This former “Fixer Upper” in Waco was seriously damaged when a drunk driver drove his car into the front of it.
As soon as I heard the news, I checked to see which house it had been from the show. Turns out it was the one that Chip and Joanna Gaines dubbed the “Three Little Pigs House” during their third season.
I remembered the house and was sad to hear about the accident. It was so adorable when Chip and Joanna were done with it!
The “Three Little Pigs House” on Fixer Upper
Here’s what happened to the house, according to the Waco Tribune:
Police say a man suspected of drunken driving smashed his car through the front of a “Fixer Upper” home in North Waco early Saturday morning, capping more than a year of frustration for its owners, who feel their complaints about neighborhood crime have gone unheard.
The owners, Ken and Kelly Downs, sleeping in an interior bedroom at the time of the crash, weren’t hurt, but their house sustained considerable damage. The car broke through an exterior wall and a parallel interior wall of a front room office.
While the Downses encountered some problems with their home after moving in, the neighborhood had issues they did not expect: late-night noise from nearby bars, suspicious activity and push-back, some of it anti-‘Fixer Upper,’ from local residents when they complained to police.
UPDATE: After the show, the homeowners listed the house on Airbnb. I originally linked to it, but the house has since sold and is no longer available to rent.
The new owner contacted me and reports that he loves it there and has had no problems with his neighbors or the neighborhood in general. I’m happy to hear that!
These photos are screenshots I took while watching the “Three Little Pigs” episode on Hulu.
P.S. For those readers who have asked about the exterior color, I believe it’s Sherwin Williams “Granite Peak” (SW 6250).
Learn more about the accident and see the damage the house sustained in the Waco Tribune.
Read more about the makeover on the Magnolia Market blog.
Visit my HGTV page to read about more of your favorite shows!
Joanna and Chip are my favorites – LOVE them!!
Clearly it is better to purchase Joanna’s furniture and décor items.
Sure, if you like low quality, overpriced furniture.
i tweeted joanna & asked if the homeowners ever bought their furniture & i never received a reply. not so nice. so i lost interest in their show.
Lovely house, so sad that it was hit by a car! With that said, I wonder why anyone would put that much work and money into a place in such a neighborhood with noise from bars nearby and questionable stuff going on. Talk about bringing down your property value, or at the very least making it a difficult sell when you want to put it up on the market! Just sad all the way around for everyone involved.
I have read that on most of these HGTV shows, the buyers have already purchased the home and the “house hunting” is staged. Therefore, the owners are to blame for purchasing a house in that neighborhood, not the Gaines’! I wonder if we’ll ever hear the final outcome of the lawsuit? These things seem to pop up all over the place for dramatic major headlines but you never really know the truth nor hear the outcome!
Exactly Kelly! My BIL lived in Waco for years and he said that some of these homes are in really bad neighborhoods.
always research & know your neighborhoods stats before you buy. buyer beware. the house choice is secondary to the environment. chances are if the house is a wreck & going cheap, its in a poor neighborhood. poor neighborhoods have problems. who doesnt know this??!!!
So much for “the worst house in the best neighborhood”.
A lot of these fixer-upper-show houses got into such a state of disrepair because the neighborhoods changed. No amount of fixing-up can fix a bad neighborhood and the people who buy these houses should be extra careful. Remember the first rule of real estate: location, location, location! The “Good Bones” show seems to be especially terrible about luring young buyers into cute little houses in really scary neighborhoods. What are these people thinking??