Joanna Gaines’s ‘Mini Reni’ Will Have You Absolutely Floored
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Home projects, no matter how big or small, tend to languish, whether you’re looking to refresh your kitchen cabinets or even deal with that heap of laundry that’s turned your bedroom chair into an ad hoc coat rack (hey, at least it’s useful for something!). Design star Joanna Gaines is here to inspire you to rip off the Band-Aid with her brand new show, Mini Reni.
The series, which kicked off tonight on Magnolia Network (you can also stream it on Max and Discovery+), builds off a prior framework that Gaines and her team have experimented with: transform a few select rooms in a home, with a tight budget, in one week. The catch? The transformation needs to be construction-free (no dramatic sledgehammer scenes here!) and utilize materials that can readily be sourced locally.
“For me, as someone who loves that before and after, Mini Reni is a way to stay grounded, get my wiggles out in these smaller ways,” Gaines says, “like if I’m really craving color or certain concepts, I can do that on these homes.”
First up: a charming 1930s home that belonged to one of Gaines’s employees in Waco, Texas. The home came equipped with plenty of character (think sweet carved built-ins and an original fireplace), which would allow the team ample time to conduct a transformation.
Gaines could select only three rooms to tackle, given their $15,000 budget, and opted for adjoining rooms. “We knew the homeowner wanted more color and pattern infused into what were mostly white-walled spaces, so we prioritized the three rooms that all flowed together—the living, dining, and breakfast nook. This allowed us to create a cohesive design story with one color palette and define details that would complement each other,” Gaines tells ELLE DECOR. “Once we had a plan for the dining room and it checked all the homeowner’s boxes—a little bit of whimsy, period details, and an artful twist—that space became center stage for me and led how we approached the two rooms it connected.”
For this mini makeover, bold wallpaper; cool, complementary color; and detail-enhancing trim were the way forward. “I hope you see with this mini reni that you can just do one or two simple things to really transform a space,” says Gaines. “I’m ready for the next one!”
Click below for an exclusive look at the big—err, mini—reveal!
Before: Living Room
With its original fireplace and Craftsman-style windows, what’s not to love about this living room? While Gaines adored all of the historic character, she felt—especially with all the windows—that the room lacked focus. “The biggest thing in the living room is to create a focal point on that back wall where the mantel is,” she decided early on in the episode.
After: Living Room
Gaines and her design team proved in this room that a little detail can go a long way. To draw the eye to the fireplace wall, they incorporated thin, vertical lengths of trim, which moves the eye upward, while adding texture around the fireplace. “You can make a focal point out of anything. It could be something existing like a window or a built-in that you emphasize with detailed trimwork, fabric, or a bold paint color—or simply a statement piece you love like a favorite piece of artwork or a piece of furniture,” Gaines says.
The original flooring and mantel stayed put, but Gaines covered the original brick on the hearth with a glossy green tile. “I love that we got to design a small tulip appliqué for the fireplace mantel,” she adds. “The idea was to match the same detail we found on a built-in phone nook they had in their hallway—taking that original detail and putting it front and center in the living room.”
The walls, meanwhile, were painted in Magnolia’s Garden Party, while the ceiling, trim, and windows got a coat of Wedding Band blue. “I’ve been designing homes for 20 years and I still make mistakes when it comes to color,” Gaines confesses of a last-minute paint switcharoo in this space. “The more important lesson I’ve had to learn is having the patience to wait and watch—to observe a large swatch of color up on the wall or on a sample board and take note of how the light impacts the color throughout the day. Sitting with a color for a few days before you make a final decision is the best way to ensure that you’ll love it down the road.”
Next, came furniture. “When I’m looking for furniture, the job is to really bring some beautiful neutral pieces into the space that will help tie all of the design together,” Gaines says. Here, she selected a velvet sofa and a pair of curved boucle chairs from Magnolia Home. While the look hangs together beautifully, Gaines cautioned on the episode: “Don’t feel like it’s got to look like something in a magazine on day one. You’re gonna have some empty spots, and you just need to be OK with it. Let your home evolve as your story evolves.”
Before: Dining Room
The original hutch in the dining room charmed the socks off of Gaines and her team. As with the living room, this space just needed a little something special. And because it’s sandwiched between the living room and breakfast room (more on that later), “we really wanted to create a magical moment,” Gaines said during the episode. “I wanted it to be kind of a magical space where we incorporate some crown-molding details, wallpapers, and paint the built-in...so that it sticks out and it’s highlighted.”
After: Dining Room
A William Morris–inspired botanical wallpaper amplified the historic character of the revamped dining room without going over-the-top maximalist. “I went a little bolder with pattern and color than I typically do,” Gaines admits, but the bold print was brought down to earth via gray-blue trim and a classic dining room table and set of chairs.
A combination of egg-and-dart and traditional crown molding helps to emphasize the ceiling height (“Molding and trim are one of the simplest ways to layer on charm and interest to a wall or ceiling,” she says). But Gaines and her team had to course-correct when it came to the height of the wallpaper, which they originally had designed to stop a few inches below the ceiling. “When I look at design, I think about jeans. A wallpaper stopping at that point was like a really bad pair of jeans. It kind of accentuated the muffin top and actually made the room look shorter,” Gaines advises in the episode. “Take that wallpaper all the way to the crown molding, and all of a sudden you look long and lean.”
Before: Breakfast Nook
Though this sweet nook was the smallest of the three spaces, that didn’t mean it had any less potential. “You’ve got this beautiful existing wood window that I really wanted to highlight,” says Gaines. “The question became, What kind of color or pattern do we want to add there to just really create its own unique moment?”
After: Breakfast Nook
As with the living room, the solution was to create an eye-catching accent wall, in this case, a sunshiny checkerboard of white and gold glazed tile. “The tiled accent wall we created in the breakfast nook is a favorite for me. On just one tiny wall we were able to incorporate color, pattern, and texture,” she says. “It was the smallest space we tackled—but just goes to show how much of an impact a few square feet of tile and a new light fixture can make.”
In also went a round, fluted table from Magnolia Home, a set of woven chairs, and a vase of flowers, hand-picked with Gaines’s son Crew.
“I think truly one of my favorite things to do is mix old with new, so it doesn’t just feel like you bought all brand-new things,” Gaines reflected of the mini reni. “You want your house to feel storied and collected.”
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