More than just a makeover
Dream Home Makeover, a popular reality television show streaming on Netflix, moves beyond aesthetics and leans into the synergy created by functionality. The show is centred around a husband-and-wife duo, Shea and Syd McGee, the founders of Studio McGee, based in Salt Lake City. Their ideas revolve around renovating spaces for families, tailored to their personal needs and to meet the routines of their daily life. What makes this idea unique is the personal connection the couple builds with their clients at the beginning of each project, reflecting their need to build a relationship and understand the end-use better to design a space that works efficiently for them.
The projects they cater to vary from budget-friendly renovations to single-room transformations. But what truly sets them apart is the inclusion of their personal background and the documentation of the McGees’ own journey, which includes the expansion of their company studio, McGee; raising their three young daughters; and building their own dream home from scratch. This balances their incredible work as well as their own relationship with each project, connected back to their past, present, and future experiences. Additionally, it draws a parallel between their lives and the lives of their clients whilst highlighting the way they handle business, family, and personal endeavours.
Designing around people
Studio McGee’s niche is their design process, which is fundamentally centred around their end user. Their process begins with conversation. This gives them insight into how these families live their lives and how their designs could align and make their lives run more smoothly. Their enquiries become crucial in their design process – this includes what the families value, what they love, what their homes should feel like, and what purpose they should serve. Rather than using a generic template, they adapt their spaces to display the essence of their family. The spaces are made to reflect personalities, mimic daily rhythms, and grow with the ones who inhabit them.
Shea McGee previously stated, “The most meaningful spaces aren’t the ones that follow every trend. They’re the ones that feel like they’ve been here for years.” This highlights the motto around which the entirety of Studio McGee aims to follow and stick to. A family’s love for cooking may lead to an open kitchen layout to encourage family bonding. This level of personalisation isn’t limited to just kitchens – it can include children’s rooms, where their interests play a vital role and are quietly incorporated through many aesthetic and functional elements. Throughout this process, the McGees coordinate with the builders and all parties involved to make sure that the process is smooth and seamless, inculcating the element of surprise for their clients without them having to stress over the logistics.
When function meets aesthetics
Studio McGee’s design motto relies heavily on balancing practicality with visual appeal. Their most used materials include wood, stone, and woven textures, though they try to customise most of their elements according to their clients’ needs and wants. In their design decision-making process, many factors such as lighting, materials, layouts, colours, and storage are taken into consideration. They aim to create a balance that caters to all the aspects whilst still customising it to their end user. Their strategy involves layering these elements to create a visually appealing space. They often play with smaller elements that may seem irrelevant but in reality elevate the space.
Additionally, an important aspect of their work includes effective storage solutions to keep families organised even in the chaos. Built-in cabinetry, floating shelves, and multi-functional furniture are a few of many solutions integrated into their designs. This importance given to organisation supports the pandemonium of everyday life. Neutral palettes are often layered with various textures and other colours according to the environment, which results in interiors that feel cosy and apt for the client and their families. Every project is handled with care and concern and executed efficiently to reflect those who are to frequently use the space.
What can architects learn?
Dream Home Makeover follows many lessons which can be used by architects, especially in terms of designing around the end user. Firstly, the aspect of function before form. The McGees always begin their projects by interacting with their clients to properly design the space according to its central function. For architects, this conveys the importance of getting to know how spaces will age and be used by their clients instead of prioritising aesthetics alone. Additionally, they emphasise the balance of warm and cool tones, which architects can apply through material selection such as woods and textiles. The McGees insist on avoiding short-lived trends in their work, preferring architecture that will age well and not look outdated soon after renovation. Thus, the architects could adopt the approach by selecting reliable, high-quality materials and using classic dimensions and shapes that will satisfy the clients’ needs regardless of time or evolving requirements.
Design is ultimately a highly subjective and personal experience, one that is driven primarily by the desires and needs of the individuals who occupy the space. Thus, it is particularly important for the architects to cooperate with their clients in order to understand their expectations and meet their personal, subjective requirements that go beyond mere functionality and optimise the design to reflect their feelings and memories. Dream Home Makeover gives insight into the design world effectively, even for those who are not exactly involved in it whilst keeping the personal aspect that all reality TV enthusiasts look for.
Dream Home Makeover shows that thoughtfully designed spaces go beyond aesthetics and create functional and emotional impacts on the people who use those spaces. The show offers more than “before” and “after” photos. They capture the moment a client walks into their newly renovated home to show how design improves the clients’ quality of life by changing how they move through their homes day-to-day. This regenerative design process and focus on the end user is a lens we can use to define meaningful architectural projects. When buildings are designed with form and function, they can improve daily life by reducing the stress that is associated with a lack of efficiently designed spaces. The joy that clients experience when their spaces are functional for the first time provides the most rewarding praise for any design process. The reason that design is important, and why the process of flipping spaces is rewarding in itself, is because of the impact that good design can have on people’s daily lives
Reference list:
[1] Camacho, M. (2020). Dream Home Makeover – Parents’ Guide & TV Review. [online] Common Sense Media. Available at: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/dream-home-makeover [Accessed 14 Aug. 2026].
[2] Dream home makeover. (2024). [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Home_Makeover [Accessed 14 Aug. 2026].
[3] Studio McGee: Beautiful interior design & home decor. (2025). [online] Studio McGee. Available at: https://www.studio-mcgee.com [Accessed 14 Aug. 2026].
[4] Villarreal, R. (2022). Dream home makeover: Everything you need to know about this series. [online] Netflix Tudum. Available at: https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/dream-home-makeover-season-3-trailer-release-date-cast [Accessed 14 Aug. 2026].
[5] Christie, V. (2022). 10 Things We Learned From Studio McGee’s Netflix Show. [online] House & Home. Available at: https://houseandhome.com/decorating-and-design/studio-mcgee-dream-home-makeover-netflix/ [Accessed 14 Aug. 2026].
