Jessica Alba's $10 million Los Angeles home is a sprawling beauty with high ceilings, endless vistas of the surrounding hills, and a family-focused feel that immediately gives off a sense of coziness. The home where the entrepreneur and actress lives with her husband and three children is a perfect mix of old, new, beauty, and function. Alba and her children recently invited Architectural Digest into the home for a full all-access tour, granting a keen window into the life of this busy mom, businesswoman, and performer (via YouTube).
Albas' renovations on the home were extensive, modeling it into the perfect residence for her and her family, including a new foyer staircase and knocking out several walls and fireplaces to make room for large panoramic views. The home's soft, neutral-inspired color palette is a perfect backdrop for this busy family of five. Personal touches and an old-meets-new aesthetic transform the space into Alba's dream home, and it's easy to achieve a similar look in your home.
As the originator of the Honest line of eco-friendly and nature-inspired products, Jessica Alba's home reflects a similar abundance of natural materials, soft neutral colors, and simple design. Natural fabrics dominate the home, including soft cotton and linen coverings for furniture and beds. Wood, stone, and marble are scattered throughout, including pots of greenery and flowers. Once closed off with fireplace-laden walls, the back of the home has been opened up to views of the yard and lush landscape (via YouTube).
You can get this look by focusing on a soft, nature-inspired color palate. Creams, beiges, grays, and taupes blend to create a cohesive, seamless look. If you want a little more color, go for soft blues and greens found in nature, adding dots of colors in the form of greenery, fruit, and flowers. Natural materials allow for endless texture and dimension, so add as many layers to your décor as you like, including textiles, baskets, stone, and clay. According to House of Jade Interiors, the best way to add interest to an all-neutral room is through texture.
The key to making a large home feel intimate and personal is the unique touches, whether they are décor elements or personal memorabilia. Alba shows off her photo wall containing several generations of the family, one of the only things transported from her previous home, per YouTube. The photos vary in size and shape and are pulled together to create a cohesive gallery wall. The similarity of frames in the same color help keep it looking like a single, large work of art. Another personal touch that Alba mentions is the playset in the backyard that is a hand-me-down from a friend, fondly linking Alba's own children to the children who played on it before.
While everyone wants a stylish home, don't forget how important personal and sentimental items can be in tying you and your home to your personal history. Whether it's antiques or heirlooms, secondhand items from people you care about, or personal memorabilia that remind you of your heritage, find attractive and aesthetic ways to place these front and center in your home. If you are thinking of creating a photo gallery wall, there are a number of things to consider, according to Popular Science, including placement, size, and choice of photos.
Jessica Alba discusses her Pinterest inspiration boards several times during the tour with Architectural Digest (via YouTube). She describes pinning all her ideas and wishlists for creating perfect spaces, including her dream kitchen, which features a large butcher-block center island and a large breakfast nook. The mixing of old and new styles throughout the home can also be linked to Alba's love of Pinterest inspiration.
If you are designing a new space and are at a loss as to where to begin, seek out images on Pinterest or elsewhere that appeal to you and see if you can incorporate some of your favorite styles into your home. Seeing everything in one place on a physical or virtual inspiration board can offer an overview of the kind of things you keep pinning and what your end design goal may be, according to Greenhouse Studio. This works particularly well if you, like Alba, are blending styles together. You may find that certain elements and colors will crop up again and again that you might not even be thinking about until you notice the repetition.
Alba tells Architectural Digest that one of the defining features of her home is its kid-friendliness. This theme echoes not only through the décor of the children's rooms but also in how the rest of the home functions, according to YouTube. For example, Alba uses beautiful slipcovers on furniture in both the living room and dining room that are washable and easy to maintain. Other touches, such as toys and a yard appealing to children with a swing set and pool, define the home as a place where children are welcome to be kids. The children's rooms are similarly designed with their needs and desires in mind, including a wall of fairy lights and easily accessible bins for a playing toddler.
Decorating with children is sometimes a challenge, so think about how you can have a beautiful home that doesn't exclude some of its most important residents. Include children in the design planning if they are old enough, especially for their space, and find creative, useful solutions to problems such as toy storage, messy fingerprints, and spills. According to Havenly Hideaway, it is totally possible to have rooms that are both beautiful and chic but also kid-friendly.
Alba speaks of her love of juxtaposing new and old, including antiques, along with more streamlined modern color palettes and modern pieces. Her patio table boasts a modern, geometric look that Alba pairs with vintage French chairs. Gold candlesticks and antique pieces accomplish Alba's quest for an antique French look meshed with the home's modern Parisian apartment feel. The result is a contemporary look with a great sense of history (via YouTube).
This sort of contrast between old and new is one of the easiest ways to get a similar look in your home, according to Real Homes. Rather than decorating a room with all traditional furniture, consider some avant-garde and modern pieces to augment your rooms. These can be small or large. Bold or subdued. Opt for antique lighting fixtures and accent pieces in a contemporary design scheme. Or bring in modern, clean-lined pieces to mix with antique furniture that holds a sense of the past.