Shea McGee

This transcript was made in part by an automated service. In some cases it may contain errors.

Shea: [00:00:00] I needed to commit myself to post every single day and then people started asking questions. And then I think it was at that point when I made the decision to start answering questions, that that was when everything changed for me because it changed how our world of interior design approaches content today.

Jeremiah: Welcome back everybody to Ideas of Order, a California Clauses podcast dedicated to answering the question, what does home mean to you? I'll be connecting with friends and creators to talk about the memories and the practices that mean the most to us and the spaces that have held us through it all. I'm Jeremiah Brent, and today we're welcoming someone whose thoughtfulness and creativity has transformed countless spaces.

You can find nods to her work and creativity in homes everywhere. With an eye for detail, she has a reputation for blending elegance with functionality. She creates environments alongside her husband that holds an effortless warmth. Without further ado, please welcome author, entrepreneur, mother, and interior designer, Shea McGee.

Shea, how have we never met? I don't

Shea: know. I really, I was actually thinking about that beforehand. I don't know how our paths haven't crossed in person yet. It's

Jeremiah: so wild. I have to tell you, before we get started, I'm obviously a huge admirer of everything you've built. I think your story is fucking fascinating and everything you've done, it's just wild.

Congratulations.

Shea: Thank you. Thank you. You as well. I mean, I, I saw you on Rachel Zoe. So I, I mean, that's how old I am. I guess I still remember that, but

Jeremiah: that feels like a million years ago.

Shea: Yeah, it does feel like a million years ago.

Jeremiah: Um, well, thank you for doing this today. I'm really, really thankful. And I'm so excited just to learn more about you and your story and kind of dive into kind of where everything began, where you're at now, where you want to go.

Like I said, I'm a huge admirer of your work and what you've built. It's so wild.

Shea: Thank you.

Jeremiah: Do you ever take a minute and look back at like, step back and look at everything and go, wow, look at this.

Shea: Not often, but last week was our 10 year anniversary of launching the business. And so I think that that is a time to get nostalgic and we've been doing a lot of reminiscing, but it wasn't, you know, you're so into the everyday that it's sometimes hard to, uh, take a step back and actually, uh, There's always problems to be fixed and things to be done, and so it's hard to give yourself a pat on the back sometimes.

Jeremiah: It's funny, there was this quote that I saw the other day, and I'm going to butcher it, but it's something along the lines that success is earned and the rent's due every single day.

Shea: That's so true.

Jeremiah: And that's like, as a business owner, like, I think I, especially myself, like, I think you just focus so much on moving and continuing to move and protecting, keeping the health of your company, um, successful.

So, but congratulations, especially as somebody from the outside looking in, um, not only have you built something that seems to be rooted in thoughtfulness, it's such a clear point of view and a perspective, and that's a testament to you as a leader. So congratulations.

Shea: Thank you. Thanks.

Jeremiah: I'm very excited to meet you and I'm excited to learn more about you.

Um, I had to ask, have you always had this sense of personal style and design, you know, since you were young?

Shea: Yes. I wouldn't say it was always geared towards interiors, but I've, Always been very interested in personal style and maybe discovering that for myself. I've always loved fashion and clothes and even from a young age.

And I think that as I got older and home became more of a part of my life, then that really, it really started to resonate with me more than more than clothing did, because I just felt like I could touch so many surfaces and it felt like a puzzle to me.

Jeremiah: Yeah.

Shea: So when I was Probably, you know, in my early twenties, that was when it started really, I just, for me, it became a complete obsession.

I just couldn't stop thinking about it. And then that's, that should have been my early clue that this is what I was to be doing. But I, I felt so nervous about not being formally trained, uh, that I was really scared. To fully embrace it.

Jeremiah: I went through something similar to that, which I want to get into with you.

But what were you like as a kid? So you were obsessed with fashion. Did you redecorate your room all the time? Like who were you when you were young?

Shea: No, I was like rule follower. I needed to get good grades. I needed to do all the things. So my mom, my mom is always been someone who cares about. Her personal style.

And she was really into decorating our home. I mean, [00:05:00] I don't think that it was, we, we weren't living a luxurious lifestyle with lots of high end designers around, but my mom worked at this local shop that sold like gifts and interior pieces. And this was, this was the nineties. I would say the mid nineties when I started to notice and, and, and, and.

You're, I mean, imagine the Laura Ashley prints and the, uh, Ralph Lauren, um, navies and plaids and florals, which I honestly, I still really love today. So I guess maybe that's where it really, really started for me. But so she was really into it. And I think that I always took from that, but it wasn't. I was, I was more into my clothes, I think, than anything.

But, um, in hindsight I was around it a lot and heard, heard my mom always talking about, you know, I'd look through her magazines, she always, we were in Texas, so Southern living, um, was a big part of my, Childhood.

Jeremiah: Did you have that room in your house that you weren't allowed to go into?

Shea: It was the Laura Ashley couch room.

Jeremiah: Of course. She's like, don't you dare.

Shea: No, don't touch that sofa. It's

Jeremiah: funny. We're, I was similar. We had, we didn't grow up with a lot of money, but towards like middle, like in high school, my mom had worked up. And like, she had like multiple jobs that she'd, she'd hired a decorator finally.

And they worked out of like the local store, which was, I think it was called like portico or something. It was like, you could get a candle or a sofa or a birthday card. Um, so it's wild.

Shea: I think my mom was working for essentially product at the point. Like that was kind of what she was doing. She was there.

And then it was like, okay, this, this month's payment is a new, You know, coffee table or whatever, whatever it was.

Jeremiah: Do you remember like the first space or room that you've been in that you really fell in love with that like made a huge impact on you?

Shea: I don't know if I can answer that. I, I will say that when My husband and I got married, my sister in law, she was really into making her home feel really beautiful.

And still to this day, like that was our very first bonding conversations as sister in laws. She had moved into her first home and they had one little girl and she was like one piecing at it. It was one piece at a time and she was really into antiques. And I think that their home always felt just good.

It just, I, when I walked in, it just felt like a hug and I always smelled good. She loves, you know, there we were in Southern California at the time. And so she always had fresh olive branches that she had picked up and

Jeremiah: just

Shea: really interested in the details. And I think that. It was at that time that I thought to myself, this is what I want my home to feel like.

And it wasn't about being blown over by the size or magnitude of the home. It was truly just, she loved natural linens. She loved seagrass and she loved olive branches. And those, those, those things really resonated with me.

Jeremiah: I love that. Is it true that you met your husband through your brother?

Shea: Yeah, I did.

Give me

Jeremiah: the whole story. I love a love story.

Shea: So I, my brother and Sid played just, they were playing like intramural soccer together or something. And

Jeremiah: very bro.

Shea: Yeah. Very bro. Very

Jeremiah: bro. And my brother

Shea: was moving to a new apartment and, um, He said, my friend Sid is going to be there helping, and you're going to like him, but don't because he's my friend.

So of course I, I, I pull in and Sid's on a skateboard, like hauling all the things, he's using the skateboard as the dolly. And then we started talking and, He, I mean, we just immediately hit it off. And of course, then my brother's like, I know what you're doing, Shay. Like, I know what you're doing. And we, my mom showed up, she was helping and Sid asked me for my number.

Uh, that was those days, right in front of my mom. And we went out the next night and then we dated, uh, off and on for the next two Couple of years. And then he moved to Southern California and I followed him. We, we got married and I followed him there and that was where I started my career.

Jeremiah: First of all, huge move to go.

Where were you living before you moved to Southern California?

Shea: I was working at a PR agency in Salt Lake and that was, that was my degree. So I was working at a PR firm and then, um, Sid started working for his brother who had created a startup company that was. A digital marketing agency. And so, I mean, that sounded a lot better than where I was.

And so I followed, we, we were married and follow, I followed him there. And then we got our first apartment together in Laguna Niguel, which is near [00:10:00] Laguna beach.

Jeremiah: Does that area still hold a lot of importance to you guys?

Shea: Yeah. So since from there, so we have a lot of family and it does hold a lot of importance.

I think it influenced a lot of the things that I love. Um, we go back there often. It's funny because. It was a plan to go back for many, many years. But once you start a company and

Jeremiah: you

Shea: have roots and team members and warehouses and things like that, and

Jeremiah: your

Shea: kids are in school all of a sudden making those, I know you understand moving across the country.

It's just, it's, it's a big decision. And right now I feel, I love, I love Utah. It's, it's great.

Jeremiah: We have so many crazy parallels. I was in school for marketing and advertising and didn't want to do it. I was like, not for me. Um, my husband's also from Southern California. He grew up there. Um, not the reason I ended up there, but you said that your career started when you were in Southern California.

Is it true? How did it start? I think I know the story, but I want to hear you tell it.

Shea: So Sid and I bought our first home and it was in Orange County and You can imagine this like 2010 time Orange County Tracted home. Yeah. So everything was like a fa, Tuscan, uh, style love fa Tuscan. It was good. Yum , lot of, lot of brown speckled granite.

And it was, uh, I was so excited to be in our first home though. And of course, immediately. This was the time when, I mean, I was obsessed with Domino magazine and yeah, I, Remember

Jeremiah: though, it was like the magazine.

Shea: It was the magazine and I, it really was very influential in how I approached my business because, I don't know if you remember, They did these little arrows and they'd share little insights and designer tips.

And

Jeremiah: yeah, that's what I learned. I learned so much from that magazine.

Shea: And I loved that they were speaking to me and they were teaching and they were sharing. And so I was ready the second I got this first home, I was like, let's. So I got to work and let's replace all the granite with marble. So that was, that was my approach and I started doing this and in our neighborhood, it was, that was very unusual.

People didn't understand, but they liked it. They were surprised by the decision. And I had one client. Well, I would say, let's start with the first client. So I posted on my Instagram. It was my personal Instagram. It just had a couple of hundred followers. And that was the post, the posts of my own home.

Those were the ones that were getting the most engagement. And then I had one, Woman, reach out to me and say, Hey, I have some bookshelves that need to be restyled in my piano room. And I am early mid twenties at the time. And I walk into this home and it was not my tract home. It was a very, very nice home in Orange County.

And I, Didn't even know what I was going to charge. I did it. I had never done anything before and I was like, this is my opportunity. So I saw all these bookshelves, I take a photo and I realized. I can't afford a website, but I could start an Instagram account for free. And there weren't really any Instagram influencers at the time.

Um, no one was doing that, but I was following fashion influencers. And so I, I posted my first, uh, Bookshelf photo. And then I started patterning myself after what the fashion influencers were doing. And that's was posting. I needed to commit myself to post every single day. And then people started asking questions.

And then I think it was at that point when I made the decision to start answering questions that that was when everything changed for me because it changed how I Our world of interior design approaches content today.

Jeremiah: Yeah. I mean, I feel kind of comfortable saying that I feel like you were one of the forefront of one of the first, one of the first people to really latch on to social media and use it the way that you've done it, not only to promote your business, but to tell your story, um, which I think is so beautiful, but I love hearing that it all started from that fashion.

That interest in fashion, because it's very similar to myself. I mean, I was never thoughtful enough to think about social media cause I'm so bad at it, but I think you do such a beautiful job and you've always done such a beautiful job. And so that's really what started your design career. Where did you, where'd you go from there?

Cause it's one thing to want to do it. It's another thing to build, but you've built

Shea: right. Those early days, I committed myself to posting every day. And so I had to get creative because I didn't have that many projects. There was a lot of posting about things around my home and posting just the progress [00:15:00]there.

And then the one set of bookshelves became a room, which became more rooms, which became full homes. Right. And it happened very quickly. It happened very quickly. I think I was really. Lucky to live in a place where there were a lot of people that were interested in design, because once one person hired me, it was word spread kind of in the community.

And, uh, I also started, I started really realizing that documenting my own life and what was happening there also was an important part of my business.

Jeremiah: Were you terrified?

Shea: Yes. And no, I think that I was really excited by it and I saw it as a challenge and I was realizing that with every project and everything that went wrong, I was learning from, I wanted so desperately to be good that I was going to do anything.

And Sid just kept telling me, you know, the 10, 000 hour rule where you, you can't become an expert at something until you put in lots and lots of time.

Jeremiah: So

Shea: I just had that in the back of my head that like. Well, if I want to be good, then I just need to keep Doing as much of it as possible. And I was working myself to the ground, but I loved it.

Jeremiah: And what did good mean to you? Like, what was the marker for good?

Shea: Uh, that's a good question because I think that's subjective, but for me, it was running a successful business and having the ability to only take on the projects that I really wanted to take.

Jeremiah: Love

Shea: that.

Jeremiah: Did you end up doing design classes or anything?

Shea: I did. I, I went to a local community college and kind of went through and a lot of the courses were already things that I had taken kind of in the business realm when I went to college just a couple of years before I decided to change careers. And so I, you know, it was like space planning, CAD, uh, uh, codes, kitchen design, those types of things.

I just kind of handpicked my courses. And at that time as. I was getting more and more clients. I found out I was pregnant and it kind of all at the same time. I know

Jeremiah: you were at school at the same time you were pregnant.

Shea: What's funny is that like, I think, I don't know what would show on my record, but one day I just said, I'm not doing it.

I'm not doing this anymore. And I never went back to school. So, um, I'm still probably showing as a failure at Saddleback

Jeremiah: community. Saddleback, if it worked out for her, leave her alone. That's so wild. It's interesting. Cause I similarly,

Shea: did you take classes?

Jeremiah: I tried, but I was like, I have a very different, like, I think we probably have a similar personality type where I was like, Hmm, I'll figure it out.

This is wasting my time. I'd rather get out there and build and grow and build and grow. And I think, you know, especially if you have the desire to start a company, you realize what you're good at and then also what you're not good at. And if you're smart, you supplement those people in that can kind of pick up in those areas.

And that's kind of what I did. Um, You know, I'm going to ask you, my career started off in a similar way. Also, it was totally by accident. I mean, I've always loved interiors, but I also was obsessed with fashion, um, which I think still influences my style. And it kind of just evolved into everything. Would you remember a particular moment where you looked around and you were like, I believe that.

I'm really good at this. I mean,

Shea: sometimes I still question, but, uh, I think that I had a moment, it was after we had started studio McGee and I had finished my, it was my first ground up construction project from start to finish. a fully custom home in a really, uh, high end mountain home community here in Utah.

And when we finished the project, I mean, I had I had never designed, I mean, the homes that I design now, I don't bat an eye when I see there's 10 bathrooms in the house. But when I looked at those plans, I had never seen something that of that scale. And I was like, I I'm overwhelmed by one bathroom, how am I going to do this many?

And I did it. And I think just I did it. And it was getting so much response and positivity that I Every project, I build a little bit more confidence and I think that it comes naturally to me. I kind of get into a zone and I get really, really focused on things almost to a fault.

Jeremiah: Yeah.

Shea: Going back to school a little bit, I was going in and no one was talking about style. And that for me was a really big turning point. And when I realized. [00:20:00] I don't think I'm ever going to be the fastest at CAD and I don't think I'm ever going to be the person that can sketch the chair the best in this classroom.

However, I am showing up and I have a better understanding of textiles and materials and the way things like speak in harmony together.

Jeremiah: The rhythm.

Shea: Yes, exactly. And at that point, that was where my strong suit was. And then I needed to hire people to help make up for the areas because I can see the vision and I can feel it almost as you said, like a rhythm, like it just kind of, it just speaks to me and I just know instinctually what something should feel like.

And Or what I want it to feel like. And that wasn't being taught in school.

Jeremiah: I love that. It's kind of like this blend of instinct, passion, and blind excitement.

Shea: Just going for it. Yeah. Cause

Jeremiah: it's just true. I mean, yeah, at that point I remember so beautifully, I just had the audacity to try and I was like, well, if I fail, I'm going to fail, which I think is obviously still how I moved through the world.

Um, but it sounds so jealous of

Shea: that. Yeah. I'm so jealous of that. Really? I feel like you'd be that way. No, I, well, I have, no, I, I will stew over it for a long time until I feel the confidence and you're right. I haven't let anything stop me, but it takes me. I don't do it. Without a lot of, uh, maybe anxiety around it.

Jeremiah: Well, whatever you're working through, it's paying off. Can I ask you, you know, wanting to create a design firm is one thing, as I'm sure you've been asked a million times. But actually creating one, sustaining one, scaling one is really complicated. You know, for you, what tools were the most helpful in establishing your business?

Shea: I will say that scaling a design firm is really hard. Really, really difficult. And when Sid and I decided to go into business together,

Jeremiah: which we're going to talk about next,

Shea: okay, we'll talk about that next, but you know, our goal is actually to build a brand. We wanted to build a brand. We were less interested in scaling the design firm and more interested in building a brand.

We really wanted e commerce to be what we built and I love the design, but I love it so much that it's not. to scale that side of the business too much. I want to be involved in the projects. We tear out the projects. So I'm only involved in, um, a select few projects

Jeremiah: and

Shea: that is allowing me to. Have like a research lab of sorts.

I get to hear the feedback from clients. I get to see what our designers are pulling, what we're missing in the marketplace, what I wish was there and apply that to our e commerce business. The product side of our business is now much, much larger than our design firm. So it, it is about. McGee Co is 85 percent of our business and then we have licensed lines.

The design firm is smaller, but the best advice would be to start almost a tiered approach to growing designers. And if you, they start out as a junior and then they move up to, um, You know, just a designer level and then a lead level. They are getting the best training by just putting in the time. Mm-hmm

And learning from the designers who have worked closest with me, and that if you implement those stepping stones for people, it gives them something to aspire to, to grow into, and it also gives them more and more. Responsibility as they go on. And then of course, you know, there's tools like base camp and, um, gather and things like that to, to manage, to manage the projects, but it's really hard to just throw someone, even if they have a lot of experience into that lead designer.

Yeah,

Jeremiah: I know it's really hard.

Shea: You probably understand. I think it just, it takes real, it takes time for them to understand what the principal designer. And

Jeremiah: I have such a tremendous amount of respect for you and the way you've kind of carved out your time. It's so smart. I have not figured that out, but I would like to take a lesson from you today.

But you know, when you consider your business and all the different factions of what you do, you've got product to target. You've written two books. Do you manage the design firm? You partner with Netflix on Dream Home Makeover. How do you recharge yourself creatively?

Shea: Vacations are our love language as a family and for Sid and I.

So we realized early on that the only way to completely disconnect from all of the needs of the business was just like leave. You just got to run away for a second.

Jeremiah: Yeah.

Shea: It wasn't if we said, Oh, we're going to take a weekend at home, we'd end up on our phones, something about the physical, just leaving [00:25:00] the home for a second and going on a trip is how I can completely disconnect and engage with my kids and my husband, depending on You know, depending on the trip, but even if it's a two day trip, it's just something about leaving for a second.

So we really try to carve to carve out time for those.

Jeremiah: Do you guys have a favorite spot you go to?

Shea: Um, as a family, we love going to Alice Beach in Florida.

Jeremiah: Write that down.

Shea: Oh, you, you got, you need to go

Jeremiah: there. I've never been.

Shea: It's incredible. Yeah. So the area, it doesn't have hotels. It's all homes. And so Bobby McAlpine has designed so many of the homes and Jeffrey Duncan, so many homes.

So you can rent a home. You have everyone, they've designed them so that you can, like, everyone's got their own bedroom, bathroom, beautiful kitchen. I mean, the design, so the design alone is reason to go, but then you're steps away from like sugar, white sand and crystal clear blue water. And for me, it is.

our ideal family vacation spot.

Jeremiah: I love that. Speaking of husbands and vacation and spending time together, how is it working with your husband? Cause it's a tall order, but I'm interested to hear, you know, how it began and how it's been.

Shea: I started, it was, it was just me and an assistant. And when Sid and I So he left his, he left his job and he was working with family and was like adamant that he was never going to work with family again.

And yeah,

Jeremiah: that's usually how family business goes.

Shea: Yeah. So that was how that was going. And, uh, as he figured out his next project, you know, I said to him, well, you know, maybe you could help me on the operation side, just while you figure it out, you know, and he takes a look at what I was doing and was, you know, as a, was appalled one by my, how I was running my business, but to the fact that, you know, 80 percent of my time was spent doing the operations, it was ordering and it was communication and it was, and And then I had, you know, a little bit of time left to design.

And so I think he saw that as a personal challenge to, uh, free up time for more creativity. And so that's always been a huge part of our Philosophy as entrepreneurs and owning a design firm is take all of the weights that we can off of the designers plates operationally provide resources like project management and, um, those types of resources so that the designers can focus on what they do best.

And I think that that really came from the fact that Sid and I worked together so closely in the beginning, and he could see how much it was taking away from My ability to, to do, to create the, exactly. He also saw how antiquated the interior design industry was. I mean, it was 2013. I was still faxing things.

Jeremiah: They love a fact.

Shea: Yeah.

Jeremiah: My husband was still sending out printed checks. I'm like, who's printing checks anymore? Nate, you got to stop. It's time. So do you, you work together occasionally? No, I, some projects we work on together, but other, and then the TV show that we did for a while, we were together, but aside from that, we kept it separate.

Our firms, our styles are so different. And I think, you know, when I met him, this is such an overshare, but, um, you know, we were at such different places in our career, he was Nate Burgess and I was, you know, like a failed design assistant who had just started my design firm and had one person working with me.

So I worked really, um, consciously and expeditiously to build something separate from him so that we never, I was very proud. I didn't want him to be responsible for anything. So, but I will say doing the show, there is an intimacy working with your spouse that goes even deeper than being married with somebody.

How do you guys think that you figured out the balance with that? How do you compliment each other?

Shea: Sid and I are exact opposites in almost every single way. He's the fun guy. You're fun

Jeremiah: too. What are you talking about?

Shea: Um, I love to be around fun people and he, but he also is a lot more focused on operations.

He looks at something and immediately thinks, how can this be done faster, quicker, and you know, more efficient. And I'm like, how can we make it look fun? pretty ear. So that's the dynamic is there's a real push and pull. And I think for us, the reason it works really well is because we don't do each other shops because I trust fully that he is doing his side of the business and he's not going to jump in and Recommend a wallpaper to me ever.

It's just, you know,

Jeremiah: so jealous.

Shea: I will say I would, you know, I'd love to and maybe it's [00:30:00] I'd love to talk about this show. The show having a show and running a design firm is maybe one of the hardest things I've ever.

Jeremiah: Do you like doing it

Shea: to be honest?

Jeremiah: Yes. Give me the truth.

Shea: It was really tough.

Jeremiah: I know. This is the thing people don't understand.

Design television is really fucking hard for a lot of different reasons. What was so difficult for you? Which part?

Shea: Um,

Jeremiah: I mean, you and I could talk about this over cocktails for hours.

Shea: Yeah. Maybe next time in the city, I would say that. It's really hard because when you finish a project and you get that warm fuzzy and the clients are so happy and then you hear people say, I watched this show with my family.

I just, I almost melt. I, it makes me, it's so good. And I still, to this day, the show's not been, I mean, we haven't been filming for years and people are still saying, you know, it just, it makes me feel good inside when I watch your show and it's inspired me to make my home feel better. And I hear that and all of the hard things kind of seem to go out of the window until I really think about them again.

And it's so difficult because on our show, we only had throughout four seasons, there were only about four clients that were ours. Yep. And they're cast. So you're adding those onto your plate and those are cast for more around storyline than the home has good bones or the home, you know, the, the client has a budget that can hire a design firm.

And while that makes wonderful television, it, it creates a lot of complications on the backend and. I mean, the amount of money that I spent to just make projects

Jeremiah: look

Shea: suitable for television. Good thing I have a furniture business. I would, I would be just running to our house constantly to, you know, Oh my gosh, you know, we can't afford half, you know, half the things in here.

All the budget went to the finishes. Cause I don't want to be paying for a new kitchen for somebody, but I can go in and give dining furniture. Right. And so that was tough. But also When you're doing a show, you know, those producers approach this, like, this is the full time job now, but I still have another job, a couple of other jobs feels like that, you know, on top of it.

And so you, you understand that. And so when does that, when does that happen? The only thing. I mean, you only have so much time in the day, so there's a couple of things that happen. Either things get dropped or you delegate everything and you lose a little bit of touch with your business. And now that we're not filming the show, it's been really good for us to dive back into things.

And I think that in hindsight, I probably would only do a show again, if I was really selective about the formula and how long. The filming process was going to take, cause ours was a 10 month process and that's, that was a big commitment. I'm like, I want to be a judge. That's what that

Jeremiah: sounds like. That's what we should do.

Let's bring it back. We need a design star.

Shea: We need a design star situation. Oh my God.

Jeremiah: We've got two judges right here. Let's go.

Shea: Great. Great judges. Oh my God. We'd have a blast. And I love, and

Jeremiah: I love an in studio show because you just, yeah, I mean, listen, the thing that's really. complicated about design television, especially as yes, the best part of doing the design show, which we're done doing Nate and Jeremiah by design.

Now, after seven seasons, the best part was the stories and the fact that we got to come into people's homes as a family, like ours and share who we are. And people were lovely. And I think you can learn a lot in your living room and it can open up your heart. And your mind to things because there's nobody around you to tell you what to do.

You just get to experience. So that part was so beautiful and I loved the connection part of it, but yeah, you know, the thing about design television is it's just been so unrealistic for so long. Um, and you know, Especially for us, we wanted to create a show where people felt the design. And it wasn't just transactional where it was about flipping it and selling it.

And so it's harder and it takes longer and it's more, it's, it's, it's, there's a lot of layers to it, but it's not, it's not easy. And you're like, you said, it is such a time suck. And to kind of keep that going and then maintain everything else in the show up for everybody. And by the way, you have three kids.

So it's, I mean, we have two, which is enough. I can't even imagine.

Shea: Two very cute kids. They're so adorable. Same for you.

Jeremiah: I can't believe, your son's 10, right?

Shea: No, I have 3 girls. 11, 8, and 3.

Jeremiah: How's 11?

Shea: She's starting to become a teenager. Oh my

Jeremiah: god. Our daughter's 9 and I'm like, she's like, it's definitely, we're in like a new chapter.

But that's okay. Yeah. The conversations are a lot different. I'm like, a lot of questions, so many questions. I'm like, I don't remember feeling safe enough to ask these, but [00:35:00] here we go.

Shea: Yeah.

Jeremiah: How do you stay inspired with everything you're navigating?

Shea: I think the answer is same as how we recharge as a family or as a couple and that's traveling.

I just get so much inspiration from just leaving. and seeing and being inspired by the places I go. I also, I'm very inspired by fashion. And as you mentioned, I, I just, it comes first in my mind, it's, it's a faster moving industry. And so, uh, you know, I'm always looking to colors and shapes and materials and what's, what's coming, you know, if we're seeing a lot of red, You know, a year or two ago in fashion, inevitably it's going to be creeping into interior design soon.

And so that's a big part.

Jeremiah: It's so funny too. It usually is like that two year rule before it trickles into like the houses. So everything you've got going on, everything you've built. Where do you want it to go? Like, what do you see yourself? And like, ideally, and I wish I hate this question, but I'm interested to know just for you, like what's the goal for you?

Shea: So our goal is to build a company to the point where we can sell it. And we want to, if I'm just saying exactly what I want, I want to sell it, but I still want to be involved in the company from like a visionary perspective, but to take more of the day to day. Operational side off

Jeremiah: more space,

Shea: a little bit more space.

Jeremiah: I love that. Okay. Yeah. All right. Rapid fire questions. Do you have any heirlooms that have been passed down to you?

Shea: I don't have heirlooms that are passed down to me, but my grandma and my mom were really good about doing heirlooms. I mean, I guess they weren't necessarily passed down.

Jeremiah: Yeah,

Shea: I have a few pieces of jewelry from my great grandmother, who was a big traveler that was, that were passed down to me.

But my mom was really big about, you know, doing like this silver, like a true silver cup or a little spoon and things like that. And, and so I love those little treasures and those are things that will, you know, carry with my kids.

Jeremiah: I love that. What's the most interesting place that you've visited recently?

Shea: Well, we took the kids to London and Paris this past, um, spring break and that was their first time out, you know, in, in Europe. And that was really fun. But I would say that the most inspiring place I went recently was Mallorca. I was really inspired by my time there.

Jeremiah: That's so beautiful.

Shea: It was so beautiful.

And it just smelled like jasmine.

Jeremiah: And it was, how long did you stay for?

Shea: Uh, we were there probably eight days.

Jeremiah: Oh, my God. I'm so jealous. That sounds good. Have you been

Shea: have you been?

Jeremiah: I've been years ago. Um, but I need to go back.

Shea: You have to. I know these are rapid fire, but you need to stay at La Residencia.

It's the Belmond Hotel there. You will just

Jeremiah: be

Shea: in heaven. It's, it's, it's gorgeous. And the design is so thoughtful. And yes.

Jeremiah: Amazing. Um, what are you watching right now?

Shea: I'm watching a show called slow horses on Apple TV. It's like a, I don't

Jeremiah: know what that is.

Shea: Am I five kind of

Jeremiah: mystery?

Shea: Yeah.

Jeremiah: Nice. I'm watching housewives of orange County.

So it's really high. Oh,

Shea: nice.

Jeremiah: Yeah. Super high brow. And my husband's always like, Oh, great. Here we go.

Shea: Are you only orange County or no, no, I'm everywhere. Oh, you're okay. You're in salt lake too. Okay. Okay.

Jeremiah: Bye. live for Salt Lake. Um, and I, my, my dear tan, who is a friend of mine. Um, every time I visit him, I'm always like on the hunt for everybody.

He's like, they don't really live here. Don't worry. They

Shea: rent houses here. Yeah.

Jeremiah: Except for Mary. Yeah, I

Shea: mean, a couple of them do, I think, but, um,

Jeremiah: yeah, if you could become an expert instantly and something else, what would it be?

Shea: I have two things. One, I would want to be able to draw. Two, I, I picked up tennis as an adult and it's so hard to think, learn things as an adult that I wish I could actually really play.

Jeremiah: Tennis is so hard. I dated like in my twenties, I dated a tennis pro and he tried so hard. It's so hard to get me to learn. And I was so bad at it and I was good at sports, but I could not. Yeah. All right. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate the time. Thank you for doing this. I know you're super busy.

Shea: Yeah.

Jeremiah: I want to make a quick thank you to Shay. It's Always really fun for me to sit down with another creative. We don't get the opportunity to do it enough. She has built such an amazing company and she moves to the world with such thoughtfulness. It was an absolute pleasure getting to meet her. And I'd love to hear more about the special places and the pivotal moments in your life.

Be sure to post, comment, or tag us on Instagram at CAClosets. Thanks to the amazing team behind the scenes. This episode is produced by Rob Schulte [00:40:00] and Rachel Senatore at Sandow Design Group.