Will Home Depot whip Martha Stewart into shape?

Martha Stewart hasn't actually wowed us with her line of home products. The Martha Stewart Living Collection Triple Riveted knives ranked last in Consumer Reports' Rating of nearly fifty knife sets, while the Martha Stewart Living Clean Laundry Detergent proved only slightly better than plain water at removing stains. Home Depot, on the other hand, has maintained a high bar for its paint products. In particular, the Home Depot exclusive Behr Premium Plus Ultra has been a perennial leader in our review of satin, flat, and semigloss paints. So we were intrigued by Home Depot's decision to include paint in its launch of Martha Stewart Living products, part of the big-box retailer's strategy to woo more women. The product line already includes cabinets, draperies, and carpets, and will soon expand into lighting and bathroom decor. Martha Stewart's paint ($24 to $27 per gallon) is the first of her Home Depot products that we've had a chance to test. While the final Ratings won't be released until next week, the early results indicate that Martha has indeed raised her game for Home Depot. Her semigloss formula (best for trim, doors, and shelves) is performing especially well, with very good coverage and smoothness and excellent resistance to staining and scrubbing. The satin finish, meanwhile, looks like it will end up with a very good overall score. That's the good news for Martha Stewart. The bad news is that she's still being outperformed by several competitors, including brands sold at Home Depot. Behr's Premium Plus Ultra ($31 to $34 per gallon) will likely top our Ratings again in 2011, and the less expensive Behr Premium Plus ($18 to $25 per gallon) and Glidden Premium ($17 to $22 per gallon) both have Martha beat in most finishes. Martha Stewart Living is as much about aesthetics as performance. Hence, the paint line's promotional material plays up its palette of ?280 handpicked colors created by Martha Stewart.? As part of our latest report, Consumer Reports studied it and other palettes, and we did spot some alluring Martha hues, including Ballet Slipper Pink (a clean, refreshing choice for bathrooms), Francesca (a rich, luxurious tone suited to the dining room), and Darkening Sky (for a comfortable, casual living area). But our testers also found that you can get almost any color in the brand of your choice. And so, while Martha's new paint is a step in the right direction, she'll have to improve its performance if she some day plans to rule the paint aisle. -?Daniel DiClerico

Source: http://blogs.consumerreports.org/home/2011/02/consumer-reports-tests-martha-stewart-living-paint-sold-at-home-depot.html

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