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The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing by Clea Shearer & Joanna Teplin Review: A New York Times Bestselling Room-by-Room System
Published by Clarkson Potter on March 19, 2019, The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals is a New York Times bestseller from Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, co-founders of The Home Edit, that delivers a room-by-room organizing philosophy built on merging conventional organization with interior design — complete with the color-coded, aesthetically driven systems that made the duo famous among celebrity clientele and social media audiences alike.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Readers who want to overhaul their home room by room and are drawn to the idea that organizing and interior design should work together — especially those who have already encountered The Home Edit through Instagram or the Netflix series and want the foundational methodology in book form.
Worth it if
You want a structured, visually rich, room-by-room organizing framework that treats aesthetics and function as equally important goals, and you're willing to invest in matching containers and uniform systems to achieve the intended results.
Skip if
You're looking for minimalist, low-budget, or purely utilitarian organizing advice — the signature high-design aesthetic and product-dependent systems may feel aspirational to the point of impracticality for readers without the time, budget, or space to implement them wholesale.
What readers & critics say
Econogal praised the authors' "straightforward approach to editing your home life," noting the conversational first-person voice makes the book feel like a dialogue with Shearer and Teplin directly. Times of India described the book's core premise as the belief that "every space in our home or at work has a potential to function and also look beautiful," highlighting the signature method of grouping items by how they "flow" through a space.
Sources: Econogal, Times of India4.7from 14,698 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
In This Review
- What Works & What Doesn't
- What the Book Actually Is and Does
- The Duo's Standing and the Book's Place in the Genre
- Strengths: Clarity, Accessibility, and Photographic Guidance
- Audience Fit and Potential Limitations
- Reception and Lasting Relevance
What Works & What Doesn't
What Works
- New York Times bestseller with broad mainstream recognition and media coverage across major lifestyle outlets
- Room-by-room structure provides an organized, concrete framework for tackling the whole home
- Combines written step-by-step instructions with extensive photography, per Real Simple, giving readers a clear visual target for each space
- Rooted in real professional experience with a wide range of clients, lending credibility to the systems presented
- Accessible, humor-inflected tone noted by Architectural Digest makes the subject approachable rather than intimidating
What Doesn't
- The signature aesthetic — color-coded shelving, uniform containers, high-design visuals — may require significant product investment to fully replicate, which may not suit all budgets or preferences
- The style-forward, aspirational visual standard was developed in celebrity household contexts, which may feel mismatched for readers seeking purely functional, low-resource solutions
A New York Times bestseller that translates a celebrity-endorsed, visually driven organizing philosophy into a practical room-by-room home guide, this is Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin's flagship book for anyone ready to tackle their living space with method and style.
What the Book Actually Is and Does
The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals by Clea Shearer, Joanna Teplin front cover
The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing and Realizing Your House Goals is a home-organization guide structured as a room-by-room walkthrough of Shearer and Teplin's signature approach to tidying and maintaining a home. The book's stated premise, carried through from the authors' professional practice, is that organizing and interior design need not be separate disciplines — The Home Edit was founded explicitly to merge the two. That philosophy shapes the entire guide: the goal is not just a functional home, but one that is visually cohesive, using tools such as color-coded shelves, matching baskets, and labeled containers. According to the publisher, even the famously chaotic junk drawer falls within scope — the book positions no space as too small or too difficult to address.
The Duo's Standing and the Book's Place in the Genre
By the time this guide reached shelves in 2019, Shearer and Teplin had already built one of the most recognizable brands in home organization. Today describes them as the professionals behind the enviably organized pantries and closets that appear on celebrity Instagram accounts, with high-profile clients including Khloé Kardashian and Gwyneth Paltrow, as noted by Good Morning America. Architectural Digest credits the pair with developing a "streamlined philosophy that's often delivered with some hilarious punch lines," and describes this book as a room-by-room guide to that philosophy. The book subsequently anchored a broader media franchise that includes the Netflix series Get Organized with The Home Edit and a follow-up volume, The Home Edit Life — both of which Penguin Random House identifies as New York Times bestsellers alongside this original guide. Within the crowded home-organization genre, the book's distinguishing claim is its insistence that aesthetics and function are equally important outcomes of any organizing project.
Strengths: Clarity, Accessibility, and Photographic Guidance
Real Simple noted that the book is "illustrated with beautiful photos and providing clear steps to get it done," describing it as a resource well-suited to tackling organizing resolutions. The publisher describes the guide as designed to make the process feel achievable — even fun — emphasizing that the systems it presents are not hard to implement. Today highlights the color-coded and visually systematic nature of the methodology, which gives readers a concrete, replicable model rather than abstract advice. The combination of step-by-step written instruction and extensive photography is the structural engine of the book: the images serve as direct visual references for what each finished space is designed to look like, reinforcing the written guidance with a clear target.
Audience Fit and Potential Limitations
The Home Edit's aesthetic is specific and well-defined — rainbow organization, uniform containers, and a high-design sensibility — which is precisely what draws its devoted following but may be a point of friction for readers whose priorities are purely functional rather than visual. Some readers who approach the book seeking minimalist or purely utilitarian systems may find that the style-forward methodology requires a meaningful investment in matching organizational products to achieve the intended results. The approach is also most naturally suited to readers who have the time, budget, and space to implement systems wholesale, rather than those looking for quick, low-resource fixes. Good Housekeeping and MyDomaine both position Shearer and Teplin as go-to organizational authorities, but the celebrity-household context that shaped their brand is worth acknowledging — the book's aspirational visual standard reflects the environments in which The Home Edit built its reputation.
Reception and Lasting Relevance
The book's New York Times bestseller status, combined with the subsequent Netflix series and multiple follow-up titles, reflects a reception that extended well beyond the organizational book category into mainstream lifestyle media. Features in People, House Beautiful, Architectural Digest, and on Goop — cited by Penguin Random House — confirm broad coverage at launch and beyond. For readers drawn to the organizing-and-design overlap, or those who have encountered The Home Edit through its social media presence or Netflix series and want the foundational text, this guide remains the primary statement of Shearer and Teplin's core methodology. It is also a natural entry point for readers new to intentional home organization who want a structured, visually rich framework to follow room by room.
Frequently Asked Questions
is The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing by Clea Shearer, Joanna Teplin worth reading
It's worth it if you want a structured, room-by-room guide that treats aesthetics and function as equally important — Real Simple described it as 'illustrated with beautiful photos and providing clear steps to get it done.' That said, if you're purely after quick, low-resource fixes, the style-forward methodology may feel like more than you bargained for.
what is The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing by Clea Shearer, Joanna Teplin actually about
It's a room-by-room walkthrough of Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin's signature organizing philosophy, which deliberately merges home organization with interior design — think color-coded shelves, matching baskets, and labeled containers rather than purely utilitarian tidying. The publisher says no space is off-limits, positioning even the junk drawer as something fully addressable within the system.
does The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing by Clea Shearer, Joanna Teplin actually work if you're not a celebrity
The reviewer is upfront that the book's aspirational visual standard was shaped by high-profile clients like Khloé Kardashian and Gwyneth Paltrow, so the aesthetic benchmark reflects those kinds of environments. The approach works best for readers who have the time, budget, and space to implement systems wholesale — those looking for low-cost, quick fixes may find the rainbow-organization, uniform-container style requires a meaningful product investment.
is The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing by Clea Shearer, Joanna Teplin good for beginners who have never organized intentionally before
Yes — the reviewer specifically calls it 'a natural entry point for readers new to intentional home organization who want a structured, visually rich framework to follow room by room.' The combination of step-by-step written instruction and extensive photography gives beginners a concrete, replicable model rather than abstract advice.
what should i read after The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing by Clea Shearer, Joanna Teplin
Shearer and Teplin followed this up with The Home Edit Life, which Penguin Random House also identifies as a New York Times bestseller — so it's the natural next read if you want to extend the methodology beyond the core room-by-room guide. There's also the Netflix series Get Organized with The Home Edit if you want to see the philosophy in action rather than on the page.
is The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing by Clea Shearer, Joanna Teplin too style-heavy to be actually useful
That depends on your priorities — the reviewer acknowledges that the rainbow-organization and high-design sensibility is 'precisely what draws its devoted following but may be a point of friction for readers whose priorities are purely functional rather than visual.' Architectural Digest credits Shearer and Teplin with a 'streamlined philosophy,' so there is genuine structure here, but the visual aesthetic is inseparable from the method.
how does The Home Edit: A Guide to Organizing by Clea Shearer, Joanna Teplin compare to other home organizing books
Its distinguishing claim within the crowded home-organization genre, as the reviewer notes, is its insistence that aesthetics and function are equally important outcomes — not just a tidy home, but a visually cohesive one. That sets it apart from more minimalist or purely utilitarian guides, and its New York Times bestseller status alongside coverage in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, and People suggests it broke through into mainstream lifestyle media well beyond typical organizing books.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
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- Further reading
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5minutebooksummary.com
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econogal.com
- 6
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