New homes have their own host of problems—
—the main one being a lack of character inside their perfect, new walls. If you love a home full of character, as we do, a brand-new build can feel sterile and if not approached in the right way, it can end up being void of any real descriptive elements. Luckily there’s a fix for that, one Shea and the design team are well versed on. Over the years, we’ve taken on many new-build clients with Studio McGee, and our first-ever spec home (see more about it here) was designed from the ground up. We’ve identified several ways to inject character into a new build, whether you’re in the blueprint phase or bought a new build recently and want to make modifications to it. Here are five ways we love to bring character into a new-build home.
No. 01 | Embrace Time-Honored Design Tricks
No. 01 | Embrace Time-Honored Design Tricks
There are a host of tips and tricks homeowners have loved over the years for their ability to cure a problem while looking good doing it. One of our favorite time-honored design tricks is the use of a cafe curtain. We love skipping the cabinet front and instead putting it under the sink of a mudroom, laundry room, or powder bath. Not only is it functional, hiding everything you store under the sink, but it provides character and charm in spades.
See behind the scenes of our McGee & Co. summer catalogue shoot here, and your first peek into our spec home. The laundry room (pictured above) has the cutest cafe curtain.




No. 02 | Arch the Doorways






No. 03 | Mix Up Your Flooring





No. 04 | Introduce Raw Materials





No. 05 | Style the Walls





Please, we need a full series on this 🤍