Joanna Gaines Reveals the ‘Weird’ Rule She Has Implemented in Her Home Since She Married Chip

Magnolia Network star Joanna Gaines has become a role model for homemakers the world over—and she has now revealed one of the more unique things she does to ensure all guests feel welcome in her home.

Joanna, 47, opened up about life inside her Waco, TX, farmhouse during an appearance on the “Today” show, sharing a glimpse inside some of the tips and tricks that viewers will find on her new show, “Magnolia Table: At the Farm,” which she hosts with husband Chip Gaines, 50.

The on-air renovations expert, who hosts the show inside her own dwelling, explained that one of the “weird” ways she tries to make the abode more appealing to visitors is keeping an array of treats on offer in her kitchen at all times—a tradition she said was started by a wedding gift she and Chip received back in 2003.

“There’s a cake plate stand on the island that since I first got married—it was like the first year, I got it for a wedding gift, and it was empty,” she explained. “We had so many friends and family coming in, and I was like, ‘I need to start having something in there,’ so it was kind of a weird rule I made.”

To this day, Joanna said, she continues to keep the cake stand fully stocked with some kind of baked good to offer guests—or her children—whenever they want a sweet treat.

“The rule is just kind of always have something on the cake plate stand for the family or for guests,” she said.

However, she conceded that, after her two eldest kids moved out of the family’s abode to attend college, she ends up being the person who partakes most often.

“It’s really me now just eating the stuff, so that’s fun. It’s now for me,” she joked.

“Magnolia Table: At the Farm” marks a new chapter for the Gaines family, who had previously used a separate kitchen to film different installments of the series in a bid to preserve their own home as a safe haven.

In order to ensure that their family didn’t suffer too much disruption, Joanna revealed that she put in place some strict restrictions around when filming could take place—and how many people were allowed in their dwelling at a time during production.

“I wanted to do something from home, but I kind of had a rule,” she said. “I was like, less than three people in the house, and it has to be when the kids are at school so they don’t know what’s going on.

“I didn’t want it to feel like a production. So I just wanted to be in that space, and we just kind of went on the fly, and it wasn’t really planned or produced.”

In a sneak peek from her new show, which premieres Sept. 7, Joanna is seen showing the cameras around her farm, revealing how she and Chip have divided up the sprawling spread of land that their home sits on.

Pointing to a white picket fence that stretches along the length of the property, Joanna explains that the land on one side, which is largely occupied by farm animals like sheep and chicken, is reserved for Chip, while the other portion is hers to do with as she pleases—with the footage showing that it has been mostly used for wildflowers.

She also hints that many of the recipes she will share in the series are those that hold a very special place in her heart and her home, sharing: “What I love about these recipes is the memory and the story that is attached. I think you’re going to love it.”

The release of the series will undoubtedly provide Joanna with a much-needed distraction from a major shift that has taken place in her home recently: the departure of her eldest daughter, Ella, 18, who recently moved out of the family’s abode to start her freshman year at college.

Earlier this month, Joanna, who shares five kids with Chip, took to Instagram to share her emotional response to the bittersweet milestone, questioning how she can continue to “hold [her kids] close” while also “letting them go.”

Sharing a photo of her eldest son’s room filled with boxes and suitcases, Joanna examined the many feelings that she was grappling with after her son Drake, 20, and daughter Ella both left the nest.

“They told me it would go by quicker than I think. That the days are slow but the years are fast. And darn it if they were right. This beautiful gift of time has roared past us all just like I was told,” she wrote.

“My oldest son left for his third year of college while my oldest daughter packs for her first year across the country.

“This season already feels like one big, breathless surrender. Lord, how do I hold them close while also letting go?”