Revealed's Veronica Valencia On Infusing Family History Into Interior Design - Exclusive Interview

Interior designers always encourage people to have their homes reflect their life, experiences, and personalities. However, that may consist of more than choosing paint colors that make you feel calm and displaying objects that have memories attached to them. For Veronica Valencia, decorating your home is an opportunity to connect with your roots and make your heritage a cornerstone of the home's design. That, she believes, is the key to creating a home that feels truly personal.

Valencia has a long career as an interior designer, starting as a design assistant in Calabasas when she was 17. From there, her career took her behind the scenes, working on popular renovation shows, including "Extreme Makeover Home Edition." Now, she'll be in front of the camera for the first time on HGTV's "Revealed." As the interior designer and creative director, Valencia and her team renovate homes with their clients' family histories in mind. In an exclusive interview with House Digest, Valencia shares the exciting discoveries of researching family histories and infusing heritage into a home.

Over the years, you've worked for a lot of home renovation shows as behind-the-scenes. Can you tell me what it's like being in front of the camera for the first time and hosting your own show?

Yes. The energy reserved to host your own show was something that I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm so exhausted." I don't know if it's because of that, or because I have two little kids under five,. But I'm naturally a really hard worker. I'm one of four, I have two sisters and a brother, and my parents raised us to be the hardest workers, we all [love] working on stuff. I love the pace of television and I'm really quick when it comes to the design of it.

Being in front of the camera, it was interesting because I could make my own decisions. When I say that, whenever I work under a designer for television, I care so much about what their brand is, and I want to make some things that they're proud to share with the homeowners and put on television. This time, it was almost like the client was me. I was like, "What is your brand? What are you are going to put out there?"

That was probably the most interesting, because I was like, "Oh my gosh, the world's actually going to see this is me. I'm so used to being behind-the-scenes." It almost felt like one of my best friends was like, "Yeah, it's Lady Gaga and Sia. They were songwriters, and then all of a sudden, they were like, 'We're here.'" That's me right now, or getting comfortable with that, with something that I worked on.

Surprisingly, I love being in front of the camera, I love connecting with homeowners, I naturally thrive off of that. I'm a really big family person and I truly care about each of these homeowners and how they're going to live in their home. That's what I focused on.

Your design style focuses on tradition rather than trends. Do you have tips for how people can do that, use tradition to the trends while still maintaining their personal style?

For homeowners, for every one of my projects, I have everybody fill out a very long questionnaire that, as you know, I tell everyone about it. I love to know what your favorite flower is, your favorite music, your favorite design style and colors. I like to know exactly who you are as a person, and everybody wants to know different things about their family. Some people may know about their roots, but some people may not. It's all about not focusing on what's hot on Pinterest or TikTok. There's so many beautiful things on TikTok or Pinterest or Instagram, and for you to feel a true sense of belonging in your home, you must incorporate things that you feel connected to.

For me, it may be having my grandma's tortilla maker on my kitchen counter, or it may be a throw blanket in a basket that reminds me of my grandma. Aesthetically, it doesn't work in the home, but I still feel every time I stumble up in it, I'm going to think of my grandma. It could be as easy as incorporating a photo. I'm all about creating beautiful moments and memories in your home. It could just be to start on your console or start on your nightstand. What is something that makes you feel really happy?

I know this sounds crazy, but whenever I pick fresh jasmine or lilies, and I have them on my nightstand, that flower reminds me of my mom and being in the garden, and my grandma. That is something that is so little, but it makes you feel so close to who you are. Family's different for everybody, but it's like a therapy session. This whole show, there were two reveals, there was defining about your family, and then a beautiful home reveal.

Even though you focus your designs on traditions, what are some style rules that you like to break?

I'm kind of a rebel. I will put your fridge in your kitchen somewhere that is not [the] perfect triangle that they teach you in interior design school. I will do a built-in where you probably didn't think about it. I will put cabinets over windows and remove the back of the cabinet. If I'm like, "There's a gorgeous window there, and I want that natural light in here," but you need storage, I will give you a beautiful dining room hutch with lights shining through it. I will put shelves across windows.

I am all about ledges. Some people are like, "I don't like ledges, they collect dust." "No, you will like it if you're in your bath and you can reach over and put a beautiful vase, a flower, or a soap dish.

I'm very into the architecture and the design. It's interesting — working on "Extreme Makeover" back in the day, part of my job was to work with every local builder and design the home, work with their architecture. I was doing architecture, design, landscaping, interiors; my brain is operating on the overall creative vision of the entire house. Having that upbringing in television and design, I really focus on the family and break rules left and right.

I'm picturing a cabinet with light coming through. It'd be so pretty, backlit with pretty glasses.

Yes. You'll actually see that [in] the finale, because their house, at the Dillon family, they were someone that I was like, "You don't need to knock down this wall; we can incorporate more light in your home without taking down this wall." Their neighbor had done that, and they loved that floor plan. I put a dining room hutch and Dave Bohler, our builder, built a hutch, and we removed the back of it. It was this tall dining room hutch, they got storage, it elevated their entire home, and then they had a peninsula that had this wall that separated their kitchen and their living room lounge area, and there was no plumbing in the wall. I literally did a double-sided hutch.

When they're in their kitchen, she can grab dishes, but then in the living room when they're walking outside, it's a double-sided hutch. I'm all about the see-through, and the double-sided, and incorporating, I'm more about that than hidden things.

I know in a lot of shows, sometimes we'd incorporate a lot of hidden things or fun projects like that, but I'm all about trying and thinking about how to elevate and get back to the roots of architecture and classic things, and thinking about it, it's all really simple. You have to stare at one corner and work your way around the home.

Is there one feature that you think every home needs?

Natural light is so key. I understand that's an architectural thing, if you don't have the resources or funds to structurally add a window or whatnot, but natural light is so important.

Ambient lighting at nighttime, I am a fan of lamps everywhere — lamps in your kitchen, lamps in your bathroom. I've designed homes across [the] United States because of all of our makeover shows, and I have to make my hotel rooms feel like a home. I'm all about setting the vibes in your home. At nighttime, it's about the candles and the lights and things like that. A good vase of flowers and a nice lit lamp at nighttime goes a long way.

Like you said, you're not one for trends, but is there anything in the home design world that you're loving right now?

When I say "trends" ... that's a hard one because, when you're making over homes on television, part of my job is to forecast the trends. I have to be a trend forecaster, because when you watch the pilot episode in this series, that was done two years ago. These homes were done a year ago, and now people are going to see them, and they might be inspired by them.

I'm always trying to look back at classic things, whether that's wainscoting or shiplap or — I know a lot of people are like, "I'm over shiplap." I'm like, "I'm not. It's a beautiful thing." There are ways to make it you, like paint it a beautiful olive color, run it vertically. You can stick to classic design, classic things, and you can't go wrong. You can change your aesthetic with artwork or paint colors or things like that.

One of the things that I am loving is Roman clay. I will Roman clay my entire house, if I could, limestone, I love Roman clay. We actually did an entire kitchen; they love natural materials and things like that. I wanted their entire kitchen to feel like concrete, even their shelves. I was like, "Dave, I want to do concrete show." Tommy, my design partner on the show, we totally had this vision for everything, and Dave's like, "Why don't we build them out of wood, and then we can do Roman clay?" We did the same thing on the walls and it looked like this gorgeous concrete, shelving and this kitchen. We Roman-clayed the whole thing, even the cabinet fronts, and it was so beautiful. I'm a big fan of Roman clay.

You've talked a little bit about the upcoming projects. Did you have a favorite one that you worked on this season?

Oh my gosh, they're all so special. I had favorite ones. I had a returning client in Hancock Park. I did their first-ever family home when they got married, and then they sold that home. We did their forever home, and now they have two kids, a boy and a daughter, like myself. Working in this 100-year-old gorgeous home in Hancock Park, my design aesthetic was very aligned with the client. We're friends, but we both love design, love fashion. We both call ourselves coastal grandmas. I'm such the coastal grandma. I will wear my hat, and a button down, and have a basket of hydrangeas and walk around like that if I could.

Aesthetically, and working in that 100-year-old home, making it classic with beautiful limestone, and travertine came pouring. Everything was so gorgeous. That home, aesthetically, was really beautiful, and it was all about [how] their Jewish faith is really important to them, and Shabbat dinners. That one was crazy because I knew Lyor, the homeowner, and how important cooking was to her. 

We found this article, which was so crazy, and she didn't even know, but it was of her great grandmother, or her grandma, back in the day. it was an article [where] her grandma was featured in [an old] Kentucky magazine. It was her, and she was sharing her Israeli cooking recipes with the world.

I'm sitting here staring at the homeowner, and I'm like, "Your entire design and your kitchen, everything was all inspired by your love of cooking and tradition, and making Challah bread, and we were able to find this article." It was so crazy, for me, seeing the similarities of the homeowner and then realizing that the information that we showed them about their four times great ancestor, and they're identical. That was crazy.

Do you have any future projects in mind that you would love to do?

I could do this forever. I hope and pray for many seasons of "Revealed". However, I'm still in the TV world. I'll still be behind-the-scenes, working on all of these shows.

I hope people are inspired to incorporate more family in their home. I am a really big food person. I love food, I love family, and I love traveling too. That was my upbringing, traveling the world and designing in every state. That's something that's really fun that I love to introduce my children to.

Doing some projects out of state, and ... I want to manifest, I'm manifesting left and right. I manifested the show, I'm like, "Bring it on. Whatever the world wants to give me, let's do it!"

"Revealed" premieres tonight on HGTV at 10:00 p.m. ET, with new episodes airing at the same time on Thursday nights.

This interview has been edited for clarity.