I love Martha Stewart these days. And when I say “love,” I mean I enjoy watching her do questionable things and simply not care about how it comes across. It’s entertaining. Recently she’s been telling Thanksgiving to f–k off and hacking away at icebergs to top off her cocktails. Now Martha is imparting her best billionaire-empire genius to MasterClass: don’t hang window curtains so you can wake up early. That’s what she had to say to MasterClass CEO David Rogier at an event last week (Martha also has a new class with the series available now). Another reason she doesn’t hang curtains? Because she likes “to look outdoors.” She does know that curtains can be drawn, right? People Mag wrote up more of Martha’s gems for us:
Martha Stewart has a trick to waking up early — letting the sunlight in.
The lifestyle guru and first, self-made American female billionaire doesn’t have curtains on any of the windows of her home in Bedford, New York.
“I wake up really, really early,” the 82-year-old explained during a Q&A with MasterClass CEO David Rogier at New York City’s Whitby Hotel on Thursday. “There are no curtains… so I let the sun come in as I start having workers come to my farm. I live on a farm and they come… at 7 a.m. so I have to be up.”
There’s a multitude of reasons Stewart is an early riser, but one is “I don’t sleep past that time ever because it would be embarrassing to be lounging around while my housekeepers were cleaning and how horrible.”
She also tends to her many animals — “hundreds,” Steward said — on the farm. “There’s lots and lots of animals, hundreds of animals and lots of gardens to take care of,” she explained.
Stewart has a new MasterClass offering that explores a day-in-the-life of the businesswoman, including her 5 a.m. wake-up calls. In the class, which launched Friday, she elaborates, “I’ve always gotten up with daybreak. I get dressed and I go to my Pilates instructor… It helps tremendously. Your state of mind.”
In a Zoom interview earlier this year with Apartment Therapy, Stewart also divulged her distaste for curtains, stating, “I like to look outdoors.”
Guys, now I know it’s Hanukkah, and this story is all the gift I need. She’s asked to share nuggets of wisdom with the peasants public. Not only is Martha’s nugget simply “let the sun wake you up,” but it’s not even for her workday. It’s just so she’s up to supervise the workers on her property! Or so she isn’t lazing around when the housekeepers are there. How gauche would that be! And take note aspiring entrepreneurs: you really should be rising early to meet with your personal Pilates instructor! Somewhere in the Hamptons Gwyneth Paltrow is taking notes, breathlessly, on how to sound more tone deaf and rich.
Speaking as someone who doesn’t have a property but a one-bedroom first-floor apartment, curtains are a must. My bedroom windows open up to an inner courtyard. No one out there should be subjected to the sight of me disrobing. And as for waking up at daybreak a la Martha, well, I sleep hot. Which means I could be in varying stages of undress by the time I’m getting up. Again, my neighbors don’t need to see that. Unless later in that MasterClass series Martha has a lesson on going from unconscious to startled awake, but elegantly. And all while in the nude. That’s what I need a master class in.
photos credit: Backgrid, Getty, IMAGO/mpi099/MediaPunch/Avalon
I have a double set of blackout curtains on my bedroom window.
I would pay cold, hard, US cash money for a decent nights sleep!
Martha is some kind of machine, she never stops, and she has 20 years on me.
Martha looks terrific in these photos, smiling, cheerful, cute holiday outfits = Big win as usual for MS.
Love her or hate her, MS built herself one hell of a successful biz. Owns multiple houses, including Turkey Hill, which to me is middle aged white chick house porn of the highest order.
If I won the lottery, places I’d live ASAP…
#1. The Dakota in NY.
#2. Next door to MS or Billy Joel.
I actually know someone who lives in the Dakota! Actually, I know one of her sisters. Never actually been there, but still. The sister (the one I know) told me they have regular potlucks & the Yoko Ono brings sushi.
Like you, I need lots of dark; I’m very princess & the pea when it comes to sleep, especially regarding light. When traveling, I used to bring pins to keep the curtains closed, place a pillow or towel on the floor next to the door to prevent that hallway light from coming in, place a washcloth over the microwave lights, a book in front of the TV’s little red light, close the bathroom door so the night light isn’t visible. If there’s a little pinprick of light, my eyeballs fly right open to see it.
Nowadays I wear a sleep mask. Way better!
I have blackout curtains on my windows as well. I live in the middle of LA, if I didn’t, it would still be quite light in the middle of the night, and I like to feel like I’m hibernating!
Kismet:
“Unless later in that MasterClass series Martha has a lesson on going from unconscious to startled awake, but elegantly. And all while in the nude. That’s what I need a master class in.”
I can’t stop laughing! I need this masterclass, STAT.
I don’t know. Would it look better if she just lounged in bed all morning while her staff is taking care of house/farm/gardens/hundreds of animals?
As for curtains, it all depends. I don’t have curtains, just shades which I can pull down for privacy – but if I kept them down my apartment would be dark like an undiscovered tomb.
Yah honestly as someone who has been staff (never full time staff), it’s a lot less stressful when your boss isn’t there.
Lol, I don’t think Martha has ever wanted to make things less stressful. I have a friend who once worked for the magazine and when Martha would arrive, the messages would fly, “Satan’s in the building.”
I don’t have curtains either so I can wake up (on the weekends) with the sun. I also don’t have any neighbors, so the only thing that is gonna see me in my jammies is a chicken (or 40) in the yard. I’m just like Martha, except poor!
That’s the thing, where you live is so important. I’ve always lived in town–small town, big city–either way, you’ve got to have some window covering for all areas of your home. And I remember in high school visiting a friend who lived out in the country–way out in the country–and there were no curtains on their windows! I thought that was so strange! I asked & my friend said, well, we don’t need them. I wouldn’t even want a deer looking in at me while I sleep!
I recently bought a house that had no curtains installed. It was a terrible time trying to get my toddler to sleep during the summer when it was light until 9pm, but at the same time, I’ve been too lazy to fix the problem.
Oo I can relate. I put curtains and blinds in my daughter’s room when she was little. But she’d see a little speck of sunlight and would refuse to sleep.
Anyway the no curtains thing only work if you live in the country. I have a very bright street light outside my bedroom and I really need to block it out.
When we first moved into our house, my son was 2ish, and there were no curtain rods or blinds to be seen. I fully embraced my Oklahoma roots and put heavy duty aluminum foil on the windows in his room. I promised my neighbors on that side of the house that it was temporary, but they looked highly dubious.
We are good friends now, and we laugh about it, frequently.
Is this really her being tone deaf, though? Rich, yes, but not really tone deaf. Tone deaf is when Oprah called a $100 gift the “cheap option” like everyone of course has extra hundreds lying around. But Martha, for all her posh, extra, OTT ways, isn’t acting like this is normal life, just that it’s HER normal life.
I mean, everyone would roll their eyes and criticize her if she tried to act like she was the one cleaning her house or doing farm-repair on fences, or scrubbing her own toilets.
I’m with you. She’s not like Goop, pretending she does a whole lot of this shit herself. She’s definitely at an age to give zero fucks, and love every minute of it.
I met her once at a charity event where she was the speaker. It was just before she went to prison. She was rude, arrogant and condescending. Prior to that, I had admired her tremendously. Not anymore.
I give Martha no guff for having staff.
Most wealthy do.
Big places, multiple property, etc.
Does anyone think Kevin Costner or Leo do not have staff?
Midwest here, and I have been thinking and looking for a house cleaning person, just to give it a good once over. I have been putting $$ in an envelope weekly, to pay for it.
Just 1 time before I die, I’d like the house clean, windows and all, at the same time.
Btw, I had no idea some house cleaning companies will do laundry.
At 62, I cc a snow plowing company. Worth it!
That’s a goal of mine, to eventually have an income where I can pay someone to do the housecleaning. I’m tidy & stay up on things, and live in small spaces, but I know corners & windows & etc. could use a really good cleaning. Sometimes I’m sitting on my couch & spot a cobweb up in the corner & I think, how did I miss that? And cleaning just gets harder as I age.
Where I’m living now, the primary bedroom (bigger closet with ensuite bath) is downstairs where the backyard neighbors can look right in. It’s also very dark because of the roof overhang. I feel like I’m sleeping in a cave. I sleep much better in the smaller upstairs bedroom where I can leave the blinds (and in summer the windows) open so I wake up naturally with the sunrise.
Your cave sounds like my cup of tea!
Love that festive stripe top she’s donning! The dogs seem annoyed.
I was up with the sun this morning at 5.30. And here I am two hours later still browsing Celebitchy and Reddit.
My husband is always joking about the big fancy houses in our city that don’t have curtains on the windows — he’s like, “aww, poor them, they can’t afford to cover their windows!”
But he’s British and he’d drape our windows with double layers of net curtains if he had his way. I prefer clean lines and blinds.
I’m a vampire…. Must. Have. Curtains. Blackout curtains lol.
This reminds me of a “shower thoughts” post: why do we consider sleeping late to be lazy, but not going to bed early? I wish I could sleep later. I rarely sleep past 5am, and if I’m ever still asleep at 7am, call the coroner because I died. On the one hand it’s nice not to fight a later circadian rhythm because I usually have to be at work very early, but on other days it can be downright boring to be up that early, mostly because nobody else is.
I am the polar opposite. There are few things that start my day off worse than being woken up early by sun streaming in. Therefore, I purposely chose an apartment that faces north, AND is in the middle of a hill (my apt facing the actual hill) AND in between two equally tall apt buildings, further reducing any nasty sunlight waking me up in the AM….
She is me.
I’ve never been into curtains- even if I go to bed at 3am I want to wake with the sun. I have the thinnest sheers just on my living room windows so I can make coffee naked in peace. I can’t imagine closing myself off from the sun
I have windows open year round as well. Sun + wind.