A Peek Inside the Mailander House

Updated July 22, 2020.

It’s Throwback Thursday, and since I’ve had some people wanting to know more about our stay at the Mailander House, I decided to write a post about our stay to complement our post about the owners’ experience living there! So, my friends, here’s a sneak peek inside Fixer Upper‘s Season 1 Mailander House, also known as the Bicycle House!

The Mailanders Live on in the Details

So, who were the Mailanders? The Mailanders are the people who originally built the house in 1910. They were furniture makers, and their care for woodworking and detail show in the house. The built-ins around the fireplace have been preserved, with a Roman soldier still looking out for the house from the fireplace. There are a couple of types of hardwood floors in the home, one of which is a now-extinct wood called cocobolo. Dave, the homeowner, even told me “the floor is worth more than the house itself!”

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Cocobolo flooring
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Built-ins and fireplace
More here: What’s It Like Living in a Fixer Upper?

My favorite part of our stay was having coffee in a #shiplap mug with my Roman friend on the fireplace.

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Coffee with the eternal keeper of the house! #shiplap

The Bicycles

Why is it sometimes called the “Bicycle House”? The current owners, Dave and Marla, are an active couple. In their episode of Fixer Upper, they talked about Marla running ultra marathons, and they both bike extensively. So Joanna found a very cool vintage bike dating from 1905–older than the house itself! It’s hanging on the wall in the office that doubles as a bedroom, and Dave and Marla have provided a few bikes around the house for renters to use to ride through nearby Cameron Park or into town to visit the Silos!

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Bike for renters to use
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Old-school bike helmet
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1905 bicycle as seen on the show!
More here: How to Plan Your Fixer Upper Getaway

The Kitchen

The kitchen needed some updates when Dave and Marla bought the house, and they were beautiful executed. Dave and Marla had already talked about concrete countertops, and luckily, that’s Chip’s specialty! He put them in himself. There’s also a beautiful farm sink, pretty slate floors, new appliances, nice finishes, and a stainless steal island to top it off!

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Concrete Countertops
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Stainless steel island top
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Farm sink
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New appliances, subway tile, and wood vent hood
Keep reading: What to Eat at the Maagnolia Silos Bakery

The Windows

If you read my post about Living in a Fixer Upper, you know Dave’s favorite feature of the house is the windows. This beautiful home was built before electricity came standard in a home. As a matter of fact, Chip and Joanna still had to add lighting in the living area and kitchen for visibility at night! So what did you do before electricity? You made sure to have large windows to capture as much sunlight as possible. Many of the panes are original–we could even see the waves that are a tell-tale sign of historic windows!

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Keep reading: 5 Trips for Positive Vibes

The Bedrooms

The Mailander House is listed as a three bedroom, two bathroom home. There is a queen size bed in one bedroom, two twin beds in another bedroom, and a twin bed in the office that now doubles as a bedroom.

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Largest bed in the room off the dining room
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Twin bed in the office/bedroom
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Two twin beds in the front bedroom off the living area
More here: Your Guide to Shopping at the Silos

The Bathrooms

The bathroom situation was interesting! There was a teeny-tiny bathroom in the room with two beds, and there was a huge bathroom in the office! There was no bathroom in the room with the largest bed, so my Mom’s friend Debbie stayed in that room and shared the tiny bathroom with my Mom!

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Bathroom 1: Large bathtub, toilet, pedestal sink, tile floors
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Bathroom 1: Dresser and ladder-turned towel rack
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Bathroom 2: Sink and shower
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Bathroom 2: Toilet
Read on: 10 Reasons to Visit Waco

Touches from Joanna

Dave and Marla have done a great thing by keeping some of Joanna’s touches around the house. That’s what brings people into town these days after all!

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Flowers in pretty jars hanging on the wall–Jo likes dimension!
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Magnolia and #shiplap mugs
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Jo loves a big clock!
Keep reading: What to Do in Waco Besides the Silos

Fully Stocked

The Mailander House is inherently welcoming, but Dave and Marla have gone just another step further to make their guests feel at home. When we arrived, the fridge was fully stocked and there were muffins from a local bakery waiting for us as well!

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Fully stocked fridge
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Muffins from Lula Jane’s Bakery and a bottle of wine
More here: What to Eat in Waco

The Exterior

One thing that we noticed about the Fixer Upper homes we saw in town was the rough neighborhoods. The homes surrounding the other Fixer Upper homes in town are still rough, though the hope was that the homes would give the neighborhoods “up and coming” status. We were shocked at the condition of some of the surrounding homes elsewhere in town, but honestly, the Mailander House is by far in the best place compared to the others. It’s near a popular park, only about a mile or so from the Silos, and the neighboring homes seemed cleaner than others.

That said, the exterior of this house is adorable and historic! As with the inside of the house, the details make the difference.

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Detail above the window–sometimes called “bangs”!
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Detail on the stucco, beautiful sconces

How did you like your tour? Thanks so much to Dave and Marla for a great stay, and for making us feel so welcome in Waco! Check out my United States Page for more about Texas, too!

To see the house on Joanna’s blog, click here!

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4 responses to “A Peek Inside the Mailander House”

  1. […] there are tons of options for places to stay in Waco and the surrounding area. Several of the Fixer Upper homes are up for rent, and the Gaineses have their own rental property, Magnolia House, which books up quickly! You […]

  2. […] my recent HomeAway experience. My mom, her college friend, and I enjoyed our HomeAway stay at a Fixer Upper house in Waco, […]

  3. […] VRBO for years, and my first HomeAway experience landed my mom and me an opportunity to stay in a Fixer Upper House! While planning our recent trip to Maui, we had a much harder time finding a good hotel than we did […]

  4. […] We rented it on VRBO, and it was an incredible experience! You can read all about it in A Peek Inside the Mailander House! […]

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