What Being a Homebody Means to Joanna Gaines
Fixer Upper star, entrepreneur, cookbook writer, and author of the new Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave Joanna Gaines shares what home (and being a homebody) looks like for her and her family.
Joanna Gaines’s new book, Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave, is all about creating expressive homes, and from the title to the very last page, it’s a comprehensive guide to finding a personal style, celebrating places that feel like home, and creating looks that tell personal stories.
Real Simple sat down with Joanna to talk all about Homebody ($40; amazon.com) and what home means to her and her family, which recently grew by one with the arrival of her and husband Chip’s fifth child, Crew.
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“When you’re home, that’s kind of your safe space, the place where you’re the most known,” Joanna says. “Whether you’re introverted or extroverted, it’s the idea that, when you’re home, you’re all there. You feel the most known.”
Joanna is known for designing dream homes for clients on Fixer Upper, the HGTV show that made Chip and Joanna Gaines household names. In Homebody—her most recent book since the release of the Magnolia Table cookbook in April—she shares tips and tricks for readers and fans to create their own ideal spaces, whether they’re homebodies or not. As for Joanna and her family, though, “we are the biggest homebodies,” she says.
“We’re just all wanting to hunker down and enjoy our time together with this new baby,” she adds.
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As for what the family does when they’re all home together, Joanna says they’re equally happy doing activities they enjoy together and separately.
“It’s just the idea of [the family] being home and doing the things that they love there, just like I’m doing the things I love there,” she says. “I think it’s equally as rich as being more together in a room. It’s just that we’re all home doing our thing.”
When the whole family does gather in one room, Joanna says they love playing games in the living room or talking around the table; when they’re scattered around the farmhouse or the surrounding land, each member of the family has his or her own hobbies—but Joanna loves being in the garden, alone or with her family.
“Any of the kids will come out there with me,” she says. “There’s so much to learn in the garden.”
To buy: Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave, $40; amazon.com.
