Chip Gaines Bought a Castle Without Telling Joanna Gaines
Chip and Joanna Gaines are considered royalty in the home improvement game. The pair have been scouting homes that need extreme renovation and bringing said homes back to life through their popular show Fixer Upper. Chip Gaines had always wanted to purchase a castle to no success. He eventually purchased the castle but didn’t tell his wife, Joanna.
Chip Gaines surprised his wife, Joanna Gaines, by buying a castle
The Gaineses became famous thanks to their HGTV home design and renovation show Fixer Upper. Through their home design and renovation business, the duo starts by showing couples three potential homes available for purchase in central Texas.
Each of these homes the power couple presents requires different amounts of repair or renovation. Once a buying couple chooses their home, Joanna gets to work designing it while her husband Chip works as the lead contractor on the project. The buyers often have a total budget of $200,000, with nearly $30,000 delegated to renovations.
The Gaineses have a unique, professional, and personal relationship that endears them to fans. Chip has been trying to get his hands on an elegant castle at the heart of Waco, Texas, for years, to no success.
Good Morning America recently caught up with the duo and asked about their recent royal-worthy purchase. Joanna revealed her husband had tried to buy the property eight times over the course of two decades and failed every single time until recently.
Chip claimed the castle was his ultimate fixer-upper fantasy, but Joanna revealed he didn’t run the purchase through her first. When asked why Chip kept it a secret, Joanna quipped, “That’s just the nature of our relationship. It’s like, ‘Jo loves surprises. So ‘surprise, we bought a castle!'” Chip surprised his wife with the castle during a lunch date captured as part of the footage for their hit show Fixer Upper.
The castle in Waco required extensive work
The castle Chip bought through their company Magnolia was built in 1890 and has had its fair share of wear and tear over the years. However, knowing the Gaineses, no amount of restorative work has ever put them off a project.
The couple has painstakingly done their best to bring the castle back to its former glory, using several tricks of the trade. In the GMA interview, Chip and Joanna revealed they intended to replace the mantle on the fireplace with Styrofoam, which is great for the environment, as it’s doing away with the plastic material.
The castle will also feature a design evolution by Joanna. The home designer has always been known for her shiplap designs which she says stuck because fans couldn’t get enough of them. Joanna revealed that when they began filming Fixer Upper, their first project was a farmhouse, and after renovating it, every client they worked with requested the design.
However, with the castle, Joanna intends to add a unique perspective to it. “I have evolved. I have a love for multiple styles, and I don’t want to be put into a box,” she said. According to Today, the castle’s previous owners had begun working on the property, but much of it will be up to the Gaineses.
More about the castle bought by Chip Gaines
The German-style stone castle is a 6,700-square-foot property with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Some of the castle’s unique features worth preserving include a 9-foot oak front door weighing 400 pounds and a carved French Caen stone fireplace.
The residence has eight fireplaces in total, including the carved French Caen stone fireplace. The property’s diamond-shaped window panes and rich mahogany wood accents add to the castle’s character. There’s also a covered patio that’s very welcoming.
