Joanna Gaines Transforms Three Rooms With Speedy, Cost

By Lori Keong

Designer Joanna Gaines is known for home reno flips.

Though designer Joanna Gaines of Magnolia Network's Fixer Upper is no stranger to a top-down renovation project, recently, she's turned her attention to some small and approachable updates that can reframe the look and feel of a space with very little money or time. This month she and her team at Magnolia are kicking off a new endeavor called Mini Reni, a series of fast-turnaround projects that provide "real-life examples for how to tackle a space without requiring a contractor, crazy budget, or months of time."

It all started when Gaines refreshed the home of a good friend who was away on her honeymoon. Gaines and her team completely reimagined the space in one day by updating a few light fixtures and bringing in stylish furniture pieces, which then got the wheels turning to go full Mini Reni. "Doing flips that are fast and fun is how I fell in love with design in the first place," Gaines says. "They’re proof that you don't necessarily have to take down walls or have a huge budget to transform a space—sometimes even small adjustments can make a big impact."

AD got an exclusive first-look into the first Mini Reni, which encompassed tackling three rooms—a living room, a dining room, and a bedroom—and completely overhauling the spaces in a week using primarily paint, wallpaper, window treatments, and Magnolia furniture and decor. Read on for a full reveal.

The original living room was dated with wood paneling, textured ceiling tiles overhead, and tile underfoot. Gaines debated removing the uniquely tiled ceiling because it also felt outdated, but decided to embrace it as part of the home's character.

The homeowners wanted the living room to feel like a cozy modern den, so to keep costs low, Gaines's team focused on simple but impactful updates like new paint, light fixtures, and furnishings. The original living room was bogged down with dated wood paneling and ceiling tiles, but rather than stripping everything away, Gaines blanketed the walls and ceilings in a verdant (Cottage Grove) from the Magnolia line for a cozy jewel box effect. "We used this moody green in the castle we renovated in Waco, and I love how inviting this deep green feels—whether it's in a grand space or an everyday home," she explains.

The walls and ceiling are painted the same shade of dramatic green to enhance the coziness of the room, and the ceiling beams are left untouched. Clean and neutral furnishings balance out the striking color.

Prepping the walls for paint first involved buffing with 220-grit sandpaper, and priming came next. Gaines recommends the oil-based Kilz Original interior primer that has a stain blocker to hide the knots in the wood.

From the long Ford sectional sofa to the extra-large Loloi area rug underfoot, neutrals and soft wood tones were called in to balance out the bold paint. "We would have preferred to update the floors, but to save time and money, we opted to keep them as is," Gaines explains. Instead, she selected this neutral rug to complement the original tile flooring. Her tip? Cover as much of the floor as possible and "soften the overall feel of the room."

The tall hutch, seen here, was one of the first pieces sourced for the room. It displays trinkets and leaves room for storage on top. Instead of curtains, the team opted for woven blinds that play off the soft woods in the room.

Intention and thought can go a long way when it comes to finding pieces that help tie everything together. Gaines and her team started out with key pieces that could anchor the room, like the tall hutch, the statement art piece in the center by Dan Hobday, and the large two-piece Ford sectional. "I like to leave a little breathing room, so I didn't fill every inch of the space," Gaines says. As a tip for rounding out a space with furniture, she recommends thinking about the places where your eye is naturally drawn to and focusing on padding those spots first.

A low-to-the-ground Ford sectional maximizes the space, surrounded by a cast-aluminum side table and round wood coffee table—all from Magnolia.

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Gaines notes that once those key pieces were in place, it was easier to fill in the gaps with the large fiddle-leaf fig tree, the mirror, and smaller decor items. "All of these elements work together to create a natural flow that makes the room feel both functional and beautiful," Gaines says.

The original dining room, surrounded by white walls on all sides, was sorely lacking in direction.

The original dining room—with its white walls, white trim, and white ceiling—was a total blank slate when Gaines and her team started working on it. One of the biggest transformations they made was installing wood slats overhead (for dimension), adding a four-inch crown molding, and painting the ceiling a soft Drawing Room gray from her Magnolia line. To pull off a similar look in your own space, Gaines recommends using one-inch-by-six-inch boards with a four-inch space between each one and opting for paint-grade wood if you’re on a tight budget.

A new slatted ceiling painted a soft gray—plus a matching utility door completed with applied molding—keeps this light-filled room from falling flat. Black Hawkins dining chairs and a new lighting fixture overhead dial up the contrast in the space, and the floor-length velvet curtains heighten the sense of elegance.

A tight-turnaround renovation like this one calls for creative thinking when it comes to working around existing design elements that can't be moved. In this case, the door on the back wall leading to the HVAC closet was an eyesore which Gaines ended up accentuating rather than downplaying. She gave it some character and cohesion with the rest of the space through applied molding and a new paint job that matches the gray of the ceiling. "With it being in direct line of sight, I figured I may as well make it look like it was there on purpose," she explains.

Otherwise, Gaines opted for simple elegance with the furnishings, including a long oval dining table with soft curves contrasted with the black Hawkins dining chairs around it. The finishing touches on this elegant dining room are the velvet light-filtering curtains which Gaines calls the "unsung heroes of this space." She credits them for providing much-needed softness and "luxe texture" to the space, without completely blocking light from seeping in.

The bedroom was another blank space, with just a ceiling fan overhead and some white built-in shelving to break up the room.

The wallpaper and matching trim dramatically transform the bedroom into a cool and inviting space with character. "Wallpaper always has a big impact, no matter the texture or pattern," Gaines explains. "Because this grid pattern is subtle, it makes for a good foundation to layer in colors and additional patterns into your space."

The original bedroom was another white box, which Gaines punched up by painting the window and wall trim with a cool navy hue and installing matching Magnolia (Sunday Best) white-and-navy wallpaper underneath. She explains that "keeping all the trim consistent in color helps to visually connect each wall of the room." Plus, she notes, coordinating the trim with the navy blue from the wallpaper creates color balance and adds depth to the space.

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If you’re new to installing wallpaper, a grid pattern like this may be challenging to keep straight, so Gaines suggests potentially hiring a professional to perfect the details or playing it safe with a more organic pattern.

Beyond the visual cohesion that the blue trim adds, there's utility to it too. "We added a chair rail and made the trim a little deeper so it could serve as a photo ledge as well," Gaines points out.

Another way to enhance the synergy in your space is to ensure that the details make sense together. Gaines chose simple polished chrome hardware to play off the metallic accents on the new ceiling fan overhead. "It's a simple detail, but I love the way it subtly ties the room together," she explains.

Gaines hopes these bite-sized renovations can inspire people to employ simple tactics and DIY tools to spruce up their home without dropping a ton of cash in the process.