Mailander House

Occasionally good fortune smiles and an opportunity presents itself that turns out to be amazing. Dave Morrow chronicles how lady luck connected him and his new bride with Chip and Joanna Gaines of Magnolia Homes to remodel their house. Dave has repaired and remodelled many old houses, but the design flair of the Mailander House made him believe this one was a real opportunity. His good fortune was to have the creative genius of Joanna Gaines applied to the house he and his new bride would own.

This story recounts how and why Dave and his wife Marla Hendricks found an old house left for dead and brought it back to life. It describes many of the events not shown on the cable television episode, and what it is really like to live in a fixer-upper. At times funny, it is an uplifting story of how vision, persistence and willingness to go where others would not, can bring tremendous satisfaction and success.

Author Biography

Dave Morrow never thought he would move to Waco, Texas. But good fortune brought him together with his life partner Marla Hendricks, a successful veterinarian who has practiced in Waco for almost 20 years. Dave has been something of a free spirit and has travelled by bicycle and on foot in many countries and has visited all 50 US states. He has always looked at work as means to save up enough money for his next adventure to an exotic locale. At age 18 he walked the Pacific Crest Trail, which in 1973 was more an idea than an actual completed route. Later he spent 10 weeks trekking and climbing in the Himalaya, months bike touring in New Zealand and Europe, and driving an old car on a 10,000 km adventure into the outback of Australia. He has climbed mountains all over the western US, Alaska, New Zealand, Nepal and the high Atlas of Morocco. In Waco his challenge was caring for a beautiful 108-year-old home built by German craftsmen and remodeled by Magnolia Homes. He and Marla currently own three older homes in Waco, the youngest of which is 66 years old. He believes that homes can age gracefully like fine wine if they are cared for. He is currently restoring, with his brother in law, a cottage home built in 1930. Dave is a recognized author of many scientific and technical papers, and he was also a successful teacher at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. This is his first autobiographical work, and it tells the story of how, by a stroke of luck, he and his wife became minor TV stars and started a successful business. The cable TV episode showing the remodeling of the Mailander House has been seen by over 40 million viewers. Many people remember this episode because a very cool old bicycle was put in Dave’s office as décor. Dave currently has a beautiful Pinarello track bike in his office to inspire his work.