Chip and Joanna Gaines’ new Texas hotel is stunning. Take a tour of The Hotel 1928
Chip and Joanna Gaines recently renovated a historic building in downtown Waco, Texas, and Jenna Bush Hager and twin sister Barbara Bush were two of the first guests to see the transformation in person.
In a TODAY with Hoda & Jenna segment that aired Nov. 7, the Bush twins took a road trip to the Texas city to meet the couple and chat about their latest renovation project, The Hotel 1928. The boutique hotel will be featured in their new Magnolia Network series, “Fixer Upper: The Hotel.”
Jenna and Barbara toured the luxury hotel, which resembles a classic speakeasy.
Guests check in at a massive wooden desk in the center of the lobby that sits beneath globed light fixtures.
As guests wait for their room or make plans in Waco, they can sit in one of the multiple lounge areas, which are decorated with hundreds of books, brown sofas, leather armchairs and plaid wingback chairs.
One seating area is located near the hotel’s grand staircase that connects its two-story library. Guests can take a seat next to a warm fireplace and dive into a new book.
While touring the hotel, Jenna and Barbara marveled at the decorations. At one point, Jenna picked up a vintage phone and pretended to dial co-host Hoda Kotb.
The 1920s-theme continues in the hotel rooms upstairs. The suites feature large windows near plush couches and are decorated with antiques, like rotary dial phones.
Hotel 1928 also has multiple eateries, including a rooftop restaurant called Berties where Jenna and Barbara were able to dine. Jenna told Hoda that the Gaines surprised the sisters and joined them for dinner.
“They crashed our dinner. And we had so much fun!” Jenna shared.
Hoda said, “They couldn’t get enough of you two.”
“Well, we couldn’t get enough of them,” Jenna gushed.
During their interview with Jenna and Barbara, Joanna and Chip Gaines explained that they wanted their Waco hotel to reflect their journey over the last 20 years.
“I think from the beginning, like when you think about the intent of why we started all this is because we cared about home,” Joanna Gaines explained. “It started from that place and then you think 20 years later the idea that now people are coming here. We want them to experience that in some way from a hospitality standpoint.”
She said she wanted guests to walk into the hotel and immediately “feel at home.”
According to Hotel 1928’s website, the building has 33 guest rooms and a retail shop with “Magnolia-designed Hotel 1928 merchandise.” The hotel has three restaurants, event spaces and a rooftop terrace, too. Chip and Joanna Gaines developed the property in partnership with hospitality company AJ Capital.
Fans can see how Chip and Joanna Gaines restored the 100-year-old building in “Fixer Upper: The Hotel,” which premieres Nov. 8 on the Magnolia Network.
In the show’s trailer, Chip Gaines said the couple intended to bring the building “back to its former glory.”
He also calls Hotel 1928 “the largest, most complicated-sized project” they have done in their careers.
Of course, they hit a few obstacles along the way. Chip Gaines appears to take a tumble while the floors are being constructed in the clip.
But he says he was confident that his wife would help him turn the building into a “masterpiece.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
