Chip and Joanna Gaines’s Latest ‘Fixer Upper’ Is Lovely, but Unsurprising

The large, velvet couch in the drawing room, the place previous younger male citizens once obtained potential suitors, the tour guidebook tells us, is for sale. As are the linen-scented Magnolia-model candles, which waft with the energy of 1,000 sprays of Febreze during the roughly 6,000-square-foot castle. The guideline is unsure if the rugs in an upstairs bed room are readily available to purchase, but we’ll all be able to master for confident at the conclusion of our tour, wherever a QR code linking to an official castle glimpse book—product hyperlinks included—is waiting around for us. 

In fact, the total Cottonland Castle—a far more than 100-yr-old estate in Waco, Texas—will soon be on the industry. The castle sat empty and in disrepair for a long time, right up until, in 2019, a specified Waco pair recognized for revitalizing dilapidated residences with opportunity observed option in the pile of stone and dust. Now, the historic landmark is Chip and Joanna Gaines’s newest fixer-upper—maybe even their biggest nevertheless. The Fixer Higher stars spent a long time overhauling the castle, and this July opened it up to the community for one particular-hour guided tours. At the end of Oct, the excursions will cease as the property goes on the marketplace for some undisclosed listing selling price. The full renovation will be viewable at house this tumble, when a devoted time of Fixer Upper: The Castle airs on the Gainses’ very own Magnolia Network.

It’s only fitting that Chip and Joanna would take on 1 of Waco’s most iconic properties, situated on Austin Avenue, a huge stretch of key highway lined with Texas mansions, equally old and new. My relatives in Houston has a joke that Chip and Jo will ultimately require to leave Waco, possessing set up every residence in the small Texas town. It is difficult to travel by means of the place, as I did on a current Saturday afternoon, with out sensation the couple’s impression. Their advanced of companies—including a bakery, furniture retailer, plant shop, and more—rises like a fortress in the heart of city and is extra like a small, Magnolia-branded amusement park with half a dozen parking loads, all of which had been comprehensive. The line to get into the Silos Baking Co. (introduced to lifestyle by the home renovation Television set stars on Fixer Upper’s fourth year) snaked like a person for a roller coaster or airport safety. Tours for the castle, established miles away from the Magnolia compound, were fully marketed out for the day, as a sign in the vicinity of the entrance alerted me. Others in my team had traveled from out of town to see Chip and Joanna’s most up-to-date renovation. 

The record of the castle was outlined succinctly at the very beginning of our tour. In 1890, area stone contractor John Tennant began development on a grandiose new house, suddenly flush with funds from a fruitful deal with a Waco banker. When he ran out of funds to entire the house, he sold it to a cotton broker in 1906 beneath the arrangement that he could finish the stonework. Immediately after fiscal complications ongoing, the pair deserted the task two several years later. A war veteran took around construction in 1913, completing the construction that stands these days: A 3-tale castle (modeled immediately after a German fortress along the Rhine River) with a basement, eight fireplaces, and a turret. The castle altered hands a couple of instances because then, as soon as offering, in 1969, for $50,000. The household acquired its historic marker in 1977, but in the 1990s went via a fast succession of house owners, slipping into excessive disrepair. It was not until eventually 2019 that the Gainses, who’d been watching the property transform hands for decades, at last purchased the construction.

Even if you’d only found a single or two episodes of Fixer Higher—which was definitely not legitimate for the lovers on my tour—you’d be equipped to realize Joanna Gaines’s attribute farmhouse-inspired contact.

Only a couple of of the castle’s primary functions remain—a pair of solid wood doors that we passed by at the entrance, a refinished fire, and 1 of many previous gentle switches. The relaxation has been reimagined and renovated by America’s most Do-it-yourself-famous couple. Even if you’d only observed a single or two episodes of Fixer Upper—which was definitely not legitimate for the followers on my tour—you’d be in a position to understand Joanna Gaines’s characteristic farmhouse-impressed contact throughout the residence. There was no shiplap in sight, but there were at the very least two fiddle-leaf fig trees, standing tall in sunshine-drenched rooms. The pair converted the turret into an alcove for a soaking tub. Antiques from Texas’s Spherical Major Antiques Reasonable (about two hrs from Waco), as effectively as from England (substantially farther), are situated among the household furniture from Magnolia Market place, all of which tour friends were inspired to sit on—and get.

While our tour guideline was keen to issue out which aspects in the castle were being authentic to the development, she also appeared conscious that the friends were being likely there as Fixer Upper supporters, rather than Waco history enthusiasts. Halfway by the tour, just one visitor lastly requested our guide the inevitable issue: Had she at any time fulfilled Joanna herself? The manual, of study course, experienced. We were shown the mirror in which Joanna checked her make-up on times filming Fixer Upper: The Castle and were presented spiels about how Joanna envisioned every place. The guidebook pointed out which plants Joanna harvested from her particular garden. Pausing in front of a major-display screen Tv, we ended up informed that Joanna does not have 1 in her very own house—but of course, as enthusiasts, we by now understood that.  

That’s to do no disservice to the attractiveness of the castle, or to the duo’s amazing renovation perform. The primary suite, lined with a wall of windows, sits future to a library with newly constructed dark-wood cabinets adorned with outdated, unreadable books and just one of individuals sliding ladders on a track. The kids’ space is a lot more classy than my grownup bed room, total with one of the home’s numerous stone fireplaces. The matching twin beds were being initially bought for the Gaines’s daughters, Ella Rose and Emmie Kay, but, as our guidebook instructed us, the ladies turned their noses up at them, so they now sit in the castle. The kitchen, we learned, was moved from the basement amount to the principal floor, and an old dumbwaiter was eradicated to make space for a spice cabinet. The basement now is made up of a guest suite with (of study course) a key space located off a dark, wooden-trimmed space staged for participating in playing cards, concealed powering a trick wall.