When Chip and Joanna Gaines decided to mark ten years of Fixer Upper by taking on a cliffside lake house in Waco, Texas, they gave themselves a specific challenge: restore a forgotten 1960s home without erasing what made it special in the first place. What they produced is one of the most layered renovations the show has ever put on screen.
The six-episode series Fixer Upper: The Lakehouse premiered in June 2024 on Magnolia Network, HGTV, and streaming platforms including Max and Discovery+. It follows the full arc of the project, from demolition through design decisions to the final reveal of a 5,100-square-foot, five-bedroom, five-bathroom property perched above Lake Waco.
Here’s every major design move behind the Joanna Gaines lakehouse, the thinking that shaped them, and what the finished home actually looks like, room by room.
The House Joanna Started With
The lake house was built in 1965, and by the time Chip and Joanna took it on, decades of changes had buried most of what made it interesting. A back room that started out as a recreation space had been converted into a kitchen in the 1990s. Layers of paint hid original details. The pool sat neglected. The home’s mid-century modern and Spanish Revival bones were still there, just covered up.
Joanna worked from the original blueprints, treating them less as a reference and more as a guide to what the house was always meant to be. That single decision shaped everything that followed. Instead of imposing a new look on top of the old one, she committed to retelling the home’s original story.
“The lake house project taught me so much, and I absolutely loved getting to retell the original story of this very loved home,” Joanna said.
1. Blending Two Styles That Don’t Naturally Mix
Every room in the Joanna Gaines lakehouse reflects a deliberate pairing of two design movements that don’t usually sit together:
- Mid-century modern — furniture built for function, natural materials like wood and marble, clean lines, and large windows that pull the outdoors in. The style peaked from the late 1950s through the 1970s.
- Spanish Revival — arched details, terracotta tile, plaster finishes, and a warm, earthy character rooted in Spanish colonial architecture, widely reinterpreted in American homes throughout the 20th century.
Joanna resolved the tension between them by assigning each style its own moments rather than blending them into a muddle. Terracotta and arched fireplaces carry the Spanish Revival influence. Cherry wood, Sputnik light fixtures, and modular furniture read as mid-century modern. The result feels historically grounded without feeling like a museum piece.
2. Letting a Paint Discovery Set the Whole Palette
The exterior color wasn’t chosen off a swatch book. When the construction crew stripped an old layer of paint during demolition, they found the original trim underneath had been green. Joanna used that discovery to anchor the entire color story.
She painted the exterior trim — and later, several interior rooms — in Wooded Acres, a woodsy brown-green from her Magnolia Home paint line. The original tan brick stayed. The existing copper gutters stayed too, patina and all, because Joanna felt new metal would have looked wrong against the dark green trim and wood door.
In the courtyard, the footprint of an old flower bed became a small water feature with a koi pond. In the backyard, the pool was drained, refinished, and opened up with landscaping that restored clear sightlines to the lake.
3. Building an Entryway Designed to Be Noticed First
Large terrazzo floor tiles — white with brass inlay — cover the ground floor. Against them sits a fully custom floating staircase in cherry wood, with green fabric treads and detailed railings meant to be the first thing a visitor sees.
Behind the staircase, a full-height wall of green tile creates a bold vertical backdrop. The entry bench is upholstered in earth tones that echo the home’s broader palette, and a woven runner rug in deep red and orange adds warmth without clashing. Wooden pocket doors and paneled door frames tie into the cherry staircase and carry that material story into the rest of the house.
4. Turning the Library Into One of the Home’s Most Intentional Rooms
Set behind reeded glass doors just off the entry, the library is one of Joanna’s most carefully considered spaces in the whole project. The walls carry the same Wooded Acres green used outside, tying the interior back to the exterior in a way that repeats throughout the house.
The back wall features a wooden gridded accent wall that holds books and plants, backed by textured wallpaper. Asymmetrical shelving on a second wall adds character without the formality of built-ins. Four mid-century leather armchairs create a seating area that works equally well for solo reading or group conversation, and a gold overhead fixture complements natural light pouring in from windows over the courtyard.
The library is visible through the floating staircase from the entryway — a small detail that adds real depth to the entry sequence.
5. Making the View the Design Plan for the Living Room
Chip and Joanna extended the original window opening in the living room by a full foot, creating what’s effectively floor-to-ceiling glass with panoramic views of Lake Waco and the surrounding forest. Once that view became the dominant feature, every other decision in the room served it.
A deep green sofa anchors the seating area, paired with armchairs and an oblong marble coffee table over a rich antique rug. The fireplace, original to the house, was replastered and given built-in plaster shelves on either side, a move that kept its arched character while making it more functional. The ceiling was painted in Blanched, a warm beige from Joanna’s paint line, which makes the room read taller and more open.
A cherry wood secretary desk in the corner adds a working surface without turning the room into an office. Even the smaller accessories, down to a period-appropriate book on the coffee table, were chosen to match the era.
6. Making the Kitchen the Clearest Meeting Point of Both Styles
The kitchen is where Spanish Revival and mid-century modern coexist most literally. The floor is terracotta tile with a marble star inlay at the center of each tile — terracotta nodding to Spanish architecture, the marble star distinctly mid-century.
Cherry wood cabinets run the length of one wall, hiding a walk-in pantry and generous storage. The opposite run is painted in Remote Trail, a deep forest green from the Lakehouse Collection. Marble countertops and a full marble backsplash bring a note of quiet refinement that plays against the earthier tones elsewhere.
The island is powder-coated steel in the same green used throughout the home, topped with a double bullnose marble edge. A custom fluted wood breakfast table, made specifically for this project, ties back to the cherry cabinetry. A recessed coffee nook gives small appliances a dedicated spot, and a glass door opens directly onto the backyard and pool. Joanna has called this kitchen one of her favorite spaces in the entire project.
7. Treating Natural Light as a Material, Not Just a Feature
In the dining room, three deep skylights set into a slanted ceiling do most of the design work, pulling daylight into a space that could otherwise feel like a transitional zone between the kitchen and living areas. A gold pendant fixture above the table keeps the room warm once the sun goes down.
A large indoor tree in the corner and a framed landscape print that echoes the home’s architectural detailing both extend the same idea: bring the outside in wherever possible.
The Smaller Rooms That Got the Same Level of Care
Powder room
Joanna painted this small space in the same deep green found throughout the home and added yellow-and-white checkered tile that runs from the backsplash down to the floor — a playful move in an otherwise serious palette. A large sweeping mirror and sleek silver hardware keep it from feeling cramped.
Primary suite
Positioned on the second floor, high enough to feel surrounded by tree canopy, the primary bedroom was designed to feel like a continuation of the view outside. The custom headboard is cherry wood with green velvet cushioning, flanked by matching nightstands. An arched reading nook lined in the same textured wallpaper used downstairs adds a second use for the room, and a Sputnik-style ceiling fixture is the clearest mid-century reference in the space. In the bathroom, waterproof plaster covers the walls, a powder-coated steel partition matching the kitchen island encloses the shower and water closet, and the double vanity’s marble top extends beyond its base to cut across a floor-to-ceiling window.
The back den
This room saw the most direct historical restoration in the whole house. Originally a recreation room before it became a kitchen in the 1990s, Joanna returned it to its original purpose. Cherry wood paneling with a corner radius detail covers most of the walls, and the floor uses pressed volcanic ash tile — a material genuinely popular in the 1960s — laid in a deliberately imperfect checkerboard pattern. A retro freestanding fireplace with a cream conical hood anchors the room, alongside a built-in green sectional, another sputnik chandelier, and a record player with real albums.
Upstairs landing
After the series aired, Joanna shared a space that never made the televised reveal — the landing at the top of the staircase. It has a mid-century green sofa with built-in wooden side tables, a red-and-navy rug, and a large black-and-white photograph of Lake Waco in a thin wood frame. She’s named it one of her favorite spots in the house, which says something about the level of thought given to even the overlooked corners.
The greenhouse
Out back, a greenhouse filled with succulents and warm-weather plants gives the property an indoor-outdoor transition space. Its raftered ceiling is painted in Juniper Tree, a sun-washed green from the Lakehouse Collection, keeping the chromatic thread of the house going even in a room that’s technically outside it.
The Lakehouse Paint Collection
Joanna released a seven-color paint collection called the Lakehouse Collection through Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines, sold through KILZ. The colors were pulled directly from the renovation and work both as standalone choices and as a coordinated palette:
- Tranquil Waters — a neutral grey with a blue undertone
- Superior — a true deep blue
- Cognac — an earthy brown with reddish warmth
- Remote Trail — a grounding green with warm undertones, used on the kitchen cabinetry
- Juniper Tree — a warm, sun-washed green, used in the greenhouse
- Blanched — a warm beige, used on the living room ceiling
- Wooded Acres — a woodsy brown-green, used on the exterior trim and in the library
These sit within Magnolia Home’s broader paint catalog, available through KILZ, where shoppers can preview colors, order samples, and find local retailers.
Did the Lake House Sell — and For How Much?
Yes. In the series finale, Joanna confirmed the home sold about a month after the reveal aired, to a family she described as “a perfect fit.”
“About a month after the reveal, we sold this home to a wonderful family,” she said. “They were a perfect fit. It was quite serendipitous, actually. We’re excited to see them live out their story in this beautiful corner of Waco, nestled in the woods, overlooking beautiful Lake Waco.”
Here’s where it’s worth being precise: Chip and Joanna have never publicly disclosed the actual sale price, and Magnolia Network has confirmed only that the home sold, not the figure it sold for. Various outlets have circulated numbers ranging from roughly $1.2 million to $1.4 million, but these appear to be estimates rather than confirmed figures, and none trace back to an official statement from the Gaineses or Magnolia. Comparable homes near this stretch of Lake Waco have listed anywhere from $725,000 to $1.25 million, according to Zillow data, which gives a rough sense of the neighborhood but isn’t the same as a confirmed closing price.
Conclusion
Most Fixer Upper projects start with a family choosing a property, and Chip and Joanna designing around that family’s preferences. The lake house was different. It was a flip the Gaineses undertook themselves, on a house they picked, using the original blueprints as a design document rather than a jumping-off point to deviate from.
That shift in ownership changed the quality of the decision-making. There was no client to satisfy, only Joanna’s own read on what the house was meant to be. Every choice in the finished home connects back to one idea: restore the original story, then hand the house off to someone who’ll write the next chapter.
That approach, more than any single room or paint color, is what makes the Joanna Gaines lakehouse worth studying if you’re taking on your own renovation. Start with what the house already wants to be, and the rest of the decisions tend to follow.
