CHICAGO -- Are you like Martha Stewart or are you hopeless around your house?

NBC5's Kim Vatis reported on a new study about today's women and how they feel about their homes.

Vatis' special report promised to help women determine what kind of woman they are.

Video: Homemaker Types

Whether you live in a showhouse or a house you can barely show, Vatis uncovered some surprising trends and truths about women who love or hate to play house.

"I love the home shows. I love watching all of the makeover shows," one woman said.

Another said that it's just "pressure for it to be perfect and beautiful all the time."

"But can all women keep pace?" Vatis asked.

Janet, a mother of three, is in control of the house, the kids and her career. Vatis said that her method of coping is part of a new and growing trend.

"'Organized chaos' I would call this," Janet tells NBC5.

While touring her home, her mantra was revealed.

"It's about the family and not about it being picture perfect." she said. "I have standards, definitely, but I think I've gotten better at being realistic about the standards."

Senior vice president with advertising powerhouse Leo Burnett, surveying people across the country about their homemaking skills and standards, Denise Fedewa spoke with Vatis about modern day homemakers.

"We all kind of know that the other women are going to talk about us and judge us based on how well we're raising our children and how well we keep our homes," she said.

Most women fall into four groups from picture perfect to practical, according to the Leo Burnett study.

Janet, like 22 percent of women researched, keeps it simple. The study's example of that type of woman is TV's Deborah Barone, of "Everybody Loves Raymond" fame.

"So, 'Keep It Simple' kind of says, 'Hey, let's create a hive for our family to feel comfortable and interact," Fedewa said.

Twenty-nine percent of women say they're treading water, like TV's Roseanne. Her home is just a burden.

Here, experts suggest finding just one priority, like clean clothes -- or get help.

Andrea Nolan is an example of the third group.

"People like me, we enjoy doing it ourselves," Nolan said.

She shuns help, falling into the biggest category of 37 percent of women who are house proud. Many of these women are inspired by Martha Stewart.

"It's what I like to do. I like to work all day and I come home and I'm making my house," Nolan told NBC5.

She even painted her bedroom herself, after looking at all the makeover shows and magazines .

"I'm proud of it," she said. "I feel like I've achieved something."

"I really love my house," another homeowner, Terri Lopez-Honour, told Vatis. "I have to say, I almost love my house more than my husband."

Her home is so organized, not only is the pantry labeled, but so are the cabinets, the drawers and even the refrigerator, illustrating another trend in the study: household clutter.

"It's the new fat," Vatis said, and women are always trying to lose it.

"There (are) no words to describe how much I hate the work," Lopez-Honour said. "But, when the house looks like this (referring to her 'picture perfect' home), then I feel fabulous."

But sometimes, Vatis said, image is everything.

Twelve percent of women are "keeping up with the Joneses." Like "Desperate Housewives'" Bree Van De Camp, their homes are simply a status symbol. None right or wrong, but a start to self-awareness.

"Every woman is developing her own model for how she wants to live her life," Fedewa said. "I think society is slowly getting to a place where that's OK if we each want to do it differently."

One surprise in the study, Vatis said, is that the more women work outside the home, the more dominant they want to be inside the home.

Lopez-Honour admits, "It's a little bit of a control issue, I think, especially since in my career I have no control."

"I think it's underestimated how much work it really is," Janet said.

Vatis told Janet's husband that 60 percent of the women surveyed said the one thing they would change about their house if they could was their husband. He took it well, laughing at those findings.

Web sites recommended:

The Home Attitude Quiz

ClutterCoach.com and (847) 776-8717.