Our Stay at the Magnolia House / Part 2

Well, it wasn't a dream, I thought to myself as I sat up in the early morning hours and surveyed my surroundings.  The mattress and bedding in the iron four-poster bed we slept in had enveloped me like a cloud and I was rested and ready to soak in the day ahead.

I quietly tiptoed around our upstairs suite while Beau slept, grabbing a sweater and my reading material and sneaking into the nearby coffee nook I remembered so much from watching the episode the first time.  With it's black and white patterned flooring, imperfect shiplap walls, and blue green lower cabinets, the uniqueness of this room was inviting and made me feel like I was transported to a loft in New York City; that is, until I looked out the window and watched a handful of old men park their trucks across the street and head into the McGregor Post Office to get their mail. :)  I made coffee in a cream colored Magnolia cup, curled up with one of Joanna's many soft blankets, and opened the pages of my book.  Soon, my mind drifted, as it did often throughout our stay, of ways I could bring pieces of this inspiration home to Cedar Falls.  Surrounded by beauty, it was the details that really did for me.

Soon, the smell of breakfast made its way upstairs, inviting Beau out of bed and us both to the kitchen.  Kate had made an egg bake and we arrived just in time to help set the table, this time in the breakfast nook because we vowed to make use of every inch of this space!  We shared pastries from Joanna's bakery, fresh fruit from Marianne, and this is when Nate came up with the idea to call his former co-worker who lived on a ranch not too far from Waco.  Soon, an idea that seemed to come out of nowhere came to fruition in a matter of minutes, and the boys had plans to make use of Les' ranch (and his gator) just thirteen miles away from where we were staying.  Thankful the boys had just found some fun of their own, Kate and I smiled to each other, secretly knowing we had just scored some precious girl time in a place made to play house.  

These precious few hours with Kate were some of my favorite memories of this trip.  We played house.  We listened to Johnnyswim and took turns soaking in that dreamy bathtub.  We curled up under the covers of those two twin-sized beds in the soft blue room Joanna designed to mirror her daughter's.  With our Bibles, our journals, and the chocolates placed on every end table in the house, we laughed and cried and dreamed.  We ate leftover spaghetti and sipped white wine in rocking chairs on the porch, letting the Texas sun warm our cheeks.  And when the boys came home and recalled snippets of their adventure, we made plans for one last dinner at our Magnolia home - this time with some pretty important invited guests.

Perhaps one of the sweetest surprises of our stay at Magnolia House involved a couple who knows the walls of this home even more than Chip and Joanna themselves.  Rob and Marianne Ward were approached by Chip and Joanna shortly after they purchased the house and began plans to fix it up.  In a transitional period themselves, they said yes to God's call and became overseers of the property.  In the midst of the renovation, Joanna once again approached Rob and Marianne with yet another proposition - to live in the run-down, dilapidated "Carriage House" just steps away from the back porch of the bed and breakfast.  Only after fixing it up and filming it for an episode of the show, of course!  Now, Rob and Marianne are the sweet faces behind this home.  They schedule visitors, personalize each experience to make everyone feel special, make sure Joanna's exceptional taste and vision is maintained around every inch of that house, and in our case, accept our invitation to join us around the table for dinner.  With a simple text that read, "We'd love to come, what can we bring?"  We were a bit star-struck, but mostly gracious they accepted our invitation with such genuine excitement, and boy are we glad they did.

Rob prayed for us around the table, shared stories of how this all came to be, and made us laugh with several Chip stories, like the one where his seven goats found their way in the upstairs of their farmhouse, and soon out the window while the four kids screamed their heads off.  They spoke candidly about how fast the Magnolia brand has grown and the challenges of finding the right people to live and breathe the same values Chip and Joanna hold so dear to them.  They shared stories about their family, asked us about ours, and talked about the blessings that have come out of the Magnolia House, thanks to the people who have found themselves in it.  "It's been a place for people to connect and reconnect," Rob said.  And for the four of us, it did that and a whole lot more.

After a peek inside the Carriage House, we ended the night in matching Magnolia bathrobes, curled up in those sweet twin beds again, with a TV cart on wheels pushed in the room.  Rob told the guys that every episode of Fixer Upper was saved on its DVR, and it seemed pretty fitting to watch this home come to life from inside its walls.  

Our stay at the Magnolia House came to a sweet ending the next morning.  But as we said goodbye to the shiplap and closed that black front door one last time, we took so much out with us.  We left closer as friends, inspired to take pieces of this with us in our daily lives and homes.  It was the ultimate retreat, a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I am so grateful.  

Our Stay at the Magnolia House

Last summer, Kate and I started casually tossing around the idea of trying to book a stay at Chip and Joanna's Magnolia House, a late-1800s house in little known McGregor, Texas, that Joanna fell in love after showing it to another couple on their show.  When this couple did not purchase it, an idea started brewing in her to restore this uniquely designed house to its original beauty and rent it out for others to enjoy.  The fixer upper journey of the Magnolia House aired at Christmas time in 2015, and officially opened to guests later on in 2016.  I remember watching this episode with Beau and thinking how dreamy it would be to see it up close, but I never would have guessed that a little over a year later, we'd walk through its doors, cook dinner in its kitchen, drink wine on its porch, and etch our own stories into its hundred-year pine floors.  Chalk it up to a little part our parents, who kept our kids so we could do this, a little part Kate and her ambitious desire to go after experiences that inspire us and change us, a little part husbands who love their wives and said yes to sacrificing time and resources to make this happen, and a little part God's handiwork in a friendship with Kate that has strengthened and inspired and called us to connect in ways that reach us out of what is expected.  Oh and perhaps a little bit of luck that we were one of thousands refreshing our computer screen that day in August who happened to get in and reserve a spot for the following March.  Whatever it was that led us through that wrought iron gate and into that dream of a home in little McGregor, Texas, we were thankful and ready to savor every piece of it until Rob and Marianne kicked us out!

I've been avoiding this post for a week now because it seemed too big to put into words just how special this stay was for us.  A little bit undeserving and overwhelmingly thankful were the feelings that surfaced as we speechlessly walked through this house and admired the details Joanna had so carefully put together to bless the lives that would be touched here.  From the natural light that seeped through every corner, to the scratches in the floor and the imperfections on the shiplap, it was easy to see this house breathed years of stories and the hard work of many.  We were greeted with a cake plate full of fresh pastries from the Silos, fresh fruit and orange juice waiting for us in the fridge, beds with the dreamiest bedding I had ever laid eyes on, and concrete counter tops just waiting to be cooked on.  It didn't take long for Kate and I to decide we would not be leaving until it was time to check out!

Our first night was relaxed and unforgettable.  We became locals for a few days in McGregor, throwing together the makings for an impromptu Italian feast at the local grocery store, making due with a sparse selection of fresh bread, herbs, and wine, which made it all the more fun.  We put on some music, poured some wine, chopped tomatoes and onions for bruschetta and filled the house with the smells of garlic and olive oil for a simple marinara sauce.  Then we gathered around Clint Harp's farmhouse table, passed plates and prayed thanks, and settled in for hours of conversation, both deep and light-hearted thanks to Beau's version of deep.  If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest have to drown, too? :)

Thanks for always keeping it real, babe.

After passing around the rest of our cupcakes from Silos Baking Co., it was Nate's idea to take a late night stroll around the block.  I loved this, not only because we got to see this beautiful place lit up in all its glory at night, but because it looked so uniquely out of place in this sleepy little town.  The volunteer fire department was right across the street, a dog barked at us from inside a chain linked fence just a few houses down, and it seemed the rest of the community was completely asleep as our foreign steps hit the pavement of the street that was being re-asphalted earlier that day.  And something about all this only added to the magic of this place - a treasure restored and given new life in the most unexpected of places.  Now, hundreds of people drive the extra 17 miles to catch a glimpse of her, take a selfie on the sidewalk, and go eat a cupcake and visit an antique store down the street.  It was unreal to see the impact of such a thing.  Chip and Joanna's impact was felt for sure, but God's loving presence came out of the woodwork here, and would be continued to be seen through the faces of others who humbly serve so well in this place.  More on that tomorrow...