The Homeowner Who Was Left Unimpressed With Her Fixer Upper Experience
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
For the home decor lover, "Fixer Upper" can be synonymous with beautiful homes, magnolia trees, and picture-perfect living. Joanna and Chip Gaines, the couple from the show, have only continued to grow since the show was greenlit in 2013 (via HGTV). Since then, they've released a product line with Target and even launched their own streaming platform, Magnolia Network.
"Fixer Upper" is filmed entirely in Waco, Texas (via IMDb). Each episode features the Gaines couple as they remodel ramshackle homes into the modern farmhouses of your dreams. Think lots of shiplap, reclaimed wood, and industrial pieces.
However, not everything has been silos and magnolia blossoms. You might be wondering what happened to some of the most iconic "Fixer Upper" homes after they were renovated on the show. Not every participant on the show gets the dream home they're after, and one woman, in particular, was left unimpressed with her experience following the show.
The best house in an okay neighborhood
Anyone who's watched "Fixer Upper" knows the show's premise and promise: "We take the worst home in the best neighborhood and we turn it into our client's dream home." Kelly and Ken Downs appeared on Season 3, Episode 10 with hopes of getting that dream home (via HGTV).
The episode played out like any other, but the real drama happened off-camera. A while after moving in, they realized their new abode may not have been in the best locale after all.
According to the Waco Tribune-Herald (via People), the couple's new Magnolia-drenched home now shared a neighborhood with several bars, and a popular convenience store was right across the street from their house. This meant a lot of noise and traffic. While some might believe that having your own Magnolia home would outweigh any negatives, the Downs family faced much more than living in a rough part of town.
The show's popularity has brought a lot of new faces to Waco, which also brought on higher taxes for the locals. Since moving in, the couple faced significant backlash. Kelly Downs even compared the town to the Wild West. "We have been intimidated and harassed," she told the Waco Tribune-Herald. "There's a big problem here. It's not safe."
Unfortunately, public backlash would soon become the least of their problems.
Dream home turned nightmare
Upon moving to Waco, Ken and Kelly Downs told Waco's Magazine that they were excited to move to the city as they wanted to be somewhere "calmer," but they did not get what they signed up for.
On a July morning in 2017 — a year and a half after their episode of "Fixer Upper" aired, Ken and Kelly awoke to a car crashing through the front window of their home. According to Waco Assistant Fire Chief Don Yeager, an alleged drunk driver hit an embankment and went airborne, hitting the house. "He didn't hurt the hedges, but he took out the railing on the porch and went right into the window of the front room and hit an interior wall that might be a load-bearing wall," Yeager told the Waco Tribune-Herald (via the Daily Mail).
The driver only suffered minor injuries and the couple was thankfully unhurt; the brick fireplace that was installed during the Gaines' renovation took the brunt of the hit. In the eyes of Kelly Downs, though, that doesn't take the blame from the show. "There's a big problem here," she said. "It's not safe. This is Fixer Upper gone bad."
At least they had good neighbors, though. The Waco Tribune-Herald spoke to Ethan Kennedy, a bouncer at a nightclub down the street from the home, who witnessed the crash and rushed to help (via Country Living).
The lesson? When selecting your dream home, make sure it's also in your dream neighborhood.