Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin are "The Home Edit", they have published a book and recently a Netflix series. What can the method do, how do they go about it, can it be a useful in addition to the KonMari® method? I have looked into both with my background as a KonMari® Consultant.
I was sceptical at first: Is it just their goal to produce Instagram worthy pictures of sometimes very large number of objects? The answer is: Yes, indeed but there is also more to it! Discarding items hardly plays a role, especially in the series; some clients don't want to give (almost) anything away and still want their rooms to be perfectly calm and tidy.
In the series there is always a short briefing/walkthrough, then The Home Edit Team works on their own, they buy a lot of boxes and bins to arrange the objects in an orderly fashion. The result is usually colorful and impressive. We don't find out how practical it actually is for future users, because they are surprised by the result.
But: the book clears up a few misconceptions. Yes, Clea and Joanna are clearly mainly concerned with aesthetics, but also that the system is practical and easy to maintain. They also provide (brief) tips and rules for decluttering, for buying storage and for structuring. The heart of the book, however, is clearly the "sample solutions", which offer a lot for the eye in categories such as "entrance area" and "pantry", but also provide recommendations and how-tos.
The file-folding technique by Marie Kondo is pointed out.
The two of them also work with "the stars", but in any case: in cities where living space is scarce and expensive, a lot of projects are, in terms of space requirements alone, out of scale for the majority of homes (walk-in closets, large extra laundry room, spacious kitchens) but the book still offers plenty of illustrative material and inspiration to learn from.
If I had to choose: I much prefer the series with Marie Kondo, as it is calmer and more relaxing to watch. The work with the residents is also shown, how they live, their story, how they continue to do things independently, here we hardly learn anything about how people actually live here, it's mostly just about one room or one room area. The Home Edit team works under stress, has a deadline, has to get things done fast and wants a result, which is as spectacular as possible. Just like the book, there's a lot for the eye and plenty of inspiration. And if you want to know what Reese Witherspoon's (who produced the series, by the way) or Neil Patrick Harris' home looks like, then you should take a look.
I'm definitely looking forward to tackling small and larger projects inspired by "The Home Edit" style with clients in the future!
There is a generous sample chapter (German) of the book (it ends before the "sample solutions") on the publisher's website, so potential readers can get a good first impression of the book.
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