Revealed's Veronica Valencia On The Natural Material She Loves For A House Project - Exclusive

For Veronica Valencia, home is more than a place that houses your belongings, more than a place where you can hang your hat. Valencia, who stars on HGTV's "Revealed," believes that home is a place that should connect you with your history and your heritage. "It's all about not focusing on what's hot on Pinterest or TikTok," Valencia explained in an exclusive interview with House Digest. "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."

Valencia has been working behind the scenes on TV renovation shows for over 15 years, with "Revealed" being her first time in front of the camera. Her long career has given her a plethora of experience. While she's not one to indulge in trends, she does have to act as a trend forecaster. An episode of "Revealed" featured one of her favorite materials to use in home designs: "One of the things that I am loving is the Roman clay. I will Roman clay my entire house if I could ... I love Roman clay," Valencia said. Her thinking outside the box and trend forecasting hints that Roman clay might just be the next big thing.

HGTV's "Revealed" focuses on heritage, but that doesn't mean the show isn't also putting design at the forefront — and Veronica Valencia is a self-proclaimed design rule-breaker. In an episode of the show, she uses Roman clay throughout the entire kitchen for clients that love natural materials.

"I wanted their entire kitchen to feel like concrete, even their shelves," Valencia explained. "I was like, 'Dave, I want to do a concrete shelf.' 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?'" Roman clay is a lime-based plaster that's applied to interior walls or features that provides a chalky, natural stone texture; the material is much cheaper than stucco and concrete.

The material provides a finished look that appears like the features are carved from natural rock. "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," Valencia said.

If you're going to use stunning natural materials like Roman clay in your home design, it's important to properly illuminate the space. For Veronica Valencia, natural light is one of the most important elements. "Natural light is so key," Valencia told us. "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."

Valencia will always come up with creative ways to ensure natural light throughout the space. In another episode of "Revealed," she created a double-sided hutch to place in front of a window in the dining room to provide storage and allow the sunlight coming through the window to brighten the whole space.

Creating a vibe is essential for Valencia to make a house feel like a home. "Ambient lighting at nighttime, I am a fan of lamps everywhere — lamps in your kitchen, lamps in your bathroom. 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."

Catch new episodes of "Revealed" on HGTV at 10:00 p.m. ET on Thursdays.