Peek into Martha Stewart's Prop Room

We love Martha Stewart, but sometimes all the perfection makes us feel a little lacking. If you've ever felt pressure to turn your home into a Martha Stewart showpiece, just check out the Martha Stewart prop room. Somehow being able to see behind the curtain makes us feel a little more relaxed about measuring our home against any of the ones in Martha Stewart Living. We knew she had a huge advantage on us, but seeing it, is certainly something else...

Wouldn't you love to be let loose in here? And should you fantasize about ransacking the place, Martha explains the system:
The people who work in this department are called prop librarians and they know exactly where everything is located. And just like a good library, every single object in this room is labeled with a description, the size, the quantity, and a bar code. Each piece has been logged into a computer and must be checked out when it is borrowed.

More photos on The Martha Blog

Comments (20)

Daddy, I want a prop room! (said using a "Veruca Salt" voice)

I can only imagine how fun it would be to have the prop librarian job.

Thanks for the peek.

Only Martha Stewart would have a prop room as compulsively catalogued as a library. Can't you just imagine the article she would write about maintaining your own prop room?

Awwwesome. I love that she has barcodes on everything. but why would I expect any less?

Um - This was posted here a few months ago...

Wow, that place is amazing! I have a little closet in the garage with trivets, vases, cocktail napkins, etc. I will now call it my "prop closet". I am sure my husband hopes it never gets so big I need barcodes to keep it organized.

Wow, I"d love to just peruse that prop room all day! I had not seen this post so I'm glad it's been 're posted'.

I did see this before but I am glad to revisit the photos!

I missed this last time around, so thanks for the repost! I do feel better...

Quit complaining about repeats. I never saw it.

I wonder if when times get tough enough they would rent out to films like a real prop house.

Oh boy this is just what's wrong with this country. EXCESS EXCESS excess excess excess excess!

I've seen photos is an old MS mag before. It astounds me how much stuff they harbour!! Bastards, we could all use some bakelite now and then, no?

racheloncegentry - i wonder if it is the prop librarian's job to polish all the silver!

I'm a retired prop master and set decorator.
It is a fantastic job.
However, working as "prop librarian" in her prop house or any prop house is a truly shitty job, and not interesting! I have created prop rooms at photo studios, and large TV production companies and it is not a fun undertaking to keep everything organized and cataloged. It is hard dirty grunt work for the assistant's.

I always preferred the sourcing and buying part.
One does not aspire to wrap up props, and polish silver for a living, for only crazy prop people always on a time crunch.

Being the prop person or stylist who gets to shop and choose, and fill all those shelves is the fun work.
That is the job of the prop master !

Yeah, it does seem a bit wasteful. I mean, someone, somewhere in the world is going without a cake stand when here several dozen languish on a shelf. My heart breaks. Truly.

I'm with Accessoryshy - TOO MUCH! A really perfect portrait of how we got… where we are.

It makes me LOVE, even more, my own humble-but-loved-and-used stuff. Not too much left to languor on a shelf…

I would LOVe to be let loose in here - but I think I would be one of those bad library patrons who wouldn't bring things back! On the other hand, even though I'm sure she has some gems I'd love to own, part of what I love about the things in my home - a BIG part - is that all of them have stories or at least some memory of the joy of the search. Suddenly getting someone else's stuff wouldn't be the same.

As much as I absolutely love these pictures and seeing everything, everything looks so much less glamorous.

Although I want all of those cakestands.