Before Joanna Gaines was Joanna Gaines, interior designer extraordinaire, she had a big decision on her hands: open up a home store or a bakery. She obviously went with the first option, but more than a decade later, Joanna got to try her hands at the second. Her bakery, Silos Baking Co., opened last June, but on last week's episode of Fixer Upper, we got a sneak peek into how she and Chip transformed what used to be a flower shop into their very own cupcakery. Here's everything they had to do to make the dream a reality:
1. Bring the kitchen up to code.
As Chip and his team learned, commercial building is a whole different beast than the residential renovations they're used to. Joanna fell in love with the century-old brick and wood beams Chip unearthed during his beloved demo day, but they weren't allowed in a bakery kitchen.
2. Taste test A LOT of cupcakes.
While there are other things on the menu (cookies, donuts, and pies — to name a few), the cupcakes are the main attraction here. Joanna whipped up more than a dozen flavors and had to whittle the list down to eight regulars. Luckily, she had a more-than-willing husband to confirm important things like, yes, the strawberry cupcake tastes great with vanilla buttercream.
3. Decide what they could save — and what they couldn't.
Luckily, Joanna was able to keep the brick and beams in the front of the bakery to maintain the look of an old-world European pastry shop. Originally, she wanted to salvage the hardwood floors, too, but they were too far-gone to mend. She opted to lay new wood in a herringbone pattern that would work well in any open space, like a dining room. The building's exterior had the same sort of issues: Joanna loved the rusted white brick but it clashed with the rusting silos just behind the building, so Chip painted everything white. She did get to rescue the star-pattered trellis leading to the front door.
4. Design the perfect open shelving.
When you have cupcakes wrapped as cute as Joanna's (they're in tulip parchment cups), you need the right space to show them off. Chip tried his hand at drawing out a blueprint for counter-to-ceiling shelving, but Joanna snuck behind his back and nixed the idea. Who wants to reach way up high for a cupcake, anyway! Instead, she commissioned a sleek, double-decker design from a friend in town that had just enough space to house each of her cupcake flavors.
5. Figure out the flow of the bakery.
Chip and Joanna are big fans of creating open floor plans in all of their Fixer Upper homes, and the bakery was no different. There's usually a line snaking through the joint, but all the necessary furniture — a milk and sugar station, a drink fridge, a hutch for souvenirs — is pushed against the walls so nothing comes between the customers and the cupcakes.
6. Fix up the outdoor space.
What's a chic, European-inspired bakery without an equally chic patio? Joanna's design feels straight out of Paris, with black-and-white bistro tables and chairs. To get to them, you can hop through the checkboard grass and paver layout. Underneath a hand-painted Magnolia Silos mural, there's even a tiny countertop with swivel stools that are perfect for sipping some coffee.
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