Kathy Ireland was a reluctant national celebrity, recruited into modeling while still in high school. Although her work took her to glamorous settings, her favorite memory is of an Indonesian village where pigs walked in the street and children had never seen a photograph of themselves and families invited her in for tea.

Finding modeling emotionally unfulfilling, Ireland opened her eyes to the needs around her. "As I got involved, I saw that my career and my fame helped me help others," she noted. Ireland is the honorary national chairperson of the March of Dimes Walk America and is active in the National Women’s Cancer Research Alliance and the woman’s health committee of the Entertainment Industries Foundation.

She is now introducing a new line of mix-and-match home furnishings. "Most people have little or no experience in buying furniture," she explained. "The choices are so limitless and people are so busy. I wanted to take the fear out of buying furniture by making it foolproof. For example, any of my dining room chairs work with any of my dining room tables. A pine table might go with pine benches or with bistro chairs or chairs with an awning design. The collection is eclectic. When everything is too "matchy," you don’t get a feeling for the person who lives there. People’s individual style should come through."

Her designs are mostly oriented toward apartment dwellers and first time home-buyers. Space, storage and multiple uses are prime considerations. "People living in smaller spaces especially need adequate storage. Homes are works in progress," she noted. "Furniture has to move with us going from room to room as our needs and lives change. I’ve been thinking about space since I was a kid. When I was 10 years old, I had a contractor give me an estimate on converting the family garage into another bedroom so I wouldn’t have to share with my sister. I had a paper route and felt like a millionaire. I thought I could pay for it myself."

Ireland’s design philosophy includes children. "I want my children to be welcome everywhere in my house," she said. "My family has inspired my designs showing me what the needs of families are. Modeling also gave me the chance to see how people in different cultures live. Pieces have to be good value and durable–current, but not too trendy. I respect the attention to detail the master craftsmen gave their pieces that are now cherished antiques. I wanted some of my pieces to become heirlooms.

"I like mixing formal mahogany pieces with informal pine pieces. I like taking a sofa with feminine lines and covering it in a masculine material. I like fabrics that blend rather than match so that color flows around a house. I like earth tones with beautiful accents. God did such a great job. He didn’t make mistakes on the colors of flowers, rocks, sky, trees, grass and the ocean."

A percentage of the purchase price for Kathy Ireland home furnishings is donated to charity. "We have all been so blessed," she said. "Knowing that our work helps others motivates us to do our best." Her furniture is available through independant furniture retailers nation-wide.