Joanna Gaines has a new class on MasterClass on Designing a Home That Tells Your Story, and I got a sneak preview of it before it went live on Nov. 26just in time for MasterClass Black Friday and holiday sales. Heres what you should know about it.MasterClass Designing a Home That Tells Your StoryNow 50% Off$120 $60 at MasterClassFirst, a little of my own context for watching the class: While I spend a lot of time writing about beautiful interiors for Country Living, I am not an interior designer, so I often feel unsure about decisions I make to decorate my own home. What size should a rug be for this room? How should I arrange this shelf? What color should I choose?Often for dcor guidance, I start with images of living rooms, bedrooms, dining spaces, and more I find online. But in this MasterClass, Gaines, founder of Magnolia, gave me confidence to start a different place in my design decisions: with my own story. Related StoryYour home isnt just where you live. Its a reflection of who you are and your story, Gaines says at the opening of the class. And thats her framework for the rest of what she shares over the next hour and 25 minutes (which goes by real fast!), as she gets more into the nuts and bolts of renovating and design decisions.Id forgotten that Gaines herself isnt formally trained in design either, but as we all know, she certainly knows how to do it well. In the class she walks you step by step through her design process and how to apply it to your own home. Its equal parts visual feast of images of her own projects that make you think, Yes, I want a room that looks like that! and practical instruction with tips (including budgetary ones!) to help you achieve your version of just the right room. In fact, after each section of the class, Gaines gives you bulleted home work points after to help you take your coaching home with you.One of the key ways Gaines makes design feel more doable is how she encourages you to develop a vision for a room that first starts with its functionality for your family (amen to that!)a point she emphasizes with stories of spaces in her own and how they practically work for their family of seven (and in the end, it looks real pretty too)and then how she encourages you to return to your design vision time and time again as you select each element of a room.As I watched the class, I was not only taking notes for this review but also thinking through my own living room, jotting down the words that best encapsulated my vision for it and thinking about ways those words can help guide me to find the right lamps, art, and other pieces I have gotten stuck picking out for most of this year. Maybe I could frame some of my classical music-loving husbands vinyl album covers? I thought as she talked us through finding objects to display that mean something to youaccents that are the soul to the room.Even though a lot of the class is centered on inspiring you to do your own dcor work, I appreciate that I also got a good dose of good ole before and after stories. Throughout its length, Gaines describes how her design process played out for several projects of different styles, including her own home and how it has evolved in its dcor over the years. In a way, these stories are all what we already know and love of Gaines and her style and her process, but this time they come with a framework that especially encourages you to try it for yourselfwith a Joanna Gaines level of confidence that you are the best designer for the space you spend time in and that, in the end, it should look like no one elses room but your own. To fully embrace all of those ideas and many more, I definitely recommend you watch the MasterClass for yourself. Annual memberships start at $120, but sign up now to take advantage of their Black Friday discounts of up to 50% off.Related StoriesMadoline Markham KoonceAssistant Managing EditorMadoline Markham Koonce is the assistant managing editor at Country Living and VERANDA, where she covers home dcor, shopping, travel, news, and culture. She began her career at Southern Living and previously worked in community journalismincluding serving as the editor of three community magazines she helped launch. She has an undergraduate degree in history from Rhodes College (and loves to tap her love of history in her writing) as well as a masters degree in magazine journalism from the University of Missouri. When shes not on deadline, you can find her baking or lost in a good book.