Ella Gaines Confirms What We Suspected About Her On Chip & Joanna's New Show

Chip and Joanna Gaines' eldest daughter, Ella Gaines, has officially entered the spotlight for their new home renovation series, "Fixer Upper: Colorado Mountain House," which premiered on December 9 on HGTV and Magnolia Network. The hosts invited their 19-year-old daughter to help design the little cottage on a 1960s mountain property the family is transforming into their new vacation home. And early on, it became clear how much Ella takes after her mother; the show confirms what we've long suspected about her, which is that she really is Joanna's mini-me when it comes to her love of design. "Ella is like me," Joanna previously told People. "I think she'll follow in my footsteps and have her hand in a lot of things." 

"Moody or light?" Joanna asked Ella as they brainstormed ideas for the cabin during the premiere episode. "I think I love like greens and blues. I think that would be fun. There was one that ... yes!" exclaimed Ella, pointing to a swatch that immediately caught her eye. For her part, Joanna seemed surprised by Ella's pick and told her daughter she should follow what her gut tells her. "There's really no wrong answer. You get to do whatever you like. If you want to paint it black, I'm going to let you paint it black," said the interior designer. She proceeded to explain how colors can completely affect and transform a room's atmosphere. "You know, there's this general rule, in smaller spaces, the lighter the color, it makes it feel bigger," Joanna noted (via TV Insider). "[But] we want it to feel moody. I want you to feel like if your gut is dark, we go dark."

The series marked Ella's first home design project after appearing in previous HGTV episodes and interning with her parents over the summer. And clearly, she has a natural knack for design.

It was, according to Joanna Gaines, Chip Gaines' idea to have their daughter, Ella Gaines, take part in their latest project. "Chip has always told Ella, 'Hey, before you go to college, I want you to flip a house, do a project,'" Joanna shared on the December 9 episode of their home renovation series (via TV Insider). Noting that their original plan was to flip a house closer to their home in Waco, Texas, Joanna said Ella readily accepted the challenge. "She's always mentioned that she wants to do something in design," Jo gushed. "But Chip had this fun idea to let her tackle the little cottage as her first design project." 

"My biggest hope with letting her tackle this cottage is that it builds confidence in her," Joanna mused while pointing out that she and Ella have "very similar tastes." After appearing in past "Fixer Upper" episodes alongside her siblings, Drake, Duke, Emmie, and Crew, Joanna said she is proud of her eldest daughter for taking on her first major home design project. "The idea that my daughter, who is now an adult, has decided to take on what her mother does, and I get to teach her — I don't know, it just feels like this beautiful full circle moment."

Currently, Ella is a freshman student at Parsons School of Design in New York City and plans to pursue a career in interior design, just like her mother. Earlier, the host proudly revealed that Ella was very hands-on in decorating her own dorm room at Parsons. "She is very into design, and she has her own, unique style, so I stepped back, and I was like, 'You show me what,'" the mother of five kids told "Today." "I let her do the whole thing," adding, "So, it was really what she wanted."