Honest Renovations: Jessica Alba & Lizzy Mathis' Top Tips For A Functional Home Design - Exclusive

Having children in your household completely changes how you use your living space. Whether you're a new parent adjusting to the sudden change of life or have a growing family, a home's aesthetic often needs to be sacrificed in the name of function. However, this doesn't always have to be the case. In their Roku Channel series "Honest Renovations," Jessica Alba and Lizzy Mathis help families marry the practical needs of a family home with style.

For the show's second season, the pair put the knowledge they learned during the first season and their personal experiences as parents to work. Each episode will continue the show's mission of helping families tackle the difficult task of making a magazine-worthy home functional for each family's needs. In an exclusive interview with House Digest, Alba and Mathis shared tips on making a home bespoke for your household while still achieving an attractive result.

There's a large focus in your show on storage and organization. What's the biggest piece of advice that you would give to families that are struggling to make the most of their space?

Lizzy Mathis: Be creative. Be creative in where you find the space. Because normally we look at just square footage and we look at what's an open wall or what's an openness, and what's the biggest piece we can find to fit the most stuff in ... But I think there's also very creative ways to do storage, and I think when you watch this season especially, you'll see a lot of creative options that we discovered to hide things and have organized space for things. And in the most random places – we put a whole homework station for four kids who are in high school ... in the bottom of a bench in the kitchen — and that's somewhere you would have never thought to have that space before. And so, just being open-minded and creative about where you might be able to have storage spaces within the home.

Jessica Alba: And I think if you can't fit things behind a cabinet, just make them beautiful, color-code them, make it so once, if it is out in the world, your baskets can all be color-coded. You can label things and you can really make it aesthetic so it doesn't feel like an eyesore. 

What are your top tips to keep the home from spiraling out of control when you're dealing with a busy schedule, especially as a working parent? 

Alba: I think cleaning up as you go. I think not pushing it off for tomorrow; don't let it get out of control. Don't be like, "Okay, Saturday will be our spring-clean day." No. Every day, as you go, put things away right away. And it just makes it easier so it doesn't get so piled up. Because once it's piled up, it's overwhelming.

Mathis: And make it a family activity. At the end of the evening when everyone's finished and right before everyone goes to bed and the bedtime routine begins, fold up the blankets in the living room, put away the toys in the living room. Make sure your things go back into your baskets. I think like what she said, it's just important to make it a routine and make it something fun that everyone knows this is what we're going to do before we brush our teeth. And if you make it a routine, then they'll just begin to know, and it'll be something that once again, they can carry on throughout their lives.

What quick tricks would you recommend for readers that might not have time for a full-scale renovation?

Alba: I think paint ... And I think color washing ... something that people don't really think is a thing. It's such a thing if you can get your trim, your wall, and your ceiling all one color and color wash. And if you don't have an exciting wall unit or dresser and it's up against the wall and it's not really here or there, you can sand it, and you can also color it the same color as the wall, and all of it just can really kind of blend in.

Mathis: Blend in. Create the illusion.

Alba: And it makes the room just feel so much bigger.

Mathis: Also, another thing is if you really are tough on time or crunched for budget, sometimes literally just changing out your accessories. Lamps, pillows, candles, whatever it is for the seasons, adding fresh flowers. I mean, these are very, very minimal touches that can make a huge difference.

Alba: We have our holiday pillows and throw blankets that are kind of fluffy, and they're red, and they're a little bit ... they're cozy, and they're just thicker. And the kids get excited when they come out, but we vacuum-seal them up, put them away.

Mathis: When you get new little pillows on your couch or whatever, it's the best feeling because you're like, "Oh, this couch looks brand new." And it's just like, something that tiny makes you feel like you got something really big, but you really just went and got pillows.

Many of the pre-renovation homes on your show are examples of how the needs and desires of your kids completely take over your home, especially as your family gets bigger and bigger. How do you balance both the kids' needs and the parents' needs in a space?

Mathis: I think that it's about having very dedicated spaces for each. I think one of the biggest things that every parent – I guarantee you – at some point goes through is "why does my living room look like their playroom?" And you wake up one day and you're like, what is happening? You don't even want to have people over anymore. It's like, "I'm stepping on cars and stuffies on my way to watch TV." It's just a whole thing. And I think having dedicated spaces for their belongings, whether it be in their room or ... In the show, Jess, I remember, shows a part of a media cabinet, where you can have a diaper station or where you can have some toys for the kids in a beautiful basket. Even if it's within the space that you would consider adult, having dedicated baskets or spaces for kids' belongings, and then also having your own dedicated space. Your bedroom and your bathroom are not kid spaces, and that's okay. They can come and join you in those spaces, but it shouldn't be kid-central. And so making sure you make those distinctions I think is important.

Alba: Yeah, the family spaces are also not kid zones. And making them, really, honoring the fact that, hey, you have this stuff, it's awesome that you love to play, but it's also even better when you put it away when you're done ... And cleaning up is important and it also teaches them that responsibility, and I think it's something that they can carry throughout their life.

Do you have any recommendations for how families could more directly involve the kids when they're designing their own spaces?

Mathis: I love that idea. I think that when kids can be included, if you are the type of parent who can allow the child to be included in the design process ... then I think that it's a cool thing for them to have a say in certain things and maybe they can decide what color their baskets are. I mean, obviously, depending on what age the children are as well, but if they're younger, maybe they can decide what color their baskets are. Maybe they can decide what toys or items come into the living room space inside of a cabinet and what stays in their room. Maybe if they have artwork, we've always been really good on incorporating kids' artwork into family spaces, and so that's where they can feel a part of it. I think there's little ways that you can always bring the kids into a space that you design.

What did you learn while filming Season 1 of "Honest Renovations" that you've been able to incorporate into Season 2?

Mathis: I think we learned a lot in Season 1. I mean, listen, Season 1 was our first time doing several homes at one time. And so for us, it was, we were learning on the curve kind of like how to make this work and how to make sure that we were being efficient with not only our time, but also the designs, and really taking the families needs to heart. Season 2, we're a well-oiled machine at this point. We know exactly how to get in there, be efficient, make sure we're incorporating everyone's needs and the transitions that's happening in the family. And you'll see that come out. You'll see us just be able to go in there and really create gorgeous, beautiful, functional, aesthetically pleasing designs that are made and tailor-fit for that family. And I think that you're going to really enjoy the banter, and Jess and I.

Alba: Peanut butter across. We have really specific aesthetics for each family, depending on who they are and how they want to show up in the world or how we see them, because sometimes they don't totally see themselves in their fullest expression and we're like, "We see you."

Mathis: Yeah. We're good at being able to be like, "You don't need that. It is not what you need." So that's something that's-

Alba: Let's level up. Yeah, exactly.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Season 2 of "Honest Renovations" will premiere on The Roku Channel on August 23.