Photo: Magnolia Network; Inset: Rob Kim/Getty
Chip andJoanna Gainesare fixing up their own home — and expanding it to fit their family of seven!
“When we first startedFixerour house was completely under construction, all of this was a field,” Joanna explains, standing in the front yard of the 40-acre property that now holds achicken coop,flower gardenand an ever-growing number offarm animalsandpets.
“Just a little white farmhouse that needed a little TLC,” Chip reminisces.
Magnolia Network
Now, he says, “We’re adding on a little space because we’ve added an addition to the family. We used to have four kids. Now we’ve got a toddler on our hip.”
The couple welcomed their youngest, Crew, 2, in 2018. They were already parents to sons Drake, 16, and Duke, 12, and daughters Ella, 14, and Emmie, 10.
Joanna notes that the new space will be “a living room” and footage of the construction zone shows that it will be off of their existing kitchen and laundry area. “This add-on has been something I’ve been planning for, I would say, five years,” she admits. “It’s time.”
And while they have countless renos for others under their belts, they admit they’re breaking a cardinal rule with their own expansion.
“There’s a golden rule in the renovation business that goes, ‘Don’t ever live in a house that’s being renovated.’ But here we go,” says Chip, as a construction noise coincidentally interrupts their filming.
“You kind of feeling like you’re losing your mind all day when you sit in here and all the construction is happening,” adds Joanna.
The Gaineses' existing kitchen.Joanna Gaines/ Instagram; Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
“For Jo and I, home is extremely important,” Chip explains, “and it helps us be successful in all the other elements of our life.”
The first four episodes ofFixer Upper: Welcome Homewill debut on the Discovery+ streaming service on Fridays starting January 29 as a preview of the Gaineses' own Magnolia Network, which launches this spring.
source: people.com
