How to Move Like Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart, the most celebrated homemaker in the country, recently moved from her Turkey Hill home in Connecticut where she began her career. The home was originally a rental house, but Martha purchased an adjacent two acres of land and added a barn, chicken coop, shed for gardening tools and a garage. A property fit for the queen of homemaking was beginning to take shape. As work on the home progressed, trellises, gardens for every season, and gorgeous wall to surround it all completed the transformation. It was an immaculate piece of property.
When she first moved to the farmstead on Turkey Hill, Martha started a catering business with a friend and later opened her own gourmet food store. After catering a book release party for a New York publisher, she was encouraged to write a cookbook featuring recipes and photographs of dishes she had prepared for parties. Her career as one of America’s best-selling cookbook authors had begun.
As owner of the farmstead at Turkey Hill, she collected a large assortment of antique china, dishes, glassware, crystal glasses and bowls, and American hand blown glass. She also collected numerous pieces of furniture, mirrors, and decorative items. When the time came to leave the property, Martha wanted to ensure that all the delicate items she had collected over the years made the move without damage.
Martha’s dining room featured Irish Hepplewhite chairs and an elegant French chandelier which now hangs in her new home. There was also the silverware that belonged to her mother-in-law, china which was her grandmother's, and rare, Depression-era glass goblets, all of which had to be carefully packed. Many of these are featured on the cover of Martha's book Entertaining.
Martha came up with a plan for moving her antique furniture and other valuable items. Required were numerous plastic bins, rolls of bubble wrap, tissue paper, and lots of sticky notes. She made sure that all the cupboards in the new home were clean and ready for her possessions as they arrived. Several trucks were put into service to transport everything.
All of the china, glassware, and small, delicate items were moved to the new home first. The possessions were wrapped and placed in plastic tubs, in one layer in a vehicle. Her attention to detail paid off, as all of Martha's fine possessions arrived at the new location undamaged. They were the first to be unpacked.
When it came time to move the antique furniture, furniture bags were placed over each piece with a note so the movers would know which room to place them in. The greatest challenge of the move was safely transporting her glistening crystal chandeliers and antique mirrors. The chandeliers were hung in garment boxes with wood dowels. The mirrors were covered with a sheet of plywood and wrapped in bubble plastic. They all arrived safely at Martha’s new home in Katonah, a hamlet near New York’s Atlantic coast.
Alas, we were not all blessed with Martha’s fine attention to detail and domestic ingenuity. If you are having trouble packing your fine items, we are more than ready to help. Call us today for packing advice, or simply let us do it for you.