Chip and Joanna Gaines are a match made in renovation heaven. As we saw on Fixer Upper, Chip takes over the construction end of things while Joanna designs the place into a perfect haven. The results are incredibly impressive. Time after time, they wow us with their abilities. Even after Fixer Upper wrapped up, they're still churning out beautiful properties. You can't help but wonder if things work just as nicely when it comes to their own properties.
Joanna opened up to Country Living about their experiences transforming homes they've lived in. Before the farmhouse, the couple lived in 10 different homes! That's plenty of opportunities to hone down their process. Then again, each home is a little different. Sometimes, it was all Joanna, but on a few occasions, she let Chip take the reins. By the time they bought the farmhouse, there was only one request Chip had for their new home.
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Any seasoned Fixer Upper fan knows how Joanna and Chip team up to make magic happen. Chip handles the construction end of things, while Joanna handles design.
Once in a while, Chip finds himself offering opinions on the design side of things. So, you can see how he might have some interest when it comes to homes for their own family.
In a recent interview with Country Living, Joanna revealed that Chip is pretty easy to please when it comes to the homes their family occupies. There have been quite a few! The family lived in 10 different homes over the years, before settling down in their Waco farmhouse.
"Chip is the easiest client," Joanna explains. It's not just because she knows her husband well. It's because he only has one simple request of any space they live in.
"I would try to run stuff by him, but Chip was like, 'I really don't care. All I need is one little spot — somewhere where I can read the paper," Joanna explains. So, in each home, they carve out an area for Chip's downtime with the paper or sweet notes from the kids.
There have been a few homes where Chip's style felt more suitable than Joanna's. "Before the farmhouse, we've had so many other styles of homes, and so when one of the houses we were in was a little more rustic, I kind of let him [lead]," she said.
It comes naturally to Chip, who prefers that rustic style. "He's more rustic, that's kind of his style. He likes darker woods, darker stuff, so I let him do his thing there."
When it came to the farmhouse, Joanna knew she'd be taking the lead. The house was originally too small for their family of six, which has since become a family of seven.
Joanna was all about keeping the character of the home, built in the late 1800s, intact. She wanted to open up the main areas of the home to let some light in. "I chose whites and soft neutral tones in the farmhouse so that it would be a calm place for the family when life gets full," she explained on the Magnolia blog.
As their remodeling of the farmhouse progressed, the work they put into it started getting a lot of attention. Joanna felt the pressure for it to be perfect, but also realized the likelihood of it staying that way with four kids was slim to none.
It was an epiphany that a home should serve the family living in it and not vice versa. She took this new attitude and applied it to the farmhouse and her design book, Homebody.
In Homebody, Joanna reflected on the importance of this realization. "It was important to me that I create a home that invites my kids to be a central part of it, and that communicates not only to our family but also to any guest who enters that this home is for all of us."
Joanna definitely achieved a balance of family and drool-worthy design with their farmhouse. Every glimpse shows elements that are distinctly Chip and Joanna, while also showing that theirs is a home bustling with growing, inquisitive children having fun (without TV, to boot).
As for Chip, he got his little spot for reading and relaxing. "In our master, we have this fireplace and there's a little recliner and he sits there like an old man," Joanna explains. "That's his spot. That's where everyone can find him."
