The Art of Home: A Designer Guide to Creating an Elevated Yet Approachable Home

by Shea McGee

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The long-awaited design book from Shea McGee, beautifully showcasing all that is possible for every room of your home.

Whether it's through her thriving design business, Studio McGee, her popular Netflix series, Dream Home Makeover, or her online community of over five million followers, Shea McGee has shown the world how the principles of high-end design can be applied to any home. As the title of her new book suggests, designing rooms for maximum impact while also remaining approachable to any who enter is an art. But it's also a skill that can be learned because it's inside each one of us.

In The Art of Home, Shea takes us through every room of the house, starting with an explanation of process and then guiding our entryways, living rooms, kitchens, offices, kids' rooms, and even our utility rooms. With step-by-step guides paired with her own design projects and the power of her personal stories, Shea helps us transform the most important parts of our lives and how we live.

What I love about design is the opportunity to dream and then will that vision into existence.

Join Shea as she teaches us to dream and then shows us how to make it reality.  Her new book, The Art of Home, is as functional as it is heart-stoppingly beautiful and it will maintain a presence in your home for years to come.

Genres: Interior Design, Nonfiction, Design, Coffee Table Books, Architecture, Self Help

408 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 12, 2023

About the author

Shea McGee founded her design firm, Studio McGee, with her husband Syd in 2014 and together with their team, she has designed hundreds of homes across the country. As their design portfolio and following grew, it paved the way for the launch of their e-commerce brand, McGee & Co., two years later. Their popular Netflix series, Dream Home Makeover, is entering its third season. With a vision that beautiful design can be approachable, they have become one of the leading innovators in the interior design industry. Their firm has become a premiere online retail destination and continues to share their light-filled aesthetic with millions.

Reviews

[Teres · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interior designer Shea McGee has a cult following. And for good reason: what started as a side hustle out of her spare bedroom has grown like wildfire into a multi-million dollar business with over 100 employees.

Organized by rooms, the 400-page coffee table book The Art of Home is filled with photos of her Studio McGee-designed homes. You’ll likely recognize her signature neutral palette interiors that have been replicated ad nauseam all over the internet.

The best part of the book — a 16-part style guide dedicated to rug size, furniture placement, fabrics, lighting, shelf styling, and so much more — comes at the end.

[Dee (in the Desert) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars, rounded up for lovely pictures - it's just some lovely home “design porn” that I really enjoyed looking at, as I do like Shea’s style a lot. I didn’t really expect any more of it than that.

[Joanne | wellreadcoffeeaddict]

Very helpful and beautiful!

[Tracie Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures are lovely and the homes she decorates are beautiful. They're a bit too antiseptic and beige and neutral for my taste, but there's a reason this is the popular fashion at the moment.

My major qualm with this book comes with the feeling of it being quite pretentious. This definitely feels like it was written for wealthier white women who have large homes and can afford to demolish and then rebuild their homes in this fashion and with the expensive decorations.

[Rachel Schultz · Rating 2 out of 5]

not useless, but it has the mormon lifelessness

[Megan Rankin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this coffee table book for Christmas - I love all things Studio McGee, such beautiful rooms/photography; good tips, too!

[Heather Alderman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because we are getting ready to remodel our house, and when I glanced through it at the store, it seemed like it would have helpful tips. I didn't really get that from this book, like I hoped, but the designs and photos are beautiful.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5! I wanted to feel like I was her BFF after finishing the book like I do any time I read something by Joanna Gaines, but that wasn’t there for me. Beautiful design, and she’s obviously very talented and successful. I’ve always liked her style! Flipping through this though, I felt like a lot of her design projects looked the same. I wanted to see more intentional statement pieces that were unique to the people she was designing for. I do love that she focuses so much time and energy on her own home, and she stated repeatedly that what makes her home “home” are the people in it. Loved the back part of the book that went into textures, fabrics, pillows, paint colors, etc.

[Hannah Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so fun and beautiful. Shea shared all of her design secrets and tips. Everything from her favorite paint colors to designing a book shelf. The book itself is stunning and I loved taking mental notes on book design.

[Tess Wess · Rating 1 out of 5]

So boring - the only “colors” used are beige, black, white & tiny bits of green. Even the children’s rooms were sad beige. Depressing & sterile.

[Haley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars on this one… the back part of the book with the style guide was the most helpful part. I give this a lower rating mainly because I don’t love the McGee design style! All the pictures in the book felt so flat and cold, with very muted tones and almost no color. So I wouldn’t say that I got much design inspiration from the photographed homes, which is the bulk of the book.

[Jillian Franz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shea McGee has a beautiful way of explaining her process of interior design and inspiring the reader with beautiful steps and visuals of completed projects. I love how she explains everything to the detail while remaining very casual and down to earth.

[Katie Sais · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many good design tips in this book. I will reference back to it often!

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I thought this book was boring. Everyone wants their house to look the same. But her techniques and formulas are tried and true. Once I understood what she was doing in each room I kinda got it! I can’t believe she’s sharing all her secrets.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember about six months ago I keep looking online for a design book by McGee and co because I loved their design show so much. I didn’t find any book and now I know why, it was being written. I saw this came out just the other day and grabbed it up.

This is the perfect look for a coffee table and size. I love the neutral base of Shea’s designs + the hints of texture. I got mine at target for a deal and I’m so glad I did. I think I will continue to look thru this for ideas for many years.

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that this book was good for the style of book. The photos were beautiful, and made the houses all look gorgeous. The actual text was pretty boring, and I was slowly going mad by how often she would talk about her old, sad, small apartment with secondhand Ikea furniture from before she got all the Utah/Napa Valley design money. So if you just want to look at nice photos and not read, I would recommend.

[Chelsey G · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book includes beautiful photos, and makes for a great decor piece for a shelf or table… but I was hoping for more design tidbits, teachings, and attainable decor ideas (more like Joanna Gaines’s Homebody.) The homes featured in the photos are obviously stunning, but just not feasible for growing, bustling families.

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of eye candy but very little practical application.

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Art of Home is a beautiful book about gorgeous home spaces. It includes essays about styling a home to make it more aesthetically pleasing and has style guides for paint colours,fabrics, etc at the back of the book. The colours she uses are very muted; whites, grays, beiges, etc and fit a very specific design look which comes off as tailored, adult, clean and calm. While I love her taste, it comes off as one note, and extremely neutral and void of personality. The children's spaces are quite charming but look like they are for the adult version of the kids they are today.

This book is for a specific design aesthetic, and if it is yours, you should find this book quite beautiful.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Have courage in your vision, embrace the process, and relish the art of making a house feel like home."

McGee certainly embraces the colors white and beige, and strenuously avoids anything that "pops." And, while it's true that her rooms are lovely, soothing, relaxing, and calming, they're also a little boring. There's such a sameness to all the photos, it's hard to tell one from another in these high end houses that lack charm and individuality.

This is definitely not my style, but it's a beautiful book, and there's a very nice how-to section at the end.


ARC provided by NetGalley and Harper Horizon.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, I’m so tired of these books. This is an enormous book but it’s yet another decorating book for the rich white woman, modern “farmhouse” (have these people honestly never been to a farm?), all white and beige aesthetic. I find these houses unforgivably generic, boring, sad and uninspired. If it’s your style (and clearly it is still that of many people), this book will be yet another good resource for designing and decorating it.

I read a temporary digital copy of this book for review.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautiful just like Shea's work and her words resignate whether you're a family person, cozy homebody or designer yourself. So many great tips and ending with many options between textures, pairings, counter shapes - describing pro's & con's of materials, etc. A truely gorgeous read and coffee table book to share. Just looking at the photos gets me excited for the next project, and reminds me of so much to learn. So much symmetry, like her work itself - between her collection of pieces, personal style, family and personality it's no wonder she's my favorite designer

[Cecily · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are into clean, simplistic, modern homes then this is the book for you. McGee does a wonderful job at giving tips throughout the book, making the reading simple and easy to understand. She does a great job at showing the reader exactly what her home style is. Unfortunately I have learned that I am just not a fan of this style. I found the lack of color and charm to be too sterile and cold. I do believe that she succeeded; however, in styling homes to bring a "...perpetual sense of calm", much like the museums she mentions she visited as a kid.

[Hillary Pate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I look up to Shea McGee so much as a mentor. She was the first to share her talent of design on instagram, you tube, and now a book. She opened the door for interior designers to share their knowledge and educate consumers. She’s down to earth, quiet luxury approach, makes everything approachable, her opposite talents with her husband is what launched her career forward, and motto to “make life beautiful” is a theme I have loved and carried on for years.


I devoured her book in a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. I can’t wait for her cook book to come out in the spring.

[Yulee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the insights Shea shares to styling. It is a very light tough on design but seeing as I have no expertise, it was the perfect balance of tips and insight. The photo's were good. I noticed a typo. Didn't always love that she would talk about her thought process of behind a design (pictured) but on the back of the picture. I kept having to flip back and forth to see the picture with the words. I realized that her design style isn't really mine which is fine. A beautiful book and I enjoyed the conversational tone.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Art of Home is a fast read, highly educational and a visual treat for anyone but especially to designers. Shea McGee literally opens her design process for complete understanding of how she works a project from beginning to end, including sources at the end of the book. She does this to inspire other designers and the novice designer too. Highly recommend especially if you love the look that is known as the McGee design style.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank You to NetGalley for this free e-digital. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The pictures were stunning inspiration. Although many items may not be in my price point, I feel the inspiration and could find something similar. Each space is amazing and carefully curated. I love that at the end of the book, the author explains fabrics, scale, tone, and pattern mixing, pillows, rugs, and other chaptered style guides. I also liked the furniture placement maps, color selection, coffee table styling, and artwork placement.

[Krystal Hon · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK I admit I didn’t read every word but I looked at the pictures (it’s mostly pictures) and read some of it. The last section was the most helpful with specific guides like shelf styling, bed styling, hanging art, rug sizes, etc. Honestly still felt like reading a foreign language - I wish I could learn how to design my house (hence why I got the book from the library) but I still feel just as clueless. It’s not the books fault though, just my left-brain to blame.

[EThayer3 · Rating 2 out of 5]

A coffee table book full of fancy pictures. The photography is beautiful. Problem is, every picture looks like the one before it and the one after with shades of 3 colors - tan, white and black. The rooms are cold and stark and unwelcoming. There is nothing that says cozy or comfortable or homey. I only came across one room that held any appeal for me and that was a child’s bedroom that had pretty wallpaper. This just isn’t my decorating style.

[Ashley Walton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to help me learn more about design and what goes into it as we move across the country and buy our first house! I liked her approach to design and her design process. I marked a bunch of pages that have practical tips that I want to remember as we go about designing our house! Most of the pictures were of massive homes that aren’t as realistic for what I’m going to be designing, but I feel like the tips are things I can implement in any space! Glad I read it!