern to the ceiling and walls of an upstairs hallway and bathroom at Lily Pond.
A Gothic style iron mirror sits on a Victorian wooden plant stand in one of the guest bedrooms. A hooked rug from Nova Scotia is overlaid with a bath mat. 
In the same bathroom, wood-scented soaps and a toothbrush are placed in nineteenth-century horn dishes. The ebonized mirror over the sink was originally designed to hold hats in a foyer; the pegs now proffer linen hand towels. 
When Martha first designed her ensuite bathroom, she considered exactly how it would be used. Fixtures and accessories were then acquired to make it all work. She had a stand-up shower stall installed and an antique claw-footed porcelain tub (not shown) was kept separate for long soaks. The zinc-topped vanity was once a pastry table. 
On a sleek celadon porcelain bathroom table from the 1880’s, Martha has arranged a collection of ironstone soap dishes and an antique shaving mirror she found in Portland, Oregon. 
Three pristine beds are lined up in an attic room, awaiting visits from Martha’s nieces. The summer-weight cotton chenille coverlets are from the 1950’s and recall the innocent pleasure of nodding off in a bedroom devoted to nothing but sleep. 
Using vibrant colours is a risk worth taking in small spaces, such as this small guest room on the third floor of the house, painted Lackspur Pink. The strong vertical lines of a French wrought-iron bed are repeated in the rhythm of the beadboard and add graphic contrast to the sweetness of the floral hue. 
Coats of glossy white paint once unified the furniture in Martha’s bedroom. The Victorian oak bed was lengthened by three inches to accommodate her height and the mattress is horsehair, covered in silk batting, between vintage linen sheets embroidered with her initials. Two large bedside tables were once café tables with cast-iron bases that Martha had topped in galvanized steel; they hold piles of books and writing material in case she is seized by inspiration in the middle of the night. The windows, below, were left curtainless since Martha is always up before dawn. A pair of McCoy vases contain wintry arrangements of white roses, pussy willows, privet berries, acacia foliage and sea holly.
The library now houses a collection of books that is almost exclusively devoted to the subjects of gardening and horticulture. One of two large Art Deco mirrors hangs above the bookcase, visually extending the space. 
Martha found a pair of ebonized wood chairs at an antique auction and had them covered in leather in the same buttery tone as the ceiling in the library. A collection of neoclassical urns is silhouetted in the window.
The bed, now on the opposite wall, was slip-covered to suit the new colour scheme. The bed was first encased in fine bump padding then fabric was stitched together in a simple dressmaker shape. Pink linens echo the pink tones throughout the room.
