"Fixer Upper" star Chip Gaines knows a thing or two about sturdy foundations — and he believes that extends to marriage.
The reality TV personality says there's one especially important building block that accounts for the success of his 14-year marriage to his professional and personal partner, wife Joanna.
"Honestly I can sum up all of the lessons I've learned from Jo in one word: trust. I trust her when it comes to our kids, our business, our show, our home, our projects," Gaines revealed to Country Living Magazine. "All of it. Joanna has great instincts, great ideas and an eye that can't be beat. She is truly fascinating to me in every area of our life together, and I could rattle off at least ninety things that she's the best at and that I've learned from her, but honestly trust, above all else, is the key.
"She has my back. And I have hers — in all things."
As they raise their four children — Drake, 12, Ella, 10, Duke, 9, and Emmie, 7 — and continue to build a media and real estate empire, the Texas-based couple leans on each other like a couple of load-bearing pillars.
"I like a lot of what Mother Teresa stood for," added Chip Gaines. "She said once, 'I can do things you cannot, and you can do things I cannot. Together, we can do great things.' This reminds me of Jo and me, you know we both have our individual strengths and talents that we bring to the table, but together what we can do is so much better than anything either of us could do on our own."
And their do-it-yourself work ethic apparently now extend to their children.
Eldest son Drake "is forward-thinking like I've never seen. He's an innovator. Someday he's going to change the world," his father told Country Living.
He calls daughter Ella, "imaginative and creative" like her mom, while Duke is "kind and compassionate. He makes friends faster than anyone I've ever met."
As for their youngest, Emmie Kay, Chip describes her as "sweet," and "bold and a bit of a firecracker. She isn't afraid to be different or to stick out. In fact, she welcomes it."
The interview comes as the Gaines have put turned their attention to helping on the ultimate rebuilding project — helping their fellow Texans recover from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. The couple took to Instagram to announce that all proceeds from their "Texas Forever" T-shirts would go to relief efforts.