If you've ever watched an episode of HGTV's Fixer Upper, then you're most likely a major fan of the show's hosts, Chip and Joanna Gaines. The Texas natives have been remodeling, renovating, and flipping houses together for about 12 years.
The duo took the October cover of Texas Monthly and the magazine decided to share the inside scoop on how it created a cover that looks like a home remodeling project in progress.
According to the Texas Monthly, the magazine wanted the cover to feel like a home on the show, but "the projects featured on their hit show, Fixer Upper, are completed so quickly that we couldn’t guarantee we would be able to catch one under construction for the shoot."
Instead, the magazine hired set designer B.J. Smith. His goal was, "[to] create a set, which we staged in a property the Gaines own and plan to turn into a bed and breakfast."
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In the first image, you can see Smith working on the wall that frames the couple. Apparently, Smith "built the eight-foot-wide, nine-foot-tall set the same way a real wall in a house is constructed, with framed 2x4s that are then covered in drywall."
After a painstaking process to find just the right wallpaper, Smith smashed a giant hole in the makeshift wall.
One image shows how the stylist, an editor, and the photo editor worked together to color-test wardrobe choices for Chip Gaines. Stylist Smith Ford said, "The Gaines have such a natural and casual style, so we wanted to stay true to who they are."
The image just wouldn't work without Chip holding a sledgehammer, right?
In the next image, you can see creative director T.J. Tucker add the Texas Monthly logo.
The end result is a cover photo that looks like it was taken during a remodeling project. You can read more about how Texas Monthly made the cover on its website.