Tragic Details About Fixer Upper's Clint Harp

Magnolia Network fans likely know all about carpenter Clint Harp from "Fixer Upper," however, there is still a lot to be discovered about the self-made woodworker. Harp's journey with Chip and Joanna Gaines began with a total fluke after a chance encounter at a gas station in 2012, but it quickly changed his life. In just a few months, Harp became a regular fixture on "Fixer Upper," which premiered in 2013. He then used that newfound fame to build his own furniture brand, pen a memoir, and launch a number of his own DIY shows.

Most recently (as of this publication), Harp traveled the country, visiting and rebuilding historic structures made of wood for "Restoration Road." Revealing the inspiration behind the show at a press event The List attended, Harp explained that the series was about a lot more than simply restoring old barns or log cabins. "The more we look back and we look into the history of things, why things are the way they are now and why they were the way they were then, it makes us better humans and more well-rounded as people," he shared. However, despite all of his successes, Harp has also faced his share of struggles behind the scenes. These are the tragic details you didn't know about Clint Harp.

Despite being synonymous with Waco, Texas, Clint Harp actually grew up between Georgia and North Carolina. After his parents divorced, he spent most of his time with his mother and stepfather, constantly moving as his stepdad tried to find work. Speaking with Austin American-Statesman in 2018, Harp recalled how he was always the new kid in class and had to rely on humor to try to fit in. Not only did he consider himself a nerdy misfit, but as his family struggled to make ends meet, he was often wearing hand-me-downs rather than the latest fads like his classmates. Indeed, he could still recall one particular day when he arrived home to find a black garbage bag full of clothing which a kind neighbor had dropped off for them.

Harp offered additional insight into his childhood during an interview with the Houston Chronicle, noting, "We had what we needed but we never had more than that – and by 'needed' it was the absolute basics." Indeed, when he was around 9, he found himself sleeping in an unusual spot. His family had moved to Asheville, North Carolina and Harp was given the entire basement to himself, until mildew was discovered. "My mom converted the dining room upstairs into my bedroom," he recalled. "She hung a sheet over the doorways and said that would be my bedroom." Despite the hardship, though, Harp sees his upbringing as a positive. "I'm not ashamed of those days because they made me who I am," he mused.

After moving around for much of his childhood, Clint Harp graduated from Dunwoody High School in Dunwoody, Georgia (about 18 miles outside of Atlanta) in 1996. He then attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas where he received a business degree and fell in love with his future wife, Kelly Harp. Despite dreaming of becoming a musician, Harp found work as a youth minister in Florida, then jumped through various careers, including as a mortgage broker and photocopy machine salesman. It wasn't until 2006, when the Harps decided to have a child, that the reality TV star buckled down. "I realized I needed a big-boy job," he told The Columbus Dispatch. A friend set him up as a medical supplies salesman in Houston, Texas and soon, he was earning $120,000 a year.

However, Harp wasn't happy and in 2011, he quit his job to pursue his passion: furniture making. "My wife bravely stepped out into the unknown and we did it," he told Austin American-Statesman. They moved back to Waco and, as Kelly enrolled in a Master's program, he searched for a shop to launch his woodworking business, Harp Design Co. Unfortunately, they soon found themselves on the brink of bankruptcy. "About four months later, we were out of money, things were not looking good," he recalled (via The Columbus Dispatch). "I thought, 'I'm an idiot for quitting my job.'"

A year after boldly uprooting their lives, Clint and Kelly Harp found themselves raising three young kids and struggling to make ends meet. Luckily, everything changed in early 2012 when the family bumped into Chip Gaines at a local gas station. They hit it off, and by October, Clint was taking part in "Fixer Upper." As he told The Columbus Dispatch in 2016, the series completely changed his life, pulling his family back to financial security. "I now travel around the country to speak at home shows, sharing our story," he enthused. "I have a company with 20 employees."

It was clear Harp was enamored with the project, as he told us about his favorite "Fixer Upper" episode, but unfortunately, he was dealt a curveball in 2017 when Chip and Joanna Gaines decided to end the show after five seasons. Speaking with Austin American-Statesman, Clint revealed that he actually learned of the cancellation the same way as everyone else: online. "I was sad," he admitted. "It was an amazing chapter in everyone's life, but I'm so happy for them. They've worked so hard."

Rather than sulking, though, Clint kept working on his Waco-based business, Harp Design Co., while also writing a book, 2018's "Handcrafted: A Woodworker's Story," and filming his own show, DIY Network's "Wood Work." "I was just so thankful to them and so happy for them because I feel like they were stepping away from that part of their journey at the time that they wanted to," he told Fox News, trying to focus on the positives.

Clint Harp had his own "Fixer Upper" moment during the show's first season when Chip and Joanna Gaines overhauled a home in Waco, Texas for him and his wife, Kelly Harp. However, despite the beautiful result, the couple only lived in the house for two years before deciding to use it as a rental property instead. According to various outlets, it had an impressive 4.95-star rating on Airbnb, but the dream property would soon prove to be more of a nightmare.

There were a lot of things the Gaines' didn't show fans on "Fixer Upper," and one of them may have been shoddy construction work. Indeed, a Texas woman sued Harp after she allegedly fell down the stairs and seriously injured herself in 2016. According to lawsuit documents seen by the Waco Tribune-Herald, Tamra Rivera claimed the staircase posed a safety hazard as it failed to comply with Texas law, which states that staircases must have handrails on both sides and equal heights between steps. She was asking for between $200,000 and $1 million in damages.

The home later continued to pose problems for Harp when he and Kelly tried to sell it. The couple first listed the property for $899,000 in 2021 before taking it off the market and relisting it for a much lower $650,000 in May 2024. After it failed to entice buyers yet again, the duo slashed its price by another $100,000 before eventually selling it that August.

After over a decade in business, Clint Harp and his wife, Kelly Harp, announced they were shutting the door on their Waco, Texas furniture shop as of January 2023. Harp Design Co., which sold all kinds of handcrafted wood pieces, including custom tables, closed both its physical store and online shop at the same time. The official announcement came via a Facebook post in which the Harps told fans, "Our little company has grown more than we dreamed, but now, it's time to shift!"

The duo explained that the decision came down to pure time management, as they simply didn't have enough time for the store between raising three kids, Kelly pursuing her Master's degree in clinical psychology, and Harp filming his new Magnolia show, "Restoration Road." "On one hand, this is a sad and difficult decision," they mused. "On the other, this is an exciting step forward into what HDC might become next — and when we know what that is, we'll certainly let you know."

Even so, the pair appeared to be closing the door on Harp Design Co. pretty definitively, as they decided to sell off all existing inventory as well as everything else that belonged to the shop, from Harp's woodworking tools to shipping supplies.