Joanna Gaines is known as the shiplap queen, a nickname that has followed her beyond her time on HGTV‘s “Fixer Upper.” However, the design star doesn’t want to be pigeonholed into one design style.
Joanna Gaines the ‘Shiplap Queen’
In a recent YouTube video for her Magnolia Network, Joanna opened up about how she earned her nickname.
“The same time we started filming [‘Fixer Upper’], we bought the farmhouse, and that’s when it was like the first time my eyes were open to shiplap,” she recalled. “What ‘Fixer’ really captured was my process of bringing the farm to life.”
Gaines gave fans a glimpse into her Waco, Texas, farmhouse, including her stunning great room, where she said her large family hangs out the most.
“I would say this is our new favorite room in the house with this fire. Everyone loves to be in here,” she explained. “We love it.”
She went on to say that as fans fell in love with her on “Fixer Upper,” they began to see her personal style shine through in the renovation of her own home.
“I think what happened along the way was then my clients started seeing the farmhouse and they’re like we want shiplap and we want white and we want you know brown floors, and so that part of our life was captured in that moment, and even now I’m coined as the farmhouse decorator,” she continued. “But I think if people really knew me, one of the things I’m particular about is that I don’t want to be pegged with a specific design style.”
Gaines’ style has evolved over the years, as fans have watched her bring in more color, wallpaper, and textures into her spaces.
“The more and more you see my designs, you’ll see that they evolve. Some are modern, some are old world,” Gaines said. “It really isn’t about my style. It’s about helping other people find theirs.”
Joanna Gaines’ Evolution
In the same video, the “Fixer Upper: Welcome Home” star shared how she views her career.
“I’m not fully creative. It didn’t come natural,” Gaines said in the YouTube video shared by the Magnolia Network. “It’s something I had to fight for.”
She added, “I had worked for my father’s business for 10 years. I was his bookkeeper. Like I sat in the back office and I crunched numbers, and I loved it. There is something in me where I’m like half operational. I’m half creative. And so that’s the constant tug and pull that’s happening in my brain.”
Just as the mother of five does not want to be put into a box, she doesn’t want those following in her footsteps to either.
“The thing I always like to explain to people is when you come to me and say, ‘I don’t know what I want. I don’t know what I like.’ It’s not true,” Gaines shared. “You make decisions all day long. You know what you like and don’t like. Now, you may not know specifically with design. But the more you practice and the more you trust your gut and the more you get out of your head, you can become an expert of telling your own story.”
