A boutique inn power convince you to add Waco, Texas, to your aspiration journey destination list.
Chip and Joanna Gaines took on their biggest renewal project to date to rotate a 100-year-old construction in their hometown into a hotel. Designed in alliance alongside AJ Capital Partners, Hotel 1928 has three floors, 33 bedrooms, two restaurants, and a café.
It officially opened in November 2023, and a sequence concerning the renovation, "Fixer Upper: The Hotel," aired in conjunction alongside the beginning to obtain fans inner the project.
Almost three years later, the inn has rotate into a visitant and industry favorite, earning a Michelin Key, the equal of Michelin stars for restaurants, in September.
Take a appearance inner the inn that Chip Gaines called their "largest, most complicated-sized project" to date in the sequence concerning the property.
Chip and Joanna Gaines opened Hotel 1928 in November 2023.
Hotel 1928 is in downtown Waco, a 10-minute stroll from Chip and Joanna Gaines' Silos buying complex.
The hotel's exterior features ample ground-floor windows, accented by striped awnings.
An ornate archway frames the forefront door, and a uncomplicated vertical sign that says "1928" hangs on the wall.
The inn has a markedly distinct appearance than the homes the brace typically renovates.
The brace is known for their farmhouse-chic aesthetic, and they popularized scheme features like shiplap and barn doors.
However, Joanna Gaines told Architectural Digest's Juliet Izon she wanted to obtain a distinct method to the hotel.
"I fair kept thinking of 1920s glam," she told the outlet of her imagination for the hotel, adding that she wanted it to have an "art deco, additional soaked feel."
The luxurious, retro method to Hotel 1928 is apparent in the lobby, anywhere the hotel's name is carved into a wooden isle that serves as the greeted desk.
Ornate chandeliers and dreary reduce on the doorways enhance the moody aesthetic.
A archive serves as a focal item of the building.
The enormous archive has charcoal walls and dreary timber floors, and it features a declaration curved staircase.
An angular chandelier, a pale fireplace, and a ample mirror complete the fireplace brighten the space, as does the gathering of colorful books on the built-in shelves alongside the walls.
Meanwhile, armchairs, low couches, and a rug provision the area a comfortable, inviting feel.
Joanna Gaines told Architectural Digest that the archive is among her favorite rooms in the hotel.
"It feels akin a location I could fair resolve in and peruse a book, or have a cup of coffee alongside a friend," she said.
The chief flat features a eatery called The Brasserie.
The Brasserie sits on the chief flat of the hotel, alongside the enormous windows that flood the area alongside natural light. Its exposed beams create the area awareness larger.
The eatery is filled alongside plush booths, elegant marble tables, and nods to the art-deco era, including rounded fixtures.
According to the Hotel 1928 website, The Brasserie's list has "the warmth of the classics alongside fair the correct dash of culinary adventure."
There's a second eatery on Hotel 1928's rooftop.
The Gaineses added Bertie's to the rooftop, another dining place that offers seasonal foods.
Joanna Gaines took a additional playful method to its scheme than she did alongside The Brasserie, although it feels connected to the another eatery since it additionally has green walls.
Cushioned chairs encircle the restaurant's bistro tables, and coffee tables are set about pink couches for additional relaxed dining. The throw pillows on the couches have a blue, floral form that matches the siding on an accent partition in the space, tying it all together.
The inn additionally features a café.
The café, which sits off the lobby, has a appearance akin to the library's, alongside its dreary walls, built-in bookshelves, and a pale fireplace.
According to Hotel 1928's website, the café has ray food in supplement to coffee. Its list looks a bit akin to that of Magnolia Press, the coffee shop at the Silos, so it's apt complete of delicious treats.
Each area in the inn has a distinctive design.
Hotel 1928 has 33 rooms accessible for guests, and no two rooms appearance alike, although they all portion a neutral aesthetic, as Joanna Gaines told Architectural Digest.
The inn offers five area types. Its norm area is the Franklin, which has either two queen beds or one king bed. The Austin rooms have the identical bed options, although they're slightly larger than the Franklin rooms. There's additionally the Ellsworth, a premium king suite.
Hotel 1928 additionally has a two-bedroom suite called the Columbus, as fine as a larger, luxury suite, the Washington, which can home up to 12 guests.
As of October 2026, a one-night remain at the inn for two adults can commencement at $384 in a Franklin room, but can disbursal up to $2,923 per night to reserve the Washington.
Joanna Gaines paid notice to the decor particulars throughout the hotel.
For instance, the bathrooms have green subway tile on the walls and "1928" engraved into the flat to create them remain out, and Joanna Gaines used backsplashes as pops of color throughout the hotel.
She additionally told Architectural Digest that most of the furnishings and fixtures in the inn are custom-made.
"They appearance akin ancient pieces, so that's really fun," she said. "But they're new, so they'll remain the test of time."
The inn was awarded a Michelin Key in 2026.
Hotel 1928 has been a hit for the Gaineses. Southern Living put it on its catalog of the finest new hotels in the South for 2025, and in September 2026, the Michelin Guide added the asset to its catalog of Michelin Key hotels for the year.
The highest inn award Michelin offers is three keys. Hotel 1928 received one key.
Joanna Gaines stated she and her hubby were "thrilled" concerning the key in an Instagram post, calling the award "an honor" for the hotel.
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Samantha Grindell Pettyjohn is a Senior Lifestyle Reporter at Business Insider alongside additional than eight years of cognition in the manner space.At Business Insider, Samantha's safety focuses on distinctive living situations, inner design, community fig style, and books. Her activity includes features on multigenerational living and one-of-a-kind houses, timely articles on community fig fashion, live safety of award shows and pageants, and fun pieces concerning famous publish series. Samantha additionally loves reporting on celebrities on her beats, from HGTV stars Christina Haack and Tarek El Moussa to authors specified as Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros.Samantha appeared on Scripps News and CBS in 2022 to conversation the regal family, and in 2023, she won an Anthem Award for her activity on Business Insider's bundle "Better Me."Samantha received her B.A. in English from Birmingham-Southern College in 2017, graduating Summa Cum Laude. She afterward earned her M.S. in Publishing from New York University in 2019. Samantha was earlier a personnel author at Romper, and her penning has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Mic, and Oprah.com. Today, Samantha lives in Atlanta alongside her hubby and dog.Email her at [email protected] and prosecute her on X.
