Honest Renovations

Honest Renovations

show

NR, 2023

WISE
83%

WISE Score

7.4

IMDb

Jessica Alba and Lizzy Mathis redesign homes for overwhelmed parents while swapping real, unvarnished stories about raising kids.

IMDb7.4
Common Sense Media
Where to Watch
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Screenwise Verdict

Honest Renovations takes the standard home makeover formula and grounds it in practical reality: parenting is hard, and your living space often absorbs that daily chaos. Hosted by Jessica Alba and Lizzy Mathis, the show pairs functional home redesigns for growing families with candid, unscripted chats about the mental load of raising kids.

It is not content engineered for kids, but it is calm, clean, and practical. If older kids end up on the couch while you are watching, it opens up surprisingly cool doors to talk about family routines, spatial organization, and what actually goes into running a household.

Age Fit

Aimed squarely at adults, but totally safe for kids of any age. Tweens and teens interested in interior design or architecture will find the reveals satisfying.

WISE Breakdown
Wholesome
88

Focuses on helping overwhelmed families reshape their living spaces while fostering honest, supportive conversations about raising kids.

Imaginative
72

Features practical spatial problem-solving, architectural redesigns, and creative interior decorating tailored for family chaos.

Safe
94

Exceedingly mild and constructive reality TV. No gratuitous drama, violence, profanity, or inappropriate content.

Enriching
80

Validates the hidden mental load of parenting and demonstrates how physical environments impact family well-being and daily stress.

Parent Info

Why It Might Be Great

  • Normalizes parenting burnout: Instead of glossing over the mess, hosts dive into postpartum stress, storage overwhelm, and daily routines.
  • Functional design fixes: Focuses on spatial hacks for real household chaos (nursery transitions, multi-kid storage) rather than just luxury aesthetics.
  • Warm, empathetic vibe: High on genuine connection and mutual support between parents, making it a soothing background watch.

What to Watch For

  • Adult topic discussions: Candid chats about postpartum body changes, birth experiences, or relationship strain after having kids might prompt questions from observing tweens.
  • Design obsession risk: May inspire your kids to start aggressively critiquing your kitchen layout or asking to knock down hallway walls.

Conversation Starters

  • "Which home makeover changed how the family actually lived, not just how the rooms looked?"
  • "What spot in our house feels like it causes the most daily bottleneck or friction?"
  • "How do you think bringing home a new baby changes how a family uses their space?"

Deep Dive

Why a home makeover show hits differently for parents

Most home design television operates on aesthetic fantasy: knock down a wall, install an oversized marble island, and pretend nobody has plastic toys cluttering the floor. Honest Renovations flips that priority list. The design choices center squarely on how a space functions for exhausted parents—tackling storage bottlenecks, nursery transitions, and shared multi-kid bedrooms.

The value of watching adults talk about real work

While kids are not the core target demographic, watching adults navigate home organization and parenting stress is surprisingly grounding for older kids. Seeing real parents admit that bedtime is overwhelming or that messy spaces create anxiety gives kids a peak behind the curtain of household management. If you are looking for a low-stakes, constructive show to put on while folding laundry or relaxing on a Sunday, this fits the bill without any manufactured reality TV drama.

What Parents Ask

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