The reality is that old houses that were built a hundred years ago were built by actual craftsmen, people who were the best in the world at what they did. The little nuances in the woodwork, the frami...
That rotten houseboat turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
About four months into it, we were shooting hoops in my dad’s driveway when Chip stopped in his tracks, held me in his arms, looked into my eyes under the starry sky, and said, I love you.And I looked...
Even locked doors can be unlocked in time.
Chip had been in there for a few very long hours. I had all kinds of awful thoughts about what might have happened to him in there. What if he’d been roughed up? Strip-searched? Who knows what awful t...
Chip and I were both exhausted when we finally pulled up in front of that house, but we were still riding the glow of our honeymoon, and I was so excited as he carried me over the threshold--until the...
You bloomed?I did. If I hadn’t married Chip, I might not have ever bloomed.
That was our first real fight, and even now we both agree it was our biggest. Chip had smarted off about something, so my blood was already boiling, but when I slammed that bucket down, Chip says I be...
Back in the late 1800s, when a place like this was originally built, you had to work with what you had, and you had to figure stuff out. You certainly couldn’t Google it. You didn’t have Internet. You...
One pretty amazing thing we learned early on was that the more time we spent together, the better our relationship was.
I’ve always loved magnolia trees and their blooms—there’s something so beautiful about a magnolia blossom. It demands attention, and you can’t help but love those big, creamy petals and that fragrant...
Is Joanna Gaines here? We have a warrant here for her arrest, the officer said.It was the tickets. I knew it. And I panicked. I picked up my son and I hid in the closet. I literally didn’t know what t...
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. It was such a blessing to find myself thrivin...
As I rode down the street with him to see what he’d bought, I was in shock when he pulled up in front of this tiny white box of a house. I mean --maybe eight hundred square feet. There was no cute fro...
We did every part of this renovation together with our bare hands. Chip restored all of the wood floors, all the tile work--everything. I was learning as we went, but I definitely did my part.That hou...
I felt good about having made the decision to walk away and lock that door. It’s funny, though, looking back on it now, because one very simple concept in life never occurred to me as I was walking aw...
Between building the new house on our newly subdivided lot, continuing work on some small flip homes, and managing the rentals, Chip had more work than he could do himself, so he had put a crew of wor...
I don’t think it’s irrational or too conservative of me to think, Is it?
Chip asked me about New York and what I wanted to do, and how long my dad had owned the shop, and what it was I loved about Waco. He asked about my sisters and my family in general, and what I’d done...
With all cameras on me, Chip released the blindfold and said, Ta-da!I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. A shipwreck, maybe? On the back of a semi?What is that? I said.I got this for you, Jo! Chip rep...
