Joanna Gaines was co-star of HGTV’s Fixer Upper with her husband Chip and is now both co-owner, co-founder of Magnolia. Her site and beautiful magazine remind us to cherish the simple, old ways of living. Joanna enjoys the farm life (who doesn’t?), cooking and gardening.
Joanna’s timeless style is based on making old things new and preserving the history of homes and furnishings.
If you’re not yet subscribed to The Magnolia Journal, you’re missing out! It’s one of my all-time favorite magazines (says the magazine hoarder).
Here are some heart-warming Joanna Gains quotes.
“Don’t quit, and don’t give up. The reward is just around the corner. And in times of doubt or times of joy, listen for that still, small voice. Know that God has been there from the beginning—and he will be there until the end.”
― Joanna Gaines
“It is no easy thing to trust in God, to walk away from a career, to give it all up not knowing if you can ever get it back or even come close. But I did it. I heeded his voice, and somehow I found peace about it.”
― Joanna Gaines
“Even locked doors can be unlocked in time.”
― Joanna Gaines
“I had to learn that this whole God thing isn’t just this big religion. It’s really that He wants this relationship with us on a personal level.”
― Joanna Gaines
“I think when people have the freedom to tell their own story rather than trying to be specific to a certain design or style, there’s more freedom, and it ends up feeling more like home. Those spaces we see in magazines and on the Internet are beautiful, but if there’s not that story there, then it’s going to lack that feeling of home.”
― Joanna Gaines
“If I hadn’t married Chip, I might not have ever bloomed.”
― Joanna Gaines
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It’s *officially* the most wonderful time of the year. Happy first day of winter! 🎄
“It’s hard to describe the feeling that comes with starting your own business. It really is so much work in the beginning that you lose yourself in it. You lose your sense of time, and you can’t believe how quickly the days go by because there’s no time to focus on much of anything else. But then you open the doors, and it’s like you’ve given birth to this new thing that didn’t exist before. Then when it starts to flourish, well, that’s just icing on the cake. To get to see it live and breathe and to know that this thing you created out of thin air can put a smile on other people’s faces is such a blessing.”
― Joanna Gaines
“If you give Chip a boundary, he’s going to break that boundary. If you give him a rule, he’s not going to follow it. And if you tell him, ‘You can’t go over this line,’ he’s going to put his toe over it.”
― Joanna Gaines
“Marriage requires effort and time and talking and connecting. You have to maintain it.”
― Joanna Gaines
“Chip is like that kid, like the five-year-old kid that’s trying to make his mom breakfast, and there’s milk everywhere.”
― Joanna Gaines
“Once I tune in to the fact that my family receives my cooking for them as an act of love – that it’s actually something that makes them feel cared for – it shifts my entire perspective.”
― Joanna Gaines
“I finally believed it was actually a beautiful thing to be unique and to be different.”
― Joanna Gaines
“It’s up to us to choose contentment and thankfulness now—and to stop imagining that we have to have everything perfect before we’ll be happy.”
― Joanna Gaines
“I always thought that the “thriving” would come when everything was perfect, and what I learned is that it’s actually down in the mess that things get good.”
― Joanna Gaines
“Well, I’m mad, but I’m not primer-in-the-face mad.”
― Joanna Gaines
“One pretty amazing thing we learned early on was that the more time we spent together, the better our relationship was.”
― Joanna Gaines
“By the time Chip and I met, he’d managed to combine these two conflicting sides of himself: the kid who steered clear of trouble and did the right thing, and the kid who rode his Big Wheel full speed into the street without looking both ways. I had never met anyone like him. It’s funny to me to think that the whole opposites-attract thing might have been programmed into my DNA. Just as my outgoing mother was drawn to my quiet dad, I was this shy girl drawn to the super-outgoing Chip Gaines. And the fact that he owned a successful lawn and irrigation business and had made up his mind that he loved Waco and wanted to stay put was somehow a perfect fit with everything I knew I wanted myself.”
― Joanna Gaines
“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.”
― Joanna Gaines
“If you can’t find happiness in the ugliness, you’re not going to find it in the beauty, either.”
― Joanna Gaines
“Go and find what it is that inspire you, go and find what it is that you love, and go do that until it hurts.”
― Joanna Gaines
“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.”
― Joanna Gaines
“It was such a blessing to find myself thriving in the middle of the pain. Unless you find a way to do that, there’s always going to be this fake illusion that once you get there–wherever “there” is for you–you’ll be happy. But that’s just not life. If you can’t find happiness in the ugliness, you’re not going to find it in beauty, either.”
― Joanna Gaines
“If I didn’t have Chip Gaines in my life, I’d still be dreaming in my head – but not acting out on any of that, not living it out.”
― Joanna Gaines
“I had to learn that this whole God thing isn’t just this big religion. It’s really that He wants this relationship with us on a personal level.”
― Joanna Gaines
“We want to create spaces that families want to gather in.”
― Joanna Gaines
“For the most part, my house stays the same over the years. I tend to design with pieces that feel timeless to me, so I’m not constantly rearranging my home.”
― Joanna Gaines
“When you are married to a guy who takes chances every day, who loves risk and has great intuition and great business instincts – when you’re married to someone like that who pushes you to dream big, you dream big.”
― Joanna Gaines
“People might think Chip is just this goofy guy, and he is a goofy guy. But he’s also the bravest person I know.”
― Joanna Gaines
“Marriage requires effort and time and talking and connecting. You have to maintain it.”
― Joanna Gaines
“Texans know how to make people feel welcome.”
― Joanna Gaines
“I don’t think confidence has ever really been one of those things that came naturally for me. If people thought I was confident, it was really just the way I masked my insecurity, because I didn’t want people to really get to know the real me.”
― Joanna Gaines
“I love the smell of clean laundry. Working in the garden and getting my hands dirty. Doing the dishes. These are the things that make me feel normal.”
― Joanna Gaines
“Be intentional with your space. Don’t be afraid to step on a limb and design your home the way you love it.”
― Joanna Gaines
“A few years ago, I realized I was decorating and designing my house around what was beautiful rather than practical for my family. When I made that realization, everything kind of clicked for me. I started being intentional about designing spaces with my kids in mind rather than picture-perfect rooms.”
― Joanna Gaines
“Chip is the risk-taker. He’s all about the big picture but with a get-it-done attitude, and sometimes I’d rather play it safe and really focus my energy on the details.”
― Joanna Gaines
“In our house, dinner is synonymous with family time. Recently, it has felt like the best chance for all of us to really connect – something that I find myself wanting more of as my kids are getting older.”
― Joanna Gaines
“I remember, when we first got married, the only money we had was what was in Chip’s pocket. He always had a wad of cash, but we were broke. If I needed to go grocery shopping, it’s whatever was in his pocket. That’s how we paid the bills.”
― Joanna Gaines
Fixer Upper: Chip & Joanna’s Cutest Moments
Joanna Gains Books:
Magnolia Table: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering
Magnolia Table, Volume 2: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering
Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave