The business of being Chip and Joanna Gaines

By Wonderwall.com Editors 4:50am PST, Jan 30, 2021

Chip and Joanna Gaines have gone from modest small-business owners to super-successful reality TV stars with a home and lifestyle empire. Now, the Texas-based couple is preparing to launch their very own television network with Discovery — the Magnolia Network — in late 2021. To whet fans' appetites, they've revived the show that made them famous, rebranding it "Fixer Upper: Welcome Home," and debuted it on Discovery+ on Jan. 29, 2021. To celebrate their return to television, join Wonderwall.com as we dive into their money matters and see how they've built their estimated $20 million net worth. Let's take a look at the ins and outs of their family business dealings…

Born in Kansas and raised in Texas, Joanna Gaines graduated from Baylor University with a communications degree. She moved to New York City after graduation and interned in design — cementing her passion for the lifestyle business.

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and raised in Dallas, Chip Gaines graduated from Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business with a marketing degree. Fresh out of school, he opened a number of small businesses including Green and Gold Wash and Fold, a Waco, Texas, laundry service geared toward college students, a fireworks stand and multiple landscaping companies. He eventually found his financial footing when he teamed up with his wife, Joanna Gaines, to open Magnolia Market and Little Shop on Bosque in 2003.

The Magnolia Market was a huge success for Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines. The store allowed the couple to grow as business owners and sharpen their design skills. With this knowledge, the pair closed the market after welcoming their second child in 2007 and focused their efforts on their growing construction business: Magnolia Homes. They began buying and fixing hundreds of homes in Waco, Texas, which led to their next big business opportunity…

Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines opened their own real estate firm, Magnolia Realty, in 2009. The pair specialized in buying and selling farm and ranch properties around Waco, Texas, which led them to open offices with more than 100 realtors serving six major cities and metropolitan areas in Texas. Chip and Jo have since also purchased and renovated three properties they now rent out themselves — Magnolia House (it sleeps eight people and rents for $795 a weeknight), Hillcrest Estate (it sleeps 12 people and rents for $995 a weeknight), and Carriage House (it sleeps six people and rent for $545 a weeknight) — which are nearly always booked solid.

In 2013, Joanna Gaines and Chip Gaines got the opportunity of a lifetime: their own HGTV show! The network approached the couple to star in a home design and restoration series they named "Fixer Upper." The series was huge hit with audiences from the start and by the time it wrapped up, nearly 30 million viewers were tuning in per season. Joanna and Chip earned a reported $30,000 per episode, which expanded their net worth considerably.

In May 2014, Chip and Joanna Gaines reopened their Magnolia Market online and reopened a storefront for the Little Shop on Bosque (today, it sells slightly damaged and last chance items at a discount). Joanna was the brains behind the reopening, writing on her website that "something began tugging at my heart, and I began feeling a pull toward reopening Magnolia Market… To think that my business plans scribbled on scratch paper have turned into this online store is unbelievable to say the least."

In October 2016, Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines wrote their first book, "The Magnolia Story," which "offered their fans a detailed look at their life together." The book was a big hit, becoming a No. 1 bestseller the week of its release.

Chip and Joanna Gaines continued to expand their Magnolia empire in 2016 and 2017. The couple opened Magnolia Market at the Silos, which houses a market, more than 13 food trucks, the Magnolia Seed and Supply garden shop, the Silos Baking Co. bakery, and a huge green lawn for families to enjoy. But it would expand again…

Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines also built several other businesses throughout the year. The pair started their own magazine, Magnolia Journal, created a Magnolia Home furniture line and began selling rugs and pillows at Pier 1. Their many businesses brought in major money and the pair's net worth grew to $5 million each!

In October 2017, Chip Gaines released his first solo book, "Capital Gaines: Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff," which shared some of his business lessons. Much like the first book, "Capital Gaines" took off, becoming a No. 1 New York Times bestseller.

In late 2017, Joanna Gaines and Chip Gaines launched a home design collection, Hearth & Hand with Magnolia, for Target. Joanna has also launched her own clothing line with Matilda Jane, and the couple started a paint line with KILZ — plus a wallpaper line with York Wallcoverings!

Joanna Gaines and Chip Gaines made a shocking decision in late 2017. The couple chose to leave their super-successful show, "Fixer Upper." "We gave everything we had to this show — the beautiful homes and those sweet families — but this just felt like the right time to catch our breath for a bit," Joanna told People magazine.

Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines expanded their portfolio once again in March 2018 when they opened their own restaurant, Magnolia Table. The Texas eatery is always packed with customers, according to reviewers, and earned a five-star rating from Southern Kitchen Magazine.

The Gaines family might have said goodbye to "Fixer Upper," but they didn't stay away from TV too long. The business-savvy couple announced a spinoff, "Fixer Upper: Behind the Design," shortly after ending their original show. The new series, which focused on Joanna Gaines' designs, debuted in April 2018. The couple also announced the creation of a children's furniture and accessories line, Magnolia Kids.

Joanna Gaines also branched out in 2018 with two new books. The mother of five released her very own cookbook, "Magnolia Table," that April and a design book, "Home Body," that November. "Magnolia Table" became an instant No. 1 New York Times bestseller and "Home Body" is poised to do the same. At the time, Country Living estimated that Joanna and Chip were worth about $8 million.

With a five-year run on HGTV behind them, Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines thrilled fans when they announced plans to create their very own lifestyle network. The couple spilled the beans while making an appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on Nov. 9, 2018. "We signed a nondisclosure, and it said quote-unquote, 'You can tell your mother but that's it,'" Chip joked of the top-secret deal. "So mom, I just wanted to make a quick announcement. We are coming back to television! You are going to get to see the kids grow up, you'll get to see us — well, maybe a six-month delay like the rest of the world — but we are excited to be back." A rep for Magnolia confirmed with NBC's "Today" that Chip and Joanna were in the early stages of development with Discovery. More details would soon emerge…

Where don't Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines have their own lines nowadays?! The answer seems shorter than their list of amazing partnerships. In February 2019, Joanna launched her farmhouse-meets-boho collection at Anthropologie in what seemed like a match made in heaven. Among the Joanna-approved items up for grabs? Rugs, pillows, candles, wallpaper and fun accents for the home.

In March 2019, Joanna Gaines was spotted checking out a beachside home in Malibu alongside superstar Jennifer Lopez. J.Lo later explained that her boyfriend (now fiancé!), Alex Rodriguez, had arranged for the Magnolia mogul and husband Chip Gaines to help them renovate their new beach house. And since cameras were in tow, rumors started swirling that the renovation might be featured when Chip and Joanna returned to television! Alas, in the summer of 2020, J.Lo and A-Rod put their Malibu pad on the market. It's unclear if they ever renovated it with help from Chip and Jo.

As a mother of five, Joanna Gaines knows a thing or two about children. So it was only natural that her next book would be geared toward kids. When "We Are The Gardeners" hits shelves on March 26, 2019, readers got to enjoy a sweet family connection within its pages. Joanna's older children — Drake, Ella, Duke and Emmie Kay — all served as co-authors of the book as they helped Mom pen the story about a family going through the ups and downs of creating a garden. The Gaineses hope the story inspires families to get out there and start their very own gardens after reading it.

In April 2019, Discovery announced that Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines's new cable TV channel — for which they're serving as chief creative officers — would debut in 2020 and take over the space occupied by the DIY Network, which reached 52 million American homes. In 2020, however, that start date was delayed due to production pauses caused by coronavirus pandemic shutdowns. But in April 2020, fans still got a taste of what was to come: DIY aired a four-hour Magnolia Network preview dubbed "Magnolia Presents: A Look Back & A Look Ahead" that looked back at "Fixer Upper" and also teased 10 new series Magnolia plans to launch. The preview delivered the highest rated telecast in DIY network history.

In October 2019, Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines revealed that they'd purchased Waco, Texas' historic Grand Karem Shrine and had started renovations to turn the downtown property that's nearly a century old into a hotel with eateries and a rooftop terrace. A month later in November 2019, they opened Magnolia Press, a coffee shop also located in — where else? — Waco.

In April 2020, Joanna Gaines released another cookbook, "Magnolia Table, Volume 2: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering." Like the first one, it too was a wildly successful New York Times bestseller.

Still expanding! In July 2020, Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines took to Instagram to share a rendering of their latest project, which is located on the grounds of their flagship Magnolia Market at the Silos location in Waco, Texas. The expansion — dubbed "Shops at the Silos" — will feature six new stores offering lifestyle products and goods curated by Jo. As reported by Apartment Therapy, the space features "six quaint retail cottages and a historic church bordering an open green space, and tree-lined sidewalks for shoppers to stroll at a leisurely pace."

In August 2020, Joanna Gaines took to her Instagram Stories to share photos of yet another new storefront, Magnolia Home, which is located right behind their coffee shop, Magnolia Press. The gorgeous space houses pieces from their furniture collection and is open to the public.

In November 2020, Joanna Gaines released another children's book — "The World Needs Who You Were Made To Be" — which is "all about how our differences make us beautiful." She took to Instagram to share a photo of the cover and muse on its message on Nov. 9. "I believe there is a stirring deep within all of us that longs to offer the world something that matters — something lasting & beautiful. My hope is that this book will be a reminder that your 'something' doesn't need to look like anyone else's. To put it simply, the world needs you just the way you are. It needs your abilities and your talents, your quirks and your curiosities, your unique thoughts and your beautiful mind," Jo wrote.

In January 2021, Jo debuted a new cooking show, "Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines," on the Discovery+ streaming service. Later in the month, she and husband Chip Gaines returned to a rebooted version of the show that made them famous, launching "Fixer Upper: Welcome Home," also on Discovery+. The shows will move over to the couple's Magnolia network when it launches later in the year.