This Is What It’s Really Like to Be on HGTV’s “Fixer Upper
May 19, 2018
Now that we’ve watched every episode of HGTV’s Fixer Upper, we have to admit, we have a lot of questions. How did this couple get on the show? What about the rest of the rooms in the house? What are Chip and Joanna like in real life? Do the homeowners get to keep the furniture? After all, there are a whole lot of camera men hiding behind those shiplap walls.
So we chatted with Rachel Whyte, a Waco-based photographer and mom of two who appeared on Fixer Upper season 3, about what really happened behind the scenes as Chip and Joanna renovated her home.
The Journey to “Fixer Upper”
Rachel and her husband Luke, who both originally moved to Waco to attend Baylor University before marrying in 2012, have known of Chip and Joanna Gaines since before they became a household name.
In fact, the first time Rachel walked onto the set of the HGTV show, it wasn’t to see her own house: Rachel was one of Magnolia’s early employees. She worked as the company’s photographer during seasons 2 and 3 of Fixer Upper, snapping photos of all the homes Joanna renovated.
Asked what it was like to get to know the Gaineses, Rachel explains that their personalities are pretty similar to what you see on the show. ” Joanna can be more reserved when she’s in work mode, while Chip is pretty much always extroverted and down to chat with anyone he’s around,” she says.
You know how Joanna often gets “in the zone” as she puts the finishing touches on her latest project? Rachel got to witness the farmhouse design guru up close and personal during those moments while working as the Magnolia photographer. Back then, their relationship was mainly professional, two people quietly working side-by-side.
On reveal days, Rachel says Joanna is particularly calm and focused—just like you see on TV. “Something I think is cute is when it’s early in the morning on reveal days before all the chaos has started, Joanna will be in the house making sure everything is perfectly in its place, and Chip will sometimes bring her coffee and make her sit down to eat a breakfast taco,” says Rachel. “I think it’s sweet that he’s concerned about her and wants her to be fueled for the day. “
If you’re wondering if you need an “in” to be on the show yourself, Rachel and Luke—who first considered applying for Fixer Upper before its pilot episode— say the application process is surprisingly speedy.
“I KNEW I DID NOT WANT TO BUY A FIXER UPPER UNLESS WE COULD GET MAGNOLIA TO DO IT.”
Rachel and Luke began to consider being on Fixer Upper in early 2015. “We knew that the house we were in at the time wasn’t our long-term home, and we were trying to decide whether or not to move before or after baby number two,” she explains. “We started looking at houses online and we found a few fixer uppers that were options. I knew I did not want to buy a fixer upper unless we could get Magnolia to do it. I wasn’t interested in renovating anything ourselves.”
After (yes, “after” — more on that later!) finding their dream fixer upper, Rachel and Luke applied to be on the show in March and were officially accepted by the end of April. Filming began in May.
“We were unique in that we lived in the home for five weeks before renovations began, so that was interesting,” says Rachel. “And we basically lived as nomads for the entire time the house was being renovated. We slept in 17 different beds in four months. It was an adventure!”
The Making of an HGTV Show
The weirdest thing about filming HGTV’s Fixer Upper is something we can all relate to: “It was uncomfortable at times because we, like most people, aren’t used to having cameras around us,” explains Rachel. “But what happens really is real. The producers might have you repeat things a few times, and they might film things multiple times from different angles, but the reactions and conversations are real. The hard thing is remembering what you said before when asked to repeat it.”
To prepare for the episode, Rachel and Luke were asked to come up with a budget for their home, based on the amount of renovations it would need. “You have to sign off on your budget at the beginning and we actually didn’t have any surprises come up during filming,” says Rachel. “The budget goes towards your wish list, but the design team will also make decisions about what they think the home needs to be a TV-worthy renovation.”
Joanna also asks her clients to make a Pinterest board so she can get a sense of their style before renovating begins. “I put a white house with grey shutters on my Pinterest board and they really [went with] that concept,” says Rachel. “We were also unique in that Luke and I both created Pinterest boards, so she had the challenge of making us both happy.”
During the renovations, Rachel says she and Luke only met with Joanna in person twice—on real estate day and during their design meeting—but she called and texted them several times during the process.
“Overall, we were pretty hands off and fully trusted them,” explains Rachel. “Our only real desires were that the exterior of the house be painted white, that the kitchen was light and airy, and that there was some element of mountain ruggedness to satisfy Luke. They gave us all that and more!”
Behind the Scenes
If you’ve watched more than one episode of Fixer Upper, you know the show follows a strict format: There’s real estate day, then the homeowners meet with Joanna for design day, then demo day happens, which is followed by the renovation process, and finally, the big reveal.
But how does the whole process work in real life? Take a peek at the application for Fixer Upper and you’ll see the producers hinting that you should already have a home under contract before coming on the show:
The 68-question-long application then goes into specifics, asking details about square footage and what year the home was built. Homeowners are also asked to upload photos of different rooms that need renovations.
So, yes, sometimes when you see Chip and Joanna taking clients around to view houses, it’s possible those homeowners already know which one they’re going to choose.
“We were pretty set on the house we now live in, but they did show us two other homes like you see on the show, and we considered the other options that were shown to us,” explains Rachel. “Even though I had seen our home before our official tour with Chip and Jo, my negative reaction to how it looked was genuine. I was seriously hesitant that they would be able to make the house look good!”
Rachel and her husband chose their house because they liked the bones of it, but not the exterior. She knew Chip and Joanna could change out the gross carpeting, weird color scheme, and paint the brick, but Rachel loved that the house was already two stories, had a big master bath, and a master balcony.
“It was a leap of faith trusting that they could do something great,” she says.
Meanwhile, Rachel tell us that design day was actually really exciting for her. Homeowners are given a blueprint sketch when they sign the contract to be on Fixer Upper, but the reactions you see on the show as Joanna reveals her ideas to the clients are real.
“You’ve heard about the ideas, but [design day is] when you see a visual representation of what they have in store for your home,” says Rachel.
From that point until reveal day, the fate of Rachel’s home was left entirely in Joanna’s hands—homeowners are asked not to go by their house while renovations are taking place. Rachel was obviously curious to see what was happening, but she knew her husband, who loves surprises, would be especially mad if she drove by.
While we often see surprise expenses pop up during renovations (cue Chip trying to avoid calling the clients!), the Whytes weren’t in for any costly surprises.
“Joanna actually called us along the way to ask if we would like an iron railing on the staircase, which was normal wood at the time,” says Rachel. “It was essentially an upgrade, because [Chip and Joanna] decided they wanted to try something different.”
For reveal day, Rachel and Luke were asked to meet Chip and Joanna at a location near their house. Then, they got into Chip and Joanna’s Chevy Suburban, and were driven to the home—just like we see on the show. Homeowners are always instructed to close their eyes when they’re nearby, says Rachel. “But I snuck a peek to see if the house was white and I was able to see that it was, so I could rest easy and the rest would be smooth sailing,” she admits.
Chip and Joanna then pulled back the giant canvas poster to allow Rachel and Luke to finally see their new home. “How it happens on TV is how it happens in real life!” says Rachel.
After Rachel and Luke entered their new home, they were escorted into the different rooms as their reactions were caught on camera, a process Rachel describes as “sensory overload.” Of course, since it’s still a TV show working to put together a story for viewers at home, Rachel and Luke were asked to go into the rooms and react to each one by one, which Rachel admits was tricky since most of Joanna’s designs are open concept.
“They film you walking into each room, then they have you talk about your first reaction, and they might film you walking into the room again,” said Rachel. “Having to focus on one room at a time is hard because you want to just see it all!” Rachel admits that she tried to rehearse acting surprised because she’s sometimes slow to process things. “Wall color, trim on door, fireplace, doors, [there’s] so much to see at once—it is exciting but also stressful because you’re on TV,” she says.
The entire reveal lasted from 10 a.m. to around 1 p.m. “Magnolia only renovated the parts of our house that were seen on the show, as well as one additional bedroom,” Rachel explains. “We did the other two bedrooms and bathrooms ourselves after moving in, in an effort to save money. In hindsight, we should have had Chip and Joanna do it all. Remodeling a house you live in is not very fun!”
The Aftermath
Rachel says the makeover surprised her—in a good way. “I thought Joanna would implement her style but she really pays attention to what the homeowner wants,” she says, adding that she was most excited by the gold hardware in the kitchen. “I requested to have it, but I didn’t think I was going to get it because there was some discussion that it might be too feminine to go with the ruggedness of our home,” says Rachel.
While it wasn’t Rachel’s first Fixer Upper reveal day given her relationship with the Gaineses, she says the experience was totally different as the homeowner.
“It was a cool switch to go from being somewhat of a behind-the-scenes presence on the set of the show to then being one of Chip and Jo’s clients,” she says. “I obviously knew them because of working with them, and Luke and I had known of them from our church, too. We were able to have lunch with them several times during filming, so it was fun to get to know them on a more personal level.”
Now for the big question: Do they get to keep the furniture? Rachel says this is one of the most common questions she gets from Fixer Upper fans who have seen her episode.”I think it’s so funny because you wouldn’t want to get rid of all your furniture,” she says. After the cameras stop rolling, any furniture that was used to stage the home is taken away, unless the homeowners have an additional budget for it. However, anything custom that Clint makes, as well as any custom design work, gets to stay (whew!).
“They give you an itemized list of how much everything costs at the end to see if you want to purchase things at a discounted price,” explains Rachel, who has since started a tour company, along with her husband and another past Fixer Upper client, called Waco Tours.
In some cases, as you see on the show, Joanna works the pieces homeowners already own into her designs. “I wasn’t really sad to see the staged decorations go,” says Rachel. “We did buy some of the decor, but I was excited to fill our home with our things and make it ours.”
See What the Whyte House Looks Like Now
So what’s life like after the cameras stop rolling? “It has been a lot of fun to make it feel like home,” says Rachel. “I’m the type of person who likes to get things done quickly and all at once rather than doing a little here and there over time. So within six months of living here, our house was completely decorated!”
Oh, and did we mention, the Whyte house was one of Joanna’s favorite renovations from season 3?
The house Chip and Joanna referred to as Chip 2.0 came a long way! See what Joanna has to say about the project on her blog.
Original article found at: https://www.countryliving.com/life/entertainment/a18652613/what-its-really-like-to-be-on-fixer-upper/