People PEOPLE Chip & Jo

“WHEN WE MIXED OUR PERSONALITIES TOGETHER, IT CREATED A SPARK”—JOANNA GAINES WELCOME HOME! CHIP & JOANNA ARE BACK PEOPLE EXCLUSIVE THE ‘RISK, PASSION & INSPIRATION’ OF THEIR NEW NETWORK • HOW THE PARENTS OF FIVE GET IT DONE • GREATEST RENOVATIONS • TIPS FOR HOME & GARDEN…

When Joanna and Chip Gaines announced in 2017 that the next season of their HGTV megahit Fixer Upper would be the last, they left devout fans hungry for more. Now, after a three-year hiatus, the married lifestyle moguls are officially back—with more. Chip and Joanna have launched their own Magnolia Network and are starring in three of its programs. They’ve also gathered a team of experts whose shows and personal stories demonstrate ways to improve your home, your family dinner, even your career. The timing couldn’t be better. With an easing of the COVID shutdown in America, during which time we rediscovered the comforts of the home, the kitchen and the garden, we are now able to enjoy sharing those pleasures with loved ones. This People Special Edition celebrates Chip…

CAN YOU IMAGINE Evel Knievel on a Tuesday afternoon after retirement?” asks Chip Gaines, invoking the famous 1970s motorcycle stunt performer as the ultimate restless retiree. “He’s probably freaking out.” Turns out, being a daredevil—even one who thrills with a hammer rather than a chopper—“is really addictive.” That’s one reason that three years after Chip and wife Joanna Gaines closed the front door on Fixer Upper, the HGTV megahit that launched their home-renovation empire, the pair have returned with Fixer Upper: Welcome Home—and their very own network to go with it. The couple designed Magnolia Network from the ground up. “Discovery just said, ‘Hey, we trust you with the creative,’” says Jo. They dived into the task two years ago with the same creativity and attention to detail that they used to…

4:00 A.M. Chip wakes up before the sun. “I’m an early riser by nature,” he says. “That’s in my DNA, like a rancher or a farmer. I’ve operated this way for years, and I don’t even know exactly where this came from. But I don’t have an alarm clock.” 4:15 A.M. First steps. “I love to make coffee,” Chip says. “I kind of sit around in the dark. I walk out and get my paper like a grumpy old man.” 6:00 A.M. Good morning, Joanna. “If I don’t set an alarm, I’ll never be anywhere,” she admits. “By the time I wake up, the coffee’s already cold.” The kids are getting ready for school. Both Chip and Jo make breakfast for the family. “It’s a baton that we hand back and forth,”…

WHILE THE IDEA for Chip and Joanna to launch their own Magnolia TV network was percolating and taking shape, so too was the itch to strap on a tool belt, get out the fabric swatches and get back into what they loved most about Fixer Upper. The Gaineses’ new show—Fixer Upper: Welcome Home—comes with a subtle structural enhancement: Instead of taking clients to look at three houses, evaluating the options for each and then renovating the one chosen, the homes seen on Welcome Home have already been purchased by the time Chip shows up for his beloved demo day and Jo begins sketching design plans for the lucky owner. “It’s a fundamental change in the way the show functions,” Chip tells People. “They already own a property and don’t need…

I DON’T WANT TO tell you how to do your network,” Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon told Joanna Gaines when she and husband Chip stopped by the talk show in 2019, “but I’d do a cooking show if I were you.” Sorry, Jimmy, but with her typical great timing she was already on it. After opening the Magnolia Table restaurant in 2018 and publishing two bestselling cookbooks inspired by the Waco hot spot’s most popular recipes, Joanna has already taken the family’s brand of entertaining with comfort food to a new frontier: TV. Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines, now streaming on discovery+’s Magnolia Network, is filled with dishes that have a personal connection, “recipes that remind me of my childhood or my heritage or lazy Saturday mornings at home with…