Joanna Gaines

Los Angeles, Waco

Contributing at Magnolia Journal

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Articles

From the Journal: Lessons from My Summer Garden

1 month ago | magnolia.com | Joanna Gaines

STORY BY JOANNA GAINESPHOTOGRAPHY BY RUTHIE MARTINInspiration strikes when beds of summer blooms take on a life of their own. I’ve heard it said that nature is the springboard to the sacred. In the years of cultivating our garden at the farm, I’ve found it to ring true. Every season we reap far more than we sow.
From the Journal: Summer Saturdays

1 month ago | magnolia.com | Joanna Gaines

STORY BY JOANNA GAINESPHOTOGRAPHY BY CARSON DOWNINGFOOD STYLING BY JAMIE FLANAGAN & RUBY VELOZPROP STYLING BY ASHLEY MADDOX & ASHLEY FRIESENFor all of summer’s thrills, every bright spark and blind leap, every sunset and speck of starlight chased, there is also rest to find and a slowness to be savored. After all, this is the season of intermission. For our kids, summer means they get to swap their seats for swings, their classroom walls for no bounds at all.
From the Journal: Worthy of Display

2 months ago | magnolia.com | Joanna Gaines

Story by Joanna GainesThis story has been adapted from the spring 2025 issue of Magnolia Journal. This is almost always how it goes: When I get home, Crew runs toward me with a twinkle in his eye, and he slips something into my hand. Most of the time it’s something he’s found or made: a stone, a clover, a handwritten note. They’re little markers in his story, of his growing mind and curiosity—little proofs of this life we’re exploring together.
From the Journal: What’s Growing in Jo’s Garden

Mar 10, 2025 | magnolia.com | Joanna Gaines

Story by Joanna GainesPhotography by Lucy DiazThis story has been adapted from the spring 2025 issue of Magnolia Journal. the beauty in planting something newClose your eyes and think of a place that anchors you. Think of a spot that quiets distractions and puts you at ease. A space you know will leave you better than you were before. For me, that place has always been the garden, especially in the morning. If I wake up feeling hurried or anxious, the fresh air settles me.
THE GREATEST RIVER

Feb 18, 2025 | kirkusreviews.com | Joanna Gaines |Laura Hughes

A contemplative story on the healing power of nature. Ananda’s mother regales her with stories about how the river springs from a Himalayan glacier and is revered as a goddess. She tells her that the Ganga is “the greatest mother of all.” When Mamma falls ill, Ananda and her aunt travel to bathe in the Ganga’s healing waters and pray for her. As they enter the freezing river, light clay lamps, and chant Mamma’s favorite prayer, the weight of Ananda’s sadness is lifted away by a sense of hope.
A Note from Jo on Balance

Feb 11, 2025 | magnolia.com | Joanna Gaines

In nearly every season of my life, I have looked to balance as a benchmark, a way of measuring how well I’m holding my life together. If things generally felt right-side up, then I knew I could breathe a sigh of relief. Balance, to me, was the light at the end of the tunnel, the antidote of sorts for whatever chaos was swirling nearby. In my 20s, for instance, I was mothering small children and a small business, and I longed for the secret to make it all achievable.
My Home Design Class Just Launched on MasterClass

Nov 26, 2024 | magnolia.com | Joanna Gaines

For years, I have been dreaming about what it could look like to walk people through my actual design process, from blank slate to finished space—and then I got a call from MasterClass. The way they turn inspiration into action has always fascinated me, so we spent this year developing and filming my first-ever class called Designing a Home That Tells Your Story.
From the Journal: A Note from Jo on Reflection

Nov 12, 2024 | magnolia.com | Joanna Gaines

It’s become tradition for me to set aside a couple of hours toward the end of each year to scroll through the year’s photos on my phone, clear the clutter, and save the moments that defined our life as a family. If I’m really on top of things, I’ll turn those memories into a physical album and add it to the stack we keep in our living room. This year, as I scanned my camera roll, I had to stop at a photo Chip took of Crew sometime last spring, out on the boat, a day of fishing ahead of them.