Baylor couple’s ‘Fixer Upper’ spin-off to debut on DIY Network

Building on the success of Chip (BBA ’98) and Joanna (BA ’01) Gaines, yet another Baylor couple is getting their own show on HGTV.

Fans of the network’s popular “Fixer Upper” show are already familiar with Clint Harp, BBA ’00, co-founder of Harp Design Co. and a frequent supplier of furniture for the Gaineses’ remodeled homes. Now, Clint and his wife, Kelly (BSED ’02), are getting their own show — Against the Grain, which debuts tonight on DIY Network (9:30 p.m. CT).

It’s been a long journey for the Harps. In 2000, Clint got his BBA from Baylor, married his college sweetheart Kelly, and began a successful career as a medical salesman. But medical sales wasn’t his passion; building furniture was. He’d work from his garage, teaching himself using YouTube videos and reclaiming wood from construction sites and local businesses. In 2011, Clint took the leap and quit his sales job, merging his growing furniture business with Kelly’s clothing company to create Harp Design Co.

[READ MORE about the Harps in this Spring 2016 feature from Baylor’s Focus Magazine]

Two years later, Kelly was accepted to a master’s program at Baylor on a full scholarship. So, the couple and their two children packed up their house in Houston and crammed into a small apartment near campus. Financially strained and with no place to work on his furniture, Clint and his family felt very much in the dark.

One day, as Clint was filling up his car at a gas station, he saw a truck with “Magnolia Homes” on the side. He introduced himself to the driver and asked if he knew the company’s owner, Chip Gaines. Turned out, he was speaking to Chip Gaines. A few nights later, the Harps were having dinner with the Gaineses, and Clint and Joanna were already talking shop. And a few months after that, they were filming the pilot episode of this new show called “Fixer Upper.”

The publicity their business has received from the show has allowed the Harps to open a storefront, hire more than 20 staff members, buy high-quality tools, and even travel the country speaking at events. “It’s just insane,” he told the Austin-American Statesman. “Just a few years ago, I was sitting at a gas station wondering what’s going to happen.”

Now, it’s the Harps’ turn to take the lead in “Against the Grain.” They haven’t yet seen their own pilot episode, so they’ll be watching its debut tonight with the rest of America for the very first time. After the network sees results from this first episode, it will decide whether to move forward with the show as a series. “How crazy for Waco, right?” Harp asked the Waco Tribune-Herald. “Even now, just the fact Waco has obviously the No. 1 show in the land with ‘Fixer Upper’ and the fact this has a pilot on another network, it’s crazy. It’s really good for Waco.”

Sic ’em, Harps!

You might also like:
* HGTV’s ‘Fixer Upper,’ starring two Baylor alums, launches season three tonight (Dec. 2015)
* Baylor couple’s HGTV series, ‘Fixer Upper, begins tonight (April 2014)
* Baylor couple’s pilot to air on HGTV this Thursday (May 2013)

(Photo via Focus Magazine/Alyson Perkins)