In this paper I examine the social construction of the modern home and the idealized role of the “new woman” through representation of women in serialized novels and articles juxtaposed with advertisements of home goods in the Armenian daily, Arewelk. Ultimately, I argue that during the decade leading to the 1908 Young Turk Revolution Arewelk circumvented Ottoman censors by turning the newspaper's attention to a female audience while maintaining a message of necessary societal change in late Ottoman Istanbul. In the late 19th century the Armenian community of Istanbul witnessed an explosion of printing despite the strict censorship of Sultan Abdulhamid II. Armenian newspapers, particularly Arewelk, came under heavy censorship. How then did they write on issues concerning Armenian identity or politics? The editor and proprietor of Arewelk, Karekin Boyadjian, carefully placed advertisements for Western products directed towards women and juxtaposed these advertisements with European serialized novels that presented a strong female protagonist who often challenged traditional gender roles. The use of serialized novels, along with articles penned by female Armenian intellectuals, such as Zabel Yesayan, on the role of women in rapidly changing world provided the newspaper's readership with the notion that the role of women as the custodian of the home was more than caring for the home. The role of the modern Ottoman-Armenian woman was to build and maintain a home that encouraged European influenced styles of adorning the house in an effort to create a space that fostered a modern identity and encouraged model citizenship.