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The doyennes of color-coded organization talk about the return of their Netflix series, expanding their merchandising arm and homes they’d love to tackle (attention, Meghan Markle!).

Netflix has no shortage of big personalities, but none are quite as colorful as decluttering gurus Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin. Despite a shared affinity for ROYGBIV, the stars of Get Organized With The Home Edit are a bit of an odd couple. Before going into business together, entrepreneurial Teplin was a lone wolf — while Shearer, who cleared out closets for a high-end clothing consignment business, was looking to partner up.

The California transplants, introduced by a mutual friend, established The Home Edit in Nashville as an organizing business in 2015. They’ve since expanded services to nine markets, amassed an Instagram following of 5.7 million, launched product lines at The Container Store and Walmart, released their Netflix series with producers Reese Witherspoon and Molly Sims, organized the homes of Eva Longoria, Neil Patrick Harris and Khloé Kardashian, published multiple books and a magazine — oh, and their company was acquired by Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine in February. Ahead of the April 1 return of Get Organized, the duo sat down in their West Nashville headquarters — a house turned office that’s perfectly neat and color-coded at every turn, of course — to talk about getting discovered on Instagram, adjusting to TV life and plans to ramp up merchandising.

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What have been some of the biggest changes since you decided to go into business together?

JOANNA TEPLIN Every year it’s a whole refresh of a company, unintentionally. When we started, it was just the two of us. We’d go on every organizing project. We did all of the jobs. We did all the scheduling, all the social media, every aspect of the business.

CLEA SHEARER We’re up to about 30 employees. Our business has so many businesses. We have all these verticals. We never set out to have a TV show, or multiple books, or multiple product lines, or all the things that are in our orbit. We were just organizers.

You said you never anticipated a show. How did that happen?

SHEARER I vividly remember being in the car, and we had an exploratory call with Hello Sunshine about creating original content for the Hello Sunshine [network of social media platforms]. I said, “Just out of curiosity, how did you guys hear about us?” And she said, “Well, Reese emailed and said you’ve got to get in touch with these girls on Instagram. They’re so …” And I literally cut her off. I don’t even know what the “so” was. I was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. I’m going to need you to repeat that.”

But, before that, Molly Sims also found us on Instagram, and we had done a small project for her second book. While we were at her house, Molly and her husband, [Netflix head of film] Scott Stuber, were like, “Wait a minute. These girls are a show.” So we kind of all joined forces and put mini episodes together called Master the Mess for the Hello Sunshine network. Shortly after that, we packaged it all up and took it over to Netflix.

It couldn’t have hurt that you already had a Netflix exec’s house under your belt.

SHEARER Yes, but it is church and state there. Scott picked us up in the lobby like the first day of school, and he walked us to the conference room, and he’s like, “Good going, ladies.”

What were some of the biggest surprises for you in the experience of filming?

TEPLIN We’re not actors, so we’re not used to it. I’d lived over 40 years without filming anything. So then to come into it at this stage of your life is strange.

SHEARER It took us a while. We have a job to do as organizers on the show. We just want to get in there and do the pantry or do the closet, and there’s so much more that goes into making a good television show.

How is season two different?

SHEARER Starting a new production with a new team, new cities. It’s like starting over.

TEPLIN It felt like we started at kindergarten again.

Are there any moments from the upcoming season that you’re especially excited for your fans to see?

SHEARER Let’s just say there is a big surprise.

TEPLIN No one’s pregnant.

SHEARER No, but don’t ruin it! Unfortunately for Joanna, she found out that, if I need to, I’ll use her body as a human shield.

And how does the human shield feel about this?

TEPLIN The human shield thinks it’s hilarious.

Are there any clients on your bucket list?

SHEARER Where should we begin? Michelle Obama, Meghan Markle, Jennifer Aniston, Martha, Oprah.

TEPLIN Beyoncé. All the female powerhouses, really.

Do you think about producing?

SHEARER I know that that is a natural extension. I don’t know how to do it, so I don’t know. I feel like I would need to read a book and would need some of our mentors to coach us. I never want to do something and not do it really well. I’m a perfectionist. I’d want to add value. I would need someone to be like, “This is how you do a good job with that.”

TEPLIN I feel like we could produce an organizing show that doesn’t have us in it, but I don’t know how I would produce a crime series. You know what I mean?

SHEARER I could produce a crime series. True crime is my secondary passion.

When you look back at that first meeting, what did you think your company would look like seven years later?

TEPLIN I knew that we would take Nashville by storm and do amazing work in people’s homes. I thought it would end there.

SHEARER I had slightly loftier aspirations. I knew that we’d make a splash on Instagram and social, if done correctly. It was a space that no other organizers were using, and it’s a visual type of work that we do. I really wanted to make sure that we had a significant social following, and I really wanted a product collection.

And how will Hello Sunshine’s acquisition of The Home Edit change your plans?

TEPLIN We’ve worked with Hello Sunshine and Reese for so long and are thrilled to be a part of a company that’s dedicated to empowering and celebrating women.

SHEARER This partnership will allow us to grow in bigger and faster ways than we could on our own. What we’ve created in these almost seven years is kind of remarkable, and we’ve put really good stakes in the ground in all the areas that we truly have passion and interest. We have our organizing services. We have our media and content that we create. We’re working on developing a podcast. We have our [product lines] section. I think that is where we look for the future, where to kind of pour gasoline on the fire and double down.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

This story first appeared in the March 30 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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