The Magnolia Story

by Chip Gaines

Have you ever looked at the bud of a magnolia flower? It’s a tight little pod that stays closed up for a long time on the end of its branch until one day, out of nowhere, it finally bursts open into this gigantic, gorgeous, fragrant flower that’s ten times bigger than the bud itself. It’s impossible to imagine that such a big beautiful thing could pop out of that tiny little bud. But it does. And that’s sort of what getting “discovered” and sharing our lives on Fixer Upper feels like to us.

I’m a generally happy person. My mom says I was a happy baby. But it’s a fact—I was always happiest around Jo. And I still am.

Our roots were important to both of us, and that one common bond, to me, plays a big role in what has kept us together.

Even locked doors can be unlocked in time.

I told myself that I was going to live the rest of my life as if it were Saturday.

Life isn’t always Saturday.”

I’m gonna put up with this for as long as I have to. But the second I don’t have to put up with it anymore, I’m out. And I’m gonna live every day for the rest of my life as if it’s Saturday.

And whether it’s a little luck or God or a combination, everything seems to find a way of working itself out eventually.

“I’ll provide your needs, but you have to take care of your wants.”

It was this beautiful conversation.

The quirky piece of cabinetry with all sorts of little nooks in

it that came from an old hardware store, with notches on the side and little pencil markings where someone used to keep various size bolts organized—I put that piece in my home, and no matter who happens to see it, they’ll wind up touching it or saying something or asking questions about it. There’s a life to these old things, and I started to buy more and more of them just to rotate them in the house and play around with how they fit in different settings.

I realized that my determination to make things perfect meant I was chasing an empty obsession all day long.

That got me thinking about the pressure we women and moms are all under these days. It seems as if the standards are so much higher than they were just a few years ago, mainly because of what we see whenever we look on the Internet.

“I feel like I’m just surviving at this point. I’m not thriving.”

“I’m not going to survive anymore. I’m going to thrive.”

“When things come against us we can either turn on each other, or we can come together and turn on it.”

It was such a blessing to find myself thriving in the middle of the pain.

If you can’t find happiness in the ugliness, you’re not going to find it in the beauty, either.

I finally realized that life isn’t found on the pages of a magazine—life is found in the glass of spilled milk and in the long, narrow hallway filled with socks and soccer balls.

Letting it all go is freeing. (And it’s cheaper too!)

It was full of life. Full of her life.

Her example helped ignite a spark in me to see things differently and to live wholly and intentionally for those closest to me.

Chip and I both work hard. We continue to make mistakes, and these days we work even harder to learn from them and get better. If I had planned my life, it never would have ended up like this. So maybe it’s kind of fun not to plan. Maybe it’s more fun just to see where life takes you. After all, we’re living proof that sometimes even the messiest stuff and the biggest mistakes can take you someplace wonderful.

And no, the dream isn’t about fame and fortune. For me, the dream is that I get to wake up every morning and do what I love with the ones I love.

There’s something about doing things the way our ancestors used to do them that kind of puts your heart back into the rhythm of this thing called life.

You bloomed? I did. If I hadn’t married Chip, I might not have ever bloomed.

“Chip, I always thought, when I was out on the baseball field hitting you those grounders, that I was training you to be the next greatest baseball player. But now, looking back and seeing the person you’ve become, I was really training you to be the next greatest dad.”

you cannot script Chip Gaines.

“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.

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.

I like the farmhouse look.

Times have changed. The world is much more open to new ideas now. I think it’s not really about looking out and around anymore to see what trends to follow. It’s more about honing in on who you are. I think when you find that place, that gut, whether it be your style, whether it be your lifestyle, that’s where you start finding life, because it’s you, it’s not the masses.

I want them to say, “I don’t have a farm. I don’t have four kids, I’m not on TV, but dang it, I love that they’ve owned it, and I’m gonna own it in my New York apartment, or I’m gonna own it in my LA modern house.”