How ‘Castle Impossible’ Couple Plans to Juggle New Baby & Renovations
Fans of Castle Impossible got a nice surprise when Daphne Reckert and Ian Figueira revealed they were having a baby. After the initial news was shared, the soon-to-be parents spilled the beans to Granny during the June 2 episode of Season 2, which is currently airing on HGTV. This is sure to change the dynamic of the household as the couple works to renovate the 500-year-old chateau in France that Reckert inherited from her grandfather.
The high school sweethearts went all-in on the project that’s changed their lives forever. They moved a few years ago from their home in California to manage the 130-acre estate in Lésigny, just outside Paris. To keep themselves afloat and fund renovation expenses, the two have opened the grounds up for weddings as well. Their journey has been captured in the series, which drew over 14 million viewers across linear and streaming during its first season.
In an interview with Swooon, the Castle Impossible stars talk about married life, date nights, and what’s the plan after the baby comes.
Swooon: How has your relationship changed or been strengthened from working together?
Ian Figueira: It has been tested. That’s for sure.
Daphne Reckert: I feel like it has definitely been a challenge, but it’s also been really fulfilling. I don’t know if our relationship would have been challenged in this way if we didn’t have such a big project at hand. We get through it every time, so that’s really reassuring.
Figueira: I think it’s kind of like when forces unite against an enemy. When we have a problem with the chateau, that’s when Daphne and I remind each other we are on the same team. That we work through it. So far, it has been good.
Swooon: Have you made a plan for how you’ll juggle renovations once the baby arrives?
Figueira: We’ll be juggling the baby as well as renovations.
Reckert: Obviously, I’m not going to be in the renovations as much. But I’ll do a lot of the prep work and the management of things.
Figueira: We’re going to have to take turns and be navigating all this because the chateau is far from finished. There is still a lot of renovating to do. There is also the wedding venue business we’re actively running.
Reckert: We’ve made it so we’ll have a couple of weeks to really be with the baby. Then we have friends and family coming to visit to help support us.
Figueira: I’m planning to get one of those baby carriers.
Reckert: Where he’ll go, “Now this is a hammer. This is a chisel.” [Laughs]
Hey, you have to start them sometime. Would you say the chateau is your forever home given your expanding family?
Figueira: I feel like it’s almost beyond our family. It was your grandfather’s and someday our child’s and maybe their child’s. So, it does feel like forever. It has such a rich history. I feel like Daphne and I are in our little chapter in it, and then we get to pass it on.
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Reckert: Yeah, eternal.
With everything you have going on, have you had a chance to have date nights recently? I know Lésigny is not far from Paris.
Reckert: A date night is more, “Quick! Put down the tools! We have to get ready.”
Figueira: Yeah, we’ve been trying to find some restaurants on the outskirts of Paris. But we do go to Paris as much as we can. Date night, we usually try to find a good restaurant because the food is so good in France. It’s hard to mess that up.
Castle Impossible, Tuesdays, 9/8c, HGTV (Next Day on HBO Max)
