The Magnolia Story (with Bonus Content)

by Chip Gaines

  Mark: Just to be clear, all the clients on the show are real clients?

  Joanna: Yes. They authentically come to us, because we really are known for doing this work in this town. So when they come to us now we say, “Hey, do you want to be on the show?” The production company also does casting calls. But it’s got to be people that have their own money to spend on a real renovation.

  Mark: Great. I know your goal is to keep it within the Waco area. Is that continuing still?

  Joanna: We don’t go any further than thirty minutes outside of Waco. That’s a choice we made. Some people, even before our first season, told us that would change. I honestly think before our first season we didn’t know what it would turn into—because Waco is such a small market.

  Mark: That’s what I’m wondering. Are there enough properties and clients close by to keep you going?

  Joanna: Absolutely. We basically said, “We can’t travel.” Our number one priority is our family, our home, our children. The idea of traveling would really compromise that, and so we just told them from the beginning, “We’re not traveling.” And it’s worked—we’re going into season four! It’s exciting that we’re not running out of houses in the Waco market, and it’s really fun that we don’t have to travel.

  Mark: As it stands now, do you have more clients than you could ever tackle?

  Joanna: At this point we’ve had to basically turn down any renovation outside the show, because of the demands of the production schedule. Right now we’re doing eight houses at one time. So we’re not only managing the construction of those eight houses, we’re also filming and designing. So it’s a big beast. If we accepted outside jobs, it would be a disservice to those clients, really.

  ON CHIP’S FEAR OF THE CAMERA>>>

  Mark: You mentioned once to me that right from the beginning, you were uncomfortable on camera during that first . . .

  Chip: Oh, gosh, and I mean, the worst, man. Long story short, years and years ago before the show, probably I’d say two or three years before the show, one of the local news channels called us up out of nowhere. “Hey, this is such and such local news. You guys are doing some really neat things in town. We wanted to talk to you guys about energy efficiency, etc. etc.” These dudes rolled over to my house and I had an actual nervous breakdown. And I’m talking about the local news. That should’ve been some indication that this business wasn’t for me.

  Joanna: I had just had a baby and I was hiding in the room. I didn’t want to be seen, and I definitely didn’t want to be interviewed.

  Chip: I mean, a real-life nervous breakdown.

  Joanna: When they called, Chip thought, Oh, I can do this, and he started talking on the phone about energy efficiency in homes, answering all of their questions.

  Chip: It’s not like I’m the type of person who’s gonna say, “Hey, I’m going to suck and I’ll just give you a heads up. Find somebody else.” I was going, “Bro, this is my deal. I’m going to be awesome. I’m going to set the local news on fire. You just meet me here at 8:30 Tuesday afternoon and we will go to work, man. Me and you, we’re going to make some great television.” I swear to you, I bragged.

  Joanna: Once the camera arrived, I hid in the bedroom with my ear pressed up against the closed door listening to the interview, and the guy was asking Chip a question . .

  Chip: Just a simple question.

  Joanna: And all I could hear Chip say was, “Uh, uh, uh . . .

  Chip: They were easy questions! “Tell me something that an average homeowner could do to save money on their energy bills?” And I went, “Uh . . . uh . . .”

  Joanna: I opened the door and Chip is sweating profusely. He looked at me . . .

  Chip: I couldn’t breathe.

  Joanna: . . . with this deer-in-the-headlights look, like, “You’ve got to take my place.” I shut the door and I’m like . . .

  Chip: I walked right into that room and told Jo she had to do it.

  Joanna: Meanwhile, I’m in my pajamas. And, again, had just delivered a baby.

  Chip: Yeah, yeah. With a three-day-old. It wasn’t like a one-month-old. This was a brand new baby. We had gotten released from the hospital like two days before.

  Joanna: So we’re fighting in the room. He’s saying, “You’ve got to do it!” I’m saying, “No, you do it!”

  Chip: I begged her, “Jo, I am not kidding. Go out there.”

  Joanna: He was really freaking out. I heard the camera man say something along the lines of, “Wow, you were really talkative and confident on the phone. I didn’t know this was what it would be like in real life.”

  Chip: Yeah.

  Joanna: He was mad. At one point he even put the camera down and said, “I can’t get the interview.”

  Chip: He started dogging me out to the local news agent. He goes, “Is this guy serious? He didn’t sound like this on the phone.” Meanwhile, I’m sitting right there. Normally, I don’t take personal putdowns very well, but I’m just thinking, I mean, he does have a good point. We went on and on. But I swear to you, it was on the news that night. Neither of us watched it.

  Joanna: At one point, they showed Chip screwing in a lightbulb, and he kept going the wrong way! He knows how to screw in a lightbulb, but in that moment, his hands were shaking. I kept saying, “Pull yourself together.” I’ve never seen my husband that nervous.

  Chip: Public speaking has never been a deal that’s bothered me. I’d go on stage, go up on a pulpit, maybe a group presentation in college—any kind of public setting and have a ball. It just never dawned on me that I had an actual phobia of cameras, but that news interview sort of triggered it. Then these people came to Waco to shoot our “sizzle reel,” to see if we could get ourselves a TV show, and it was the same thing. I mean literally, Jo, is in our house, walking around with all four of our beautiful babies hanging off of her, scared to death of these cameras. And I am behind the camera talking to the camera guy, going, “Tell me what kind of equipment this is. That’s really neat. That’s fascinating,” because I knew as soon as I stepped in front of this thing, I’d put my tail between my legs like a freaking scared dog.

  ON USING ANTIQUE PIECES, AND THE BEAUTY OF STICKING TO THE BASICS>>>

  Joanna: A piece of well-worn antique furniture in almost any room is just gonna connect with people. I don’t think a lot of people realize that it’s in all of us, in some way. There is a piece of history that we all kind of long to go back to. A simpler time. I think that’s where I’m hoping these pieces really speak to people. They don’t even really know it, but they’ll ask, “Why do I love that piece?” Well that piece is one hundred years old, and there’s something about that. There’s history, and that speaks to them.

  Chip: Even the idea that the inspiration for a piece could be from something that’s one hundred years old.

  Joanna: Exactly. Even that. I think with our designs and trying to do these brand-new renovations, we’re always incorporating interesting antiques and unique pieces so that these homes don’t feel like brand-new spec houses.

  Chip: Even subway tile. Subway tile, in its most basic idea, is really the cheapest product in the world. It’s not a high-end type of product.

  Mark: No, not at all. That’s why it’s all over New York.

  Chip: That’s what I’m saying. You go to any bakery that ever inspired you. You go to France, and you see some guy making bread, even in cool restaurants, you see their kitchens filled with the stuff.

  Joanna: That’s why I love it, because of the timelessness . . . you’re not seeing chevron tile patterns from one hundred years ago.

  Chip: Or even the glass mosaic stuff. Again, done in a way that really reminds you of the classics is awesome. But at the end of the day, if you’re doing something very “current” or “trendy,” two years from now, you’re gonna freaking hate that stuff. It’s gonna drive you nuts! It’s almost like the shag carpet thing in the ’70s. People that did it weren’t like, “Hey, let’s go be dumb.” They were like,
“This stuff is great! It’s gorgeous!” Big picture, it held nasty dust in there. It was just bad for your health. It was a bad design. It was bad for everybody. People go with these trends, despite their rationale behind it. We almost want to set some kind of a standard that’s almost opposite of that. A buddy of mine told me, “There’s nothing special about y’all. I think the idea is that you’re normal. When people watch you they literally think, I could go drink a beer with that guy. I could go hang out with that couple. They look fun. You know? Sort of everybody’s best friend. The real breakdown of that is the idea that we’re not doing anything drastic. It’s pretty simple, almost . . . girl-next-door kind of concepts.

  Mark: Well, again, it gets back to this taking inspiration from the past, rather than . . .

  Chip: . . . rather than whatever the hottest trend is.

  Mark: Right. The hot new color. Every season, it seems, it’s just like the fashion industry.

  Joanna: As renovators, we know that costs money. Why would I want to encourage my client to do the new hot color? Then in a year, she’s painting the walls again.

  Mark: Were you ever that person, grabbing the hot new color, in your own life?

  Joanna: I feel like with fashion I’m a creature of habit. I’ve done my makeup the same way since I was twelve—since I was allowed to wear makeup.

  Chip: Except for that red lipstick you wore.

  Joanna: I did that for two weeks. I just think I’ve just always liked classic. So I would always rather go the classic route. I’ve always had long hair. It’s like I find something I like, and I stick with it. Ironically, that’s how Chip is too. He’s had the same pair of boots since we’ve been married, same pair of jeans since we’ve been married, same stupid white shirt since we’ve been married. We are creatures of habit. We find something we like, and we . . . you really look at me from twelve—my eyebrows have changed, but really I look kind of the same.

  Chip: Oh, I agree with that.

  Joanna: These jeans I’ve had for eight years. You know what? Right now, these jeans aren’t really in because they’re flare, and they’re not skinny jeans, but I guarantee in a year, these are back. But I think that’s the point. We spend too much of our lives like, “Okay! Here’s a trend!” We all know the feeling of that. But we finally came to a place of . . .

  Chip: “Hey. I’m kind of tired of chasing that trend.”

  Joanna: We realized it costs money. It costs time. It really creates a sense of discontentment. We were finally like, “Hey. You know what? These boots work. I don’t need the newest, hottest for the season.” Same goes for design.

  FINDING INSPIRATION IN YOUR SPACE>>>

  Chip: You’re on a farm. So there’s a farm lifestyle. There are things that you’re inspired by there. But then somebody with an apartment in New York City could be inspired by the same thing, building around his or her sensibility. The idea that a guy in New York literally takes his little potted plant and walks out on his balcony and . . .

  Joanna: He gets the same reward and inspiration that I get planting a whole greenhouse full on my farm.

  Chip: He’s still doing this thing. It’s in this city that never sleeps, the concrete jungle, New York. He doesn’t have forty acres, of course. We get that. He doesn’t have any cows. He doesn’t have any chickens. But he goes to the farmers’ market, and he appreciates the idea that he’s getting his stuff organically from some local producer. He’s got his little potted plant that might be a tomato plant. He pops those things out and throws them in his salad, and he gets a feeling, similar to the accomplishment we get here on our property.

  Joanna: Or it’s creating a space of inspiration. For Chip, it’s tending to the farm animals. For me, it’s the garden. For you, it could be a nook in your apartment with a chair and a lamp and a cozy blanket. It’s just creating . . . finding that place to go back to for inspiration, without getting caught up in the piles of paper waiting on your desk and the rat race. For us, we have identified what it is that works for Chip. I’ve identified what works for me. We’ve made that happen. If it is gardening that inspires you in your apartment, do what that guy does. But if it’s reading in a nook, create that and really . . .

  Chip: Own it, to some extent.

  Joanna: People don’t realize what it is that makes them tick. It’s like the older you get, hurry up and figure that out, because you’re gonna live a more fulfilling life once you figure out what it is that really inspires you.

  Chip: It’s also like, don’t worry about it. Don’t be so freaked out that what inspires you isn’t what inspires your eight buddies that are sitting next to you.

  Joanna: We’re all so focused on what is inspiring everybody else. It goes back to the trends of things. We get all caught up in it, and then we pretend we’re inspired by it, but really we’re all just acting. It’s better to just own it. Love what you love. That’s the whole point of what I do at home. I like the farmhouse look. If you like black walls, then paint your walls black and own that. Don’t look in magazines and get inspired by what everyone’s doing with the new shade of teal. I think it’s the same thing with lifestyle. If this inspires you, and it’s not the latest trend, guess what? You’re gonna be above and kind of ahead of everybody else because you’re sticking with your gut. I think as a society, we’re all scared to stick with our gut because we wonder, What are people gonna think? Am I gonna look like the oddball? Well, those oddballs are the people that typically change the world—the ones that are going with their gut and not going with the next trend. I think that’s why we love the farm. It’s because we finally settled in this place of, “This is what inspired us from the beginning.” It’s what inspired Chip as a young kid. It’s what inspired me as a young girl, in my daydreaming. This isn’t a lifestyle we’re trying to push on people. It’s just more the idea of finding what it is you love and what inspires you, and stick with it.

  ON FINDING A SENSE OF STYLE>>>

  Mark: Are there projects that take you really far away from your own design sensibilities?

  Joanna: What I struggle with the most are the clients who say, “I want what you did on this other house!” I try to say, “Well, let’s do something different.” “No, no, no,” they’ll say. “I want that exact same specific style.” So sometimes I have to figure out what it is they really liked about something I’ve done in the past. I want to give that to them because, honestly, it’s their money, it’s their investment. So if they want white subway tile I’ve got to give them what they want. I think that’s the unique spot I’m in as a designer—it’s client-driven. So I’m trying to give the client what they want, while also challenging them from a design standpoint. But any time I can get a modern style house or a ranch or something that’s far from my comfort zone it’s fun because I like to do all kinds of spaces. I’m not limited to just the white farmhouse. I think right now it’s kind of a trend. You start seeing these farmhouse styles everywhere. But at some point people are gonna get tired of farmhouses. I won’t, because that’s what resonates well with me, because I’m not a trendy person. But people who are, they’re kind of falling into that “I want the all-white” thing. So I’m just trying to balance that, as a designer, for these people, going, “Hey, let’s stick with this. It’s timeless. But then let’s try something new, too.” I think that’s what you see on the show. There’s a lot of a similar look, but basically that’s because it’s client-driven.

  I think my real “style” is mixing old with new. You look around, and you see a lot of new elements in the house, but blended with old antique pieces or whatever, so that the blend feels comfortable. A lot of these houses I see are brand-new everything and it feels somewhat stale. Then a lot of these houses are all antique and it seems a little bit stuffy inside. There’s this perfect place where new and old meet, and that’s the balance I like.

  Mark: You weren’t trained in design. How did you come to a place of being confident enough in what you’re doing to be able to share it with othe
r people?

  Joanna: Well, I was quiet. I didn’t become a great designer because it was instinctively in me. I didn’t grow up loving it. I didn’t have a class on it. I think I finally came to terms with being confident when I realized I could say, “Even though it doesn’t seem like this is the trend right now, I feel like this is right for me.” It was finding that place of, “Wait. I’m gonna go with my gut here.” When you go with your gut it just feels right. I’m telling you. When I’m in my friends’ houses that really could say the same thing, I know they’ve never done design, but they’ve put stuff in their house that they really love, and they’re unapologetic about it. I don’t go in there and go, “Oh, I wouldn’t have done that color on that wall.” I go in there and I feel like this is home, because they have unapologetically, no rules, created a home that speaks to them and only them, because that’s all they care about.

  On the flip side, you go into some homes where it’s people that are trying to speak to the masses. You’re like, “Why doesn’t it feel like home?" I think it’s because they’ve copied something that’s not really their gut. When people say, “But I don’t have a gut,” I want to encourage them: “Yes you do!” People know what they don’t like, and people also know what they love. They’re just afraid to admit it! So if you’re designing around this place of, “Hey. I love that piece. It’s quirky, and I don’t know why it speaks to me,” and you get that piece, and you’re unapologetic, and you own that, there’s something great that comes from that place of confidence. People are drawn to confidence. I think that’s where you feel the two different environments of home. You go into one that’s beautiful, and it’s perfect, but you don’t feel at home, even though you think, This could be in a magazine. You go on the other side, where it’s, like, really quirky, and the colors aren’t really right, and the patterns are a little off, but you’re like, “Why does this feel so right?” That’s what we’re all drawn to. That’s the person that was confident, who went beyond and before or after the trends and just kind of owned it. I think I had to come to terms with that. People feel at home when there is a story being told—it’s not about a perfect space.