What We Learned Filming Dream Home Makeover

Every experience comes with an opportunity to grow.

In our Netflix show “Dream Home Makeover,” you get an inside look into how our design process functions and how we work as a team to achieve our client’s goals.

In the past five years since we’ve started Studio McGee, we’ve learned so much about design and the business surrounding it. Filming and executing a show brought even more lessons to our team, and we couldn’t be more grateful for the experience.

Today, we’re sharing a few things our design team learned while working on the show, “Dream Home Makeover”!

Here are a few things we learned from filming “Dream Home Makeover”:

1. The art of quick problem-solving 

Problem-solving is always an essential aspect of the design process and something that we’ve learned a lot about over the years. Many of our projects on the show had a shorter timeline than usual, which brought an exciting, unique challenge, allowing us to push ourselves to address what didn’t go as planned. We had many last minute runs to our warehouse because pieces were delayed and we needed to find something quick. Finding quick solutions isn’t always as easy as it looks on T.V., but we’re excited to reflect on those small victories moving forward, door frame removing and all.

2. The strength in “going with it.”

An evolving business comes with many “go with it” moments, especially when you’re filming a show! Staying positive despite bumps along the way and working to do whatever we can to meet a client’s needs is especially important when juggling more than one project at once, which is something you’ll get to see in “Dream Home Makeover.”

"As a team, we were able to grow so much during these projects in seeing the good things about each situation and making it happen."

Pam Miyamoto, lead designer.

3. There is a lot of work that goes into filming a show!

Although we’ve been watching design shows forever, it’s hard to know what it’s really like behind the scenes until you experience it. The process definitely gave us perspective and appreciation for those who put themselves out there to the world.

From the camera to the sound, lighting, producers, editors, and everything in between, it’s a team effort, and we couldn’t be more grateful to Goodbye Productions and our McGee team for making it all come to life.

4. Design is subjective.

Like any art form, interior design is personal and subjective; not everyone will always like what you do, and that’s okay! From the beginning of our journey, it was important to always stay true to our brand and aesthetic while listening to our client’s wishes. If our clients have their hearts set on a white kitchen, we deliver a gorgeous white kitchen. We were lucky our production team always encouraged us to be ourselves throughout the entire process, and we love that what you see in the show is a pretty accurate representation of how we work (with a little TV magic thrown in).

"It's important to remember that your clients chose you for a reason and to have confidence in staying true to your vision while being flexible to work with them to create the best end result."

Shea McGee

If you haven’t yet, check out “Dream Home Makeover” on Netflix, and stay tuned for more information on the show’s projects, and our upcoming Season 2!