The Joanna Gaines Garden Decor That Has Not Aged Well

Joanna Gaines is perhaps the first name that comes to mind when people think of the modern farmhouse style, and for good reason. Over the years on HGTV's "Fixer Upper", she has allowed millions of viewers to learn from her and incorporate her design sensibilities into their own spaces. But considering Gaines has been designing in the public eye since 2014, it's no surprise that not all of her early decor ideas have stood the test of time. One that has particularly fallen out of style as of late is the heavy use of black-and-white signs with lettering on them, and those ubiquitous chalkboards painted with sayings.

While people should by all means continue using this type of decor if they still enjoy it, many, including Joanna Gaines herself, seem to have moved on. In 2019, Gaines shared many of the recent updates she had made to her gorgeous farmhouse on her Magnolia blog. And the monochromatic signs of carefully lettered sayings were largely removed. Even Gaines's color palette has begun to shift over the years, with her recent rose shed update, which transformed it into a Gothic paradise through the use of deeper, moodier colors.

Minor changes can massively refresh your garden decor. And if overly precious vignettes of unhelpful signs with dated phrases are cluttering your garden, there are a variety of ways to update your space. Of course, you could simply remove them and take your garden in a slightly different direction, like following the Nancy Meyers-inspired garden trend. This style still keeps much of the clean white decor but adds warmth and is overflowing with roses. Or you could even drop the neutrals entirely and start incorporating deeper tones like Gaines has started to do in some of her own spaces.

You don't need to toss those signs if they aren't bringing you joy anymore, though. Instead, try repainting and repurposing them. Use them as canvases for your own paintings and pick unique colors to bring whimsy to your garden. Once they're ready, you can use your new artwork to decorate and elevate your ordinary chain link fence. Depending on how large the signs are and what kind of wood they're made of, you may even be able to use them to build a small window box planter.