“Colorado Mountain House” turns into a family project for the Gaines crew

The latest chapter of the Gaines design universe is not a client commission or a network mandate, but a deeply personal retreat in the Rockies that pulls their five children into the creative mix. Instead of treating the “Colorado Mountain House” as a distant project, Chip and Joanna Gaines have turned it into a working family laboratory, where every decision, from floor plan to paint color, doubles as a lesson in how they want to live together.

By shifting their hit franchise into unfamiliar terrain and inviting their kids into the frame, they are testing whether the Fixer Upper formula can evolve from a Waco-centric business into a multigenerational story about place, memory, and risk. The result is a renovation that functions as both television and family archive, capturing the moment when work, home, and parenting fully collide.

The first Fixer Upper outside Texas, and why that matters

For years, the Fixer Upper brand has been synonymous with Waco, Texas, so the decision to uproot the cameras and crew for a mountain renovation signals a deliberate expansion of the Gaines world. In Fixer Upper, Colorado Mountain House, Chip and Joanna Gaines head to Colorado for their first out-of-state Fixer Upper, turning a dated property into the family retreat of their dreams. That geographic leap is not just a change of scenery, it is a test of whether their design language, honed on Texas farmhouses and bungalows, can translate to alpine woods and snowpack.

The new limited series follows Chip and Joanna Gaines as they begin their first renovation outside Texas, tracking how they adapt their familiar rhythms to a very different climate and culture. The Colorado home sits in the mountains, far from their home base in Waco, which means every design choice has to account for altitude, weather, and the realities of future visits throughout the year, as detailed in reporting on where Chip and Joanna Gaines are taking Fixer Upper. By stepping away from Texas, they are effectively stress-testing the durability of their brand and their family routines at the same time.

A three-part series built around one very personal house

Structurally, the project is compact, which sharpens its focus on the family story. The couple’s brand-new three-part limited series, titled Fixer Upper, Colorado Mountain House, is designed to follow a single renovation from first walk-through to final reveal, rather than hopping between multiple clients. That format gives viewers room to see how the Gaines crew navigates setbacks, shifting design ideas, and the logistics of working far from home, all within a tight narrative arc.

The series premieres Tuesday, December 9th at 9pm ET/PT on Magnolia Network and HGTV and streams the same day on HBO Max and discover, a rollout that underscores how central this house is to the Magnolia ecosystem. In promotional material, the project is framed as a “Waco to Rockies” journey, with the network emphasizing that it premieres Tuesday across multiple platforms. By concentrating three episodes on a single property, the Gaineses are effectively inviting viewers into what feels less like a job site and more like a family diary written in lumber and stone.

Buying into the Rockies: a $5.5 million commitment

Turning a mountain house into a family project starts long before the cameras roll, and in this case it began with a significant financial bet. Property records in Pitkin County show that the Colorado fixer upper cost $5.5 million, a figure that undercuts the original listing price and is described as a really good deal compared with the broader market. The actual sale price, recorded as $5.5 m, signals that Chip and Joanna are not dabbling in a vacation cabin, they are investing in a flagship property that can anchor both family life and future storytelling.

That purchase also marks a psychological shift for a couple whose business empire has long been rooted in Waco. Reporting on their move to Colorado notes that their journey to turn a 1960s build into the alpine abode of their dreams is featured on a new limited HGTV series, with the house sitting in the woods and even the local animals investigating unoccupied homes in the area. The decision to buy and renovate a 1960s structure, rather than build new, fits their long-standing preference for breathing new life into existing bones, as described in coverage of their journey to turn a 1960s build into an alpine abode. By tying up that much capital in a single property, they are effectively betting that the Colorado Mountain House will become a long-term hub for their family and their brand.

Designing a “Future in the Making” for the whole family

From the start, the Gaineses have framed this house as more than a backdrop for a television season, describing it as a Future in the Making. When Chip and Jo first walked through this outdated yet charming 1960s home in the woods, they saw not just low ceilings and tired finishes, but a canvas for the next phase of their family’s life. In their own design notes, they describe how small, intentional choices in color and material can set the tone for gatherings that have not happened yet, a philosophy laid out in Magnolia’s behind-the-scenes look at the design of the Colorado Mountain House.

Joanna’s writing about the project makes clear that she sees the house as something that will only truly come into focus once the family has lived in it. She notes that it will envelop them once they have gathered there a handful of times and made their marks on the floors, once they have claimed their favorite spots and built rituals around them. That idea of a home that grows into itself over time is central to her essay on the mountains, where she reflects that once they have gathered and made their marks, the house will feel fully theirs. In that framing, the renovation is not an endpoint but the opening chapter of a longer family narrative.

Letting the kids lead: from paint colors to on-camera moments

What distinguishes this project from earlier Fixer Upper seasons is how visibly the children are woven into the process. Instead of keeping their five kids off-camera or on the periphery, Chip and Joanna invite them into design decisions, even when those choices push against Joanna’s instincts. In one scene, Joanna tells a child, “If you want to paint it black, I’m going to let you paint it black,” acknowledging that there is a general rule in smaller spaces about avoiding dark colors, but deciding that if they go dark, they go dark together. That exchange, captured in coverage of the premiere where You see the kids appear in the premiere, turns a simple paint choice into a lesson in trust and autonomy.

Joanna later wraps up their day by calling it a full-circle moment, recognizing that the children who once toddled through Waco job sites are now old enough to shape spaces that will hold their own adult memories. Their presence is not limited to quick cameos; they are part of the creative engine, weighing in on bunk room layouts, hangout zones, and how the house should feel when cousins and friends arrive. That level of involvement shifts the tone of the show from a couple-driven renovation to a family collaboration, reinforcing the idea that the Colorado Mountain House is being built as much for the next generation as for Chip and Joanna themselves.

Feeling “disconnected” and finding their footing far from Waco

For all the idyllic mountain imagery, the series does not gloss over the discomfort of working so far from home. At one point, Chip and Joanna Gaines open up about feeling disconnected from property renovation, admitting that the distance from Waco and the unfamiliar setting make the project feel strangely detached from the rhythms that once defined Fixer Upper. In candid moments, they acknowledge that Fixer Upper, Colorado Mountain House is forcing them to confront what their work looks like now that their business has grown and their kids are older, a tension explored in coverage of how Chip and Joanna Gaines feel disconnected from renovation.

That emotional undercurrent surfaces again in a preview where Joanna voices her anxiety about the scope of the project and the strain of juggling it with their existing commitments. He gets a smile out of her as he sarcastically replies, “That will be fun!” and the teaser notes that in Episode 2, the renovations on the new family retreat continue to test their patience and partnership. The sneak peek, which highlights how in Episode 2 the renovations push them, underscores that the Colorado Mountain House is as much about recalibrating their work-life balance as it is about picking tile and timber.

From search term to signature chapter in the Fixer Upper story

Even before the first episode aired, the project had already taken on a life of its own in the cultural conversation. Searches for Fixer Upper, Colorado Mountain House surged as fans tried to piece together details about the location, the scope of the renovation, and how the series would differ from earlier seasons. A quick look at aggregated information on Fixer Upper, Colorado Mountain House shows how tightly the project is now linked to the Gaines brand, with viewers treating the house itself as a character to be tracked and decoded.

That level of attention raises the stakes for a renovation that is, at its core, a family experiment. By inviting cameras into a space they intend to use for decades, Chip and Joanna are blurring the line between public narrative and private refuge, trusting that the same audience that watched them build a life in Waco will understand why they are now chasing snow-capped peaks. The Colorado Mountain House is not just another season of television; it is a visible marker of how their priorities have shifted toward creating a place where their children can grow, argue over paint colors, and eventually bring their own families back to the same front door.