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The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin Review: A Practical, Celebrity-Tested Organizing Method
by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin
Published by Penguin Random House on March 19, 2019, The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals is a New York Times bestseller from professional home organizers Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, co-founders of The Home Edit — the organizational company known for merging conventional organization with interior design principles. The book translates their signature room-by-room system — rooted in decluttering, color-coded arrangement, labeling, and long-term maintenance — into a guide designed for home readers, drawing on the same philosophy that built the duo's celebrity clientele and their Netflix series Get Organized with The Home Edit.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Readers who want a visually rich, room-by-room system for decluttering and organising their home and are drawn to the idea that organisation can also function as interior design.
Worth it if
You want a structured, step-by-step methodology — backed by a maintenance system — that translates a celebrity-tested approach into an achievable format for everyday homes.
Skip if
Skip it if you're looking for a budget-neutral, purely functional decluttering approach or want exposure to a range of organisational philosophies beyond the Shearer-Teplin signature aesthetic.
What readers & critics say
The book became a New York Times bestseller and drew coverage across multiple outlets; Barnes & Noble's page relays blurbs from Good Morning America and Good Housekeeping praising its rainbow-colour approach and its step-by-step accessibility for celebrity and everyday homes alike. The Times of India called the authors "Instagram-sensation home experts" and noted that their signature approach to decluttering is "explained in an easy" way, with advice on grouping items to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing.
Sources: Barnes & Noble, Times of IndiaAsk LuvemBooks
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The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin is a room-by-room organizational guide that translates the duo's celebrity-tested, aesthetically driven system — color-coded arrangements, matching containers, labeled jars — into an accessible framework for general home readers. A New York Times bestseller praised by outlets from Architectural Digest to Good Morning America, it is best suited to readers who want organization to double as interior design, not just decluttering for its own sake. The key caveat: fully replicating the signature look requires an investment in organizing products that may be impractical for budget-conscious or smaller-space households.
- Is it worth reading?
- For readers who want an organizing system that is also a design statement, The Home Edit delivers a well-structured, visually rich guide backed by a methodology refined through real client work. Real Simple called it a resource that 'could help you tackle those organizing resolutions,' and Good Housekeeping noted its step-by-step tips help 'even the most organizationally-challenged' implement and maintain the system. The main caveat is cost: the full Home Edit aesthetic — uniform containers, color-sorted shelves, label systems — requires a product investment that not every household will find practical.
- Similar books
- Readers drawn to The Home Edit have several strong alternatives depending on what they're seeking. Shira Gill's Organized Living: Solutions and Inspiration for Your Home similarly merges practical organization with visual appeal. For a more minimalist, philosophy-driven approach, Marie Kondō's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is the genre's other landmark title. Toni Hammersley's The Complete Book of Home Organization offers a broader, more encyclopedic reference format, while Gretchen Rubin's Outer Order, Inner Calm explores the psychological dimension of decluttering. Cassandra Aarssen's Real Life Organizing: Clean and Clutter-Free in 15 Minutes a Day is a practical choice for readers who want a lower-investment, habit-based system.
- Who should read this?
- The Home Edit is best suited to readers who want organization to function as home design — those motivated not just by a functional space but by the visual transformation of color-coded shelves, matching storage systems, and labeled containers. It works well for readers at any experience level thanks to its step-by-step structure, and fans of Shearer and Teplin's Netflix series Get Organized with The Home Edit will find the book a natural complement to the show. Readers on tight budgets or those seeking a flexible, multi-framework organizing reference may find the book's aspirational aesthetic and singular philosophy less suited to their needs.
- Tell me about the adaptation
- The Home Edit method was brought to Netflix in Get Organized with The Home Edit, which debuted in September 2020 and returned for a second season in 2022. The series follows Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin as they apply their organizational system — the same philosophy codified in the book — to real client homes, including celebrity spaces. The show amplified the book's already-established profile and introduced the Shearer-Teplin brand to a wider screen audience, reinforcing the visual and aspirational dimensions of the method.
- Does it cover long-term upkeep?
- Yes — the maintenance system is a deliberate and structural component of The Home Edit, not an afterthought. Shearer and Teplin build it into the book's framework specifically to address the difference between a one-time declutter and an organizational system that holds over time, which Good Housekeeping noted as one of the guide's distinguishing features. The intent is that readers leave with a repeatable process, not just a photogenic reset.
- What's the celebrity connection?
- The Home Edit was built on hands-on organizational work for high-profile clients — Good Morning America and Today both noted that Shearer and Teplin developed their method through celebrity projects, including work for Khloé Kardashian and Gwyneth Paltrow. The book is explicitly framed as the democratization of that system: Clea Shearer has described the company's founding goal as 'making sure we democratize organization as much as possible,' bringing A-list-home methodology to a general readership.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
Who should read this?
Tell me about the adaptation
Does it cover long-term upkeep?
What's the celebrity connection?
Summarize this book
Published by Penguin Random House on March 19, 2019, The Home Edit walks readers through a three-stage process — pare down belongings, arrange what remains in a visually cohesive way (think ROYGBIV-ordered pantries, matching baskets, and labeled containers), and build a maintenance system designed to prevent the need for a full reset later. The book is structured room by room, covering everything from the pantry and closet to the junk drawer, and is illustrated with photographs throughout. The method was developed by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin through hands-on work for celebrity clients including Khloé Kardashian and Gwyneth Paltrow, and the book codifies that philosophy for a general readership.
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What's the core organizing philosophy?
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Age & Reading Level
Recommended age
Adult
Reading level
Adult
who it suits
Skip if you want a flexible, low-cost decluttering framework or a guide that covers multiple organizational philosophies beyond the Shearer-Teplin system.
Our Review
This review covers the book's content, design, and documented public reception — not hands-on use, which only the reader can evaluate.
What the Book Actually Is and Does
![[By Clea Shearer] The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals (Includes Refrigerator Labels)-March 19, 2019 (Paperback) (by Clea Shearer) (Author) (Paperback) by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin front cover](https://cdn.luvembooks.com/media/original_images/By_Clea_Shearer_The_Home_Edit_A_Guide_to_Organizing_and_Realizing_Your_Ho.webp)
[By Clea Shearer] The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals (Includes Refrigerator Labels)-March 19, 2019 (Paperback) (by Clea Shearer) (Author) (Paperback) by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin front cover
The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals is a room-by-room home organization guide by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, published by Penguin Random House on March 19, 2019. The premise is straightforward: Shearer and Teplin walk readers through paring down belongings in every room of the home, then arranging what remains in a way that is both visually cohesive and easy to navigate — think color-coded shelves, matching baskets, and labeled containers — and finally, building a maintenance system designed to prevent the need for a full reset down the line. The book is illustrated with photographs and structured around step-by-step instructions throughout. Penguin Random House describes it as covering everything from the pantry and the closet to the notoriously difficult junk drawer, with the promise that the process is achievable and, as the publisher puts it, "a lot of fun."
The Shearer-Teplin Philosophy and Its Roots
The organizational method at the heart of the book did not emerge from the publishing world — it was built in practice. Shearer and Teplin founded The Home Edit with an explicit goal, as Shearer has described it, of "making sure we democratize organization as much as possible." What began as hands-on work for celebrity clients — including Khloé Kardashian and Gwyneth Paltrow, as noted by Good Morning America — became a recognizable visual language: the ROYGBIV-ordered pantry, the matching storage system, the principle that organization should double as interior design. The book is the codified version of that philosophy, bringing the methodology Shearer and Teplin developed for A-list homes to a general readership. Their background is not purely editorial; Shearer attended the Parsons School of Design, and the company's approach has always situated organization within aesthetic principles rather than treating the two as separate concerns.
Reception and Cultural Reach
The book became a New York Times bestseller and generated coverage across a range of outlets. Real Simple noted that it is "illustrated with beautiful photos and providing clear steps to get it done," calling it a resource that "could help you tackle those organizing resolutions." Architectural Digest described the book as "a room-by-room guide" to a "streamlined philosophy that's often delivered with some hilarious punch lines." Today characterized Shearer and Teplin as experts who "live for color-coded shelves, matching baskets and labeled jars to help their A-list clients achieve organization nirvana." The book's success fed — and was amplified by — the Netflix series Get Organized with The Home Edit, which debuted in 2020 and ran to a second season in 2022, bringing the same approach to a screen audience and reinforcing the book's profile.
Genuine Strengths
The book's core strengths, as reflected in published coverage, are its accessibility and its dual identity as both a practical guide and a visually driven object. The step-by-step structure is designed to make the methodology replicable without professional help, and the room-by-room organization means readers can engage with the sections most relevant to their own homes rather than having to work through the book linearly. Good Housekeeping noted that Shearer and Teplin bring "tried-and-true decluttering methods straight from their celeb clients' closets into your home, along with step-by-step tips to help even the most organizationally-challenged among us implement and maintain" the system — a point that speaks to the guide's intended breadth of audience. The maintenance focus, built into the book's structure, addresses a genuine gap in the organizing genre: the difference between a one-time declutter and a system that holds over time.
Limitations and Who May Find It Less Useful
The aesthetic emphasis that defines the book's appeal is also the source of its primary limitation for some readers. The Home Edit method is visually ambitious — uniform containers, color-sorting, and label systems — and replicating the full look requires an investment in organizing products that not every household will find practical or budget-friendly. Some readers seeking a purely functional, low-cost approach to decluttering may find the aspirational visual framework more suited to large, well-resourced spaces than to smaller or more constrained homes. The book is also firmly a guide, not a flexible reference manual; readers looking for deep customization or varied organizational philosophies beyond the Shearer-Teplin signature system will find the scope intentionally focused. For those already converted to the method, that focus is a feature; for those evaluating whether the approach fits their situation, it is worth knowing before buying.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
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en.wikipedia.org
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- Further reading
- 4
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5minutebooksummary.com
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econogal.com
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