Chip Gaines Reveals His Biggest Nightmare on 'Fixer Upper'
Chip Gaines may seem like a happy-go-lucky guy, but in the latest episode of “Fixer Upper,” he admits to his wife, Joanna, that he hasn’t been getting much sleep. So what’s the problem?
Their latest clients, Mary and David Severns, are moving with their two kids to Waco, TX, from dreaded California.
“Any time we’ve got a couple moving in from California, that puts the pressure on us,” Joanna says. It’s not that the Severns are picky; it’s just that with such a big change, the bar is higher than usual for Chip and Jo to show them all that their hometown has to offer.
“I feel like this one might beat me,” confesses Chip. “I feel like I’m going to lose sleep on this, but it’s OK. I haven’t been getting much sleep lately anyway, ever since I’ve been having those nightmares about shiplap.”
Shiplap, for those not in the know, is a rustic-looking interior wall covering that Joanna loves—and has single-handedly turned into one of the hottest home decor trends of our day. Chip enjoys ribbing her about her obsession, but Joanna can rib right back.
“Those are not nightmares,” Joanna responds. “If you’re dreaming about shiplap, that’s a good dream!”
Yet whether these dreams/nightmares foretell a bright or dark future remains to be seen: Can Chip and Jo convince these hoity-toity Californians that Waco is where it’s at? In the latest episode, “Space in the Suburbs,” they go all out to impress. Here’s how they attempt to pull it off.
The house before renovations
Rachel Whyte/HGTV
Remove the ‘sticking points’
Chip nicknames the home they buy for $230,000 the “Prickly Pear house,” because of the giant cactus in the front yard that turns the Severns off as soon as they see it.
“We can just see our kids falling into that,” says Mary. So of course Chip and Joanna pull the cactus out, and replace it with a nice bed of mulch and lavender. It looks far more inviting.
Add dormer windows
The 3,400-square-foot home was built in 1980, and its gray, gabled roof looks a little severe. So the Gaines add faux dormer windows to the roof, softening it and giving it more architectural interest.
The house after renovations
Rachel Whyte/HGTV
Install a front porch
There is no front porch where people can sit and chat and enjoy the great outdoors, so, in a nod to the Severns’ California roots, Chip and Joanna add a pergola-covered area in front, accessed by french doors in the living room. This lets more light in as well.
The new pergola-covered porch (The antiqued finish on the bricks is known as a “German schmear.”)
Lay on the ‘German schmear’
Since the red brick looks a little trite, Chip comes up with a brick treatment known as a “German schmear.” It involves, in his words, “taking the mortar, schmearing it on the surface, than wiping some of it off,” so just a few of the bricks show through. Weird name aside, Joanna is thrilled with the antiqued look.
Turn a bowling alley into a kitchen table
Joanna is big on using the reclaimed materials and antiques she finds in local shops, but this time, Mary wants to incorporate the wood from the lanes of a bowling alley her grandparents used to own. Joanna turns to Clint Harp of Harp Designs to use that wood on the surface of the new kitchen island. The markings and nicks in the wood give it interesting character.
“I love to implement pieces or design elements that have a story, that have history,” says Joanna.
Reclaimed wood from a bowling lane is used to top the kitchen island.
Rachel Whyte/HGTV
Turn closets into a book nook
There are awkward closets holding HVAC and water heating equipment that can’t be moved, so Joanna makes the best of it by adding a book nook between them.
“My favorite thing to do with spaces is to really make each room work for the family and their needs,” she explains. “Originally [in this room] there were two closets. What we ended up doing was taking out the internal wall that separated the storage closet and coat closet, and now it’s one open space [making] a fun space for the kids to sit, curl up, read a book.”
Joanna adds a book nook to a wall of closets.
Rachel Whyte/HGTV
The book nook (left) adds architectural interest, plus space, to the living room.
Rachel Whyte/HGTV
Line the fireplace in shiplap
Oh, and just to make sure Chip understands that shiplap is nothing to fear, Joanna designs an entire fireplace wall covered in these interlocking boards.
The shiplap-covered fireplace wall
Rachel Whyte/HGTV
So were the former Californians satisfied with their new Texas home?
“This is unbelievable!” cries David. Although they purchased the house for $230,000, Chip and Jo’s $130,000 in renovations added about $15,000 in value. The house has now appreciated to about $375,000.
It would seem Chip’s nightmares were completely unfounded … shiplap and all.
Chip and Joanna Gaines decorate the Prickly Pear home.
Rachel Whyte/HGTV
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