Chip and Joanna Gaines are a power couple that have shown everyone how to make home improvement fun. The Gaines are best known for their show Fixer Upper. On the show, the pair show homes that require repairs and renovations to potential couples for purchase. Once the couple chooses their home, Joanna handles the designs and Chip takes over the contracting. The show’s success led to five seasons before the couple called it quits. Even though the show is over, the Gaines are now working on creating their own channel.
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This dynamic duo has no intentions of slowing down, and they work so well together. If their work ethic doesn’t inspire, then their love story definitely will!
How Chip And Joanna Gaines Built Their Romance
Long before they became real estate gurus, the two were regular college students when they met. Chip, however, was into real estate during his time at college, but Joanna was studying to become a broadcast journalist. While Joanna was in college, she had a side job, working at her dad’s Firestone Tire in Texas and appeared in commercials for the company. Joanna’s father had a picture of his family behind the counter of his shop, where Chip first laid eyes on her.
That’s when the reality star knew he found the love of his life. Chip made any excuse he could to go to the shop to try and meet his future bride. And his persistence finally paid off! In 2001, he finally met Joanna and persuaded her to go on a date with him. But the beginning of their romance was met with a few bumps in the road.
Chip showed up to their first date very late and then didn’t call Joanna for a few months afterwards because he bet a friend $50 that he could go longer than his buddy without calling back their dates. When the two eventually reconnected, it took Joanna a little while to warm up to Chip again. Once the two looked past their differences and saw that they shared the same goals and values, it was a done deal.
“When I learned how to embrace Joanna for who she is and really support her all the way, I feel like that was a real lightbulb moment for me in my relationship with her. …As I really enveloped this concept of I’m going to support her and love her and fight for her regardless, I feel like that opened [her] heart to be able to reciprocate,” Chip stated.
The couple became home renovation icons
After officially dating for a year, the two married in May 2003. It wasn’t long after they tied the knot that the couple came together and began their work on homes. The couple’s first “fixer-upper” project was their own home, which led to their successful business being picked up by HGTV.
Joanna shared the sweet story behind their first project on her Instagram page. “Chip and I were going down memory lane today and we stopped at one of our first houses. I remember crying when Chip said we were moving in- it was dumpy and it smelled bad. We fixed it up and fell in love with it. To this day, if you ask us what our favorite house we ever lived in we both go back to this little white 800 sq ft home. We were broke and were forced to be creative with our resources and we were proud as punch about this place. Most of what I learned creatively stemmed from this little fixer upper. Small house or big, rich or poor- own the space you live in and love what you have,” Joanna wrote on her page.
Now, the Gaines are the proud parents of five beautiful children, and their empire has grown to massive heights. With 17 years of marriage under the belt, it seems there’s nothing these two “fixer-uppers” can’t do!