Chip and Joanna Gaines’ latest fixer upper looks a little different than the Waco, Texas farmhouses we’re used to seeing the dynamic duo flip. In the most recent episode of Fixer Upper: Welcome Home, Chip and Jo partnered with an emergency girls shelter in Waco to transform it into a cozy and welcoming place for its short-term residents.
“There are certain projects that sit in our hearts long after the reveal. This is one of them,” Chip and Jo wrote in a post on the Magnolia blog. “The shelter was in need of a renovation so that it could not only meet the girls’ everyday needs but also feel like a warm and comforting place to land.”
The shelter is a transitional home to about 16 girls at a time, ages 5 to 21. The girls typically stay up to 90 days as they transition into a more long-term solution like foster care.
Chip and Joanna worked with Barbara, who runs the shelter, and Trasha, a former resident of the shelter who now works there, to transform the 3,900-square-foot space.
Barbara said the remodeling will help the girls understand that there can always be change, and that change can be a good thing. She added that the mission of the shelter is to “give each girl a chance to succeed.”
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The inspiration behind the design was to make the house’s common places feel warm and inviting, giving the girls plenty of comfortable places to be together. Chip and Jo even knocked down a wall in the dining room and created an extra long table so that all 16 girls would be able to eat together.
“This is just wonderful,” Barbara said. “It just speaks home. It speaks warmth. It speaks caring. It speaks perseverance.”
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The renovation also included a garden with diamond lattice fence panels where the girls could work with their hands and see beautiful things grow.
“Now that it’s renovated, it’s gonna help me help the girls to understand that there can always be change, and it’s OK to be with us even though it’s not where they want to be,” Trasha added.
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“What an honor it has been to be a part of rebuilding this space that will continue to be a place of hope and healing for years to come,” the Gaines wrote in their blog, thanking the community of people who donated money, time, and labor to make the project happen.
Catch the first four episodes of Fixer Upper: Welcome Home, now streaming on Discovery Plus.
