Chip and Joanna Gaines Get the ‘Heebie Jeebies’ Remembering Their First House
Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines returned to the world of flipping houses with the series Fixer Upper: Welcome Home in 2021. In the series premiere, the duo helped a couple move into their very first home. Chip and Joanna walked down memory lane, recalling renovating their own first house. The couple has certainly come a long way now that they live in a stunning farmhouse in Waco.
‘Fixer Upper’ stars Chip and Joanna made plenty of mistakes when renovating their first home
Chip and Joanna Gaines married in 2003, long before their HGTV empire began. One of the very first properties the couple renovated was their own newlywed home. The couple has previously shared that the house had a lot of work in store, and their skill level was far from what it is today.
“We made every mistake in the book,” Joanna admitted to Realtor.com. The outlet reveals that the couple “painted over wallpaper, left the popcorn ceilings intact, spent most of their bathroom renovation budget on double shower heads, and more.” Luckily they’ve learned a thing or two since those days.
The couple remembers the smell of their first home during the ‘Fixer Upper: Welcome Home’ premiere
In the premiere episode of Fixer Upper: Welcome Home, Chip and Joanna help a newlywed couple named Lucas and Laney with a long-abandoned home with lots of potential.
“They’re getting married. This is gonna be their first house,” Chip said in the episode. “When I remember back to our first house, I get the heebie-jeebies,” he added. “I get the willies,” Joanna agreed.
When Chip and Joanna met with Lucas and Laney, they reminisced about their own first house. “There wasn’t an inch of carpet or flooring that didn’t have dog or cat… stuff,” Joanna shared. “I think the scientific word is feces,” Chip added.
The four of them then ventured inside Lucas and Laney’s house and were hit by a strong odor. “This really does remind us of our first house,” Chip said. “This is what it smelled like!” Joanna exclaimed. “Can you imagine walking into something that smelled — like this was our carpet — and then having to sleep on the floor.”
Joanna remembers her first house with Chip fondly
Though Chip and Joanna’s first house was far from perfect, it still holds a soft spot in their hearts. In an Instagram post, Joanna reminisced about the experience of flipping it together.
“Chip and I were going down memory lane today, and we stopped at one of our first houses,” she wrote. “I remember crying when Chip said we were moving in. It was dumpy, and it smelled bad. We fixed it up and fell in love with it. To this day, if you ask us what our favorite house we ever lived in we both go back to this little white 800 sq ft home.”
“We were broke and were forced to be creative with our resources, and we were proud as punch about this place. Most of what I learned creatively stemmed from this little fixer-upper. Small house or big, rich or poor- own the space you live in and love what you have.”
All episodes of Fixer Upper: Welcome Home are currently streaming on Discovery+.
