'Look for Opportunities to Create Symmetry and Then Break it' – Shea McGee Shares Her Trick to Creating a Perfectly Imperfect Living Room
According to Shea McGee, the secret to a stylish living room lies in knowing when to disrupt the rules
I'm currently in the middle of refining my living room layout. While the final pieces are still coming together, I know I want it to be layered, mismatched, and cozy. Much like it was designed by Shea McGee herself.
So, when Shea took to Instagram this past week to share her tried-and-tested tips for creating a perfectly imperfect living room layout, it struck a familiar chord. As Shea well knows, the key to nailing your furniture scheme (particularly in 2026) lies in a delicate balance between symmetry, asymmetry, and finally ditching matching sets.
Here, Shea talks us through her own design process for creating calm and balance in a living room – with a little help from her latest collection.
'When you're designing with symmetry, it's actually important to then break the symmetry,' Shea says in the video, showing us a charming living room that features items from McGee & Co.'s Spring 2026 Collection.
Symmetry is often seen as the key to bringing calm and balance to the perfect living room layout. It gives the eye something orderly to focus on – think matching furniture sets, perfectly paired lamps, and mirrored joinery. But Shea is quick to point out that when symmetry can actually start to feel overly formal – or worse, a little flat.
'So, if I have a room like this [referencing the living room in the video] and I have pairs of chairs on both sides of the room and even a pair of ottomans – I am looking to break it up in some way.'
One of the most effective ways to do this is by mismatching furniture rather than buying into identical sets.
'So, see how I used two different styles of chairs here?' she explains of the layout above. 'If I had done four [matching chairs], I think it would've felt a bit overwhelming and too perfect.'
With its tailored upholstery and dark wood frame, this vintage-style chair brings structure and softness in equal measure. Its clean-lined silhouette makes it an ideal anchoring piece within a living room layout, while the woven detailing and generous cushions ensure it never feels too formal.
Upholstered in velvet and finished with playful fringe, this sweet ottoman adds texture, movement, and a touch of retro charm to your living room or bedroom. As Shea demonstrates, introducing a piece like this is an easy way to break up symmetry and create a layered look.
Softly curved and petitely proportined, this armchair offers a gentler silhouette alongside more angular pieces in the room. Its subtle button tufting and plush seat cushion invite comfort, while its classic form ensures it blends seamlessly into a mixed seating arrangement.
It's a good reminder that creating a sense of cohesion doesn't have to mean really obvious repetition. Instead, Shea mixes chair styles placed around the coffee table to break up the obvious symmetry and monotony of matching sets.
The same thinking applies to smaller pieces, too. Rather than flanking the sofa with matching side tables, Shea deliberately opts for variation. 'And then also, if you look at what I did next to the sofa, I kept the side tables asymmetrical!'
This styling choice prevents the room from feeling staged, while still maintaining the principles of interior design through scale, proportion, and balance.
But while it sounds like an easier and freer way to pull together a scheme, it actually requires careful curation to create the perfect mix. Here, Shea uses a red thread of tones and textures that are repeated in the soft furnishings, throw pillows, wooden accents, and objects to create a more layered, collected scheme that still feels curated by a designer's eye.
'So look for opportunities to create symmetry, and then after you do that, look for ways to break the symmetry,' she suggests, advising you to use symmetry as a guide and then soften it with thoughtful mismatches and little asymmetric tweaks that make the space feel layered, inviting, and imperfect in all the right ways.
Shop the Look
For those inspired to recreate the look, the living room from McGee & Co.'s Spring collection shows how thoughtfully chosen pieces can work together without matching outright. From mix-and-match seating to the collection of throw pillows, each element plays a role in creating this characterful scheme.
The anchor piece of Shea's Spring living room is this chic slipcovered chair. It provides a relaxed foundation for the entire scheme, and that pile of mismatched pillows, while giving clean lines and effortless, lived-in comfort.
Hand-block-printed with an intricate floral motif, the Ginny pillow introduces pattern and texture to the seating area. It’s these smaller, softer details that help nod to other textures, tones, and prints elsewhere in the room, adding cohesion and a collected feel.
Both practical and decorative, the Ashcroft tray brings an organic warmth to the marble-topped coffee table. Its woven texture softens harder surfaces and adds another layer of visual interest, whether styled atop an ottoman or coffee table.
Sculptural yet understated, this old-meets-new coffee table introduces contrast through material and shape. Its slender iron base and stone top keep the room feeling modern, while its organic curves disrupt the straight lines of surrounding furniture.
Thanks to its softly shaped ceramic base and neutral linen shade, this table lamp adds warmth and ambient light without competing for attention, making it ideal for asymmetrical styling on side tables.
With its faceted pedestal and rounded top, this unique side table brings interest and depth to the seating area. Crafted from richly finished wood, it grounds the room while adding character and depth.
Designing a well-balanced living room layout is of course key to making the room feel right, but as Shea explains, it can often look a little too staged. By starting with symmetry and then intentionally disrupting it, she creates a space that feels calm yet characterful, polished yet personal – and makes it super easy to recreate in the process.
