Is Chris Madden the next Martha? The design diva carves out a role by stressing the art of making life easier

Chief Executive, The, Oct, 2005 by Sheridan Prasso

It is a sunny afternoon, and Chris Madden is receiving guests at her 1910-built stone carriage home in Purchase, N.Y. Impeccably turned out in a sunset vermilion silk pant suit, the CEO of her own home design company introduces her husband Kevin, who quit as publisher of House & Garden several years ago to devote his career to Chris' business. Well-wishers step through Madden's front door, pausing first to admire the walls of her foyer done in a sepia-toned decoupage of old photos, then the Madden-designed Romantic-line furniture of her receiving room, and then out the back stone steps into the tented yard. Among the guests is Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, regal with her white braided hair gathered under a blue bandana. The two greet with the hugs, kisses and fond exclamations of old friends. Chris has designed home interiors for this eminent author, as she has for Katie Couric, Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities.

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Now, after 16 books on cooking and home design, eight years as host of her own show on Home & Garden Television (HGTV), and the launch of her successful Chris Madden furniture, bath and bedding collection for JCPenney last year, Madden is celebrating again, this time the startup of her first magazine, At Home with Chris Madden, which debuted in May of this year. The publication, a one-time title that may launch quarterly or monthly if it does well, features Madden's decorating ideas demonstrated not only in her own house, including this foyer, living room and backyard cabana, but in vacation homes, small city apartments, remodeled kitchens and other living spaces.

The comparisons with Martha Stewart are so clear that Madden's name is hardly spoken without them: both poised, coiffed blondes; both products of Roman Catholic upbringings in the Northeast; both competing to be divas of domesticity in the $195 million-a-year home furnishings industry, designing lines for competing stores (Madden at JCPenney, Stewart at Kmart). And now, of course, publishing competing magazines. "There are a lot of similarities, that is clear," says Madden.

But it is the differences that are perhaps most interesting. Yes, Madden may be Stewart's competition, but she comes sans guilt and high-nosed snobbery. Chris Madden is everywoman, the heroine of the all-American housewife who is juggling three kids, soccer practice and an unrelenting schedule. Women can't do it all, Madden says. Forget making your own Christmas wreaths and hand-embroidered tea towels. Quit trying to be the perfect hostess who has to impress. Instead, decompress. Make your home into a haven, turn it into a place of refuge, and go easy on yourself within it.

"I really am not about telling women what they have to do," Madden says, citing the philosophy that has turned her "Home as Haven" mantra into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. "I'm really about telling women, 'How can we make this easier?' If you're tearing your hair out trying to do it all, this is an easier way."

In other words, you can follow Martha Stewart's many steps-by-step guide for making your own fresh beeswax candles to centerpieces for your autumnal table using as molds the scooped-out insides of acorn squashes (minimum time commitment, six hours). Or you can buy a Chris Madden 60-hour Signature Scented Candle (in "Mandarin Honeysuckle" or "Fresh Cotton") at JCPenney for $22. "How easy was that?" is the tagline Madden sometimes uses to punctuate not only her sentences but her magazine articles as well.

Madden grew up the eldest of nine children sewing her own clothes, and later earned a scholarship to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She left three credits short in 1968, but went on to a career in publishing, including a stint at Random House, before launching her own company in 1977. Now, after nearly three decades in design, Madden feels she has earned the bona fides to be recognized as a home-decorating maven without, quite bluntly, the mention of Martha, Martha, Martha, over and over again. "I was one of the first four hosts on HGTV [of her own design show that ran from 1995 to 2003]," says Madden. "I've got the credentials. I've always been down and dirty in the trenches."

Still, she says, women like herself owe Martha the place of honor as pioneer, no matter who may be scraping at her heels now, or who was at it first. "I think what Martha did for us, and I mean that, was incredible. She really paved the way, because, yes, I was doing all this stuff before; I was decorating my girlfriends' homes. I had grown up cutting my own clothes. I got a scholarship to FIT based on my expertise with the needle. But she was there at a certain time and opened it up for us," Madden says. "But I also feel that I really have always pursued it my way." (A spokeswoman for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia declined to comment.)

Yet, it is clear that the competition between the two is growing. The privately held Chris Madden Inc. may be puny in comparison to Martha Stewart Living's $187 million in annual sales. But from just over $2 million in revenue in 2002, Chris Madden Inc. logged sales of close to $3.5 million last year. And now, with the magazine launch, a deal to write a 17th book, and an expansion of Madden's line at JCPenney earlier this year, sales for 2005 appear headed for $8 million. Things are clocking along so quickly that Chris Madden Inc. recently added a chief financial officer to its employee roster, which has tripled from four people in 2002 to 12 today. (Martha Stewart has more than 300 employees.)