One of the best home renovation shows is Good Bones, which focuses on mother-daughter duo Karen
Laine and Mina Starsiak, and their home renovation company. Karen brings a lot to the show,
but there's a lot more to the HGTV star than her hammer skills. Here's the truth about Karen Laine.
In 2019, Karen announced that she was stepping back from Two Chicks and a Hammer. The reality
star revealed in a blog post that she has a lot of hobbies she plans to focus on in her retirement.
She wrote that her retirement means she has more time to spend with her husband and her mom.
Even though she's retired from the family business, Karen has no plans of retiring
from Good Bones and plans to do even more DIY projects for the show. She wrote,
"I have complete confidence that the company Mina and I founded, based on the novel idea
of improving neighborhoods by rehabilitating the worst houses in a neighborhood, one house
at a time, has a bright future! I won't be far, and will likely just be puttering in the yard!"
While many people would call the practice of fixing up a home and then selling it at a
profit house flipping, Karen is adamant that this is not what she and Mina do. Instead,
she views herself and her daughter as rehabbers who don't just give a
house a fresh look but truly give it a whole new life. She told IndyStar,
"We truly are rehabbing neighborhoods. If we were flipping, we wouldn't strip down to studs,
install new electrical, new HVAC, new plumbing or whatever else needs to be done.
This is rehab. These houses need a good 12-step program."
Rehabbing homes in her hometown of Indianapolis isn't just a business,
it's a labor of love. The Good Bones star truly loves her community and told PopSugar that the
best part of rehabbing homes in the area is the opportunities it brings to others. She said,
"We have this opportunity for local people to apply their trade and grow
in their chosen career, which is a beautiful thing to watch."
"Beautiful! No way! Gorgeous. This is beyond what I could have ever imagined."
Working so closely with her daughter is fun for Karen, but it's also a bit of a challenge. Filming
Good Bones means that it's easy for arguments to break out, but Karen pointed out that there's also
a distinct advantage in your business partner being your daughter. She explained to IndyStar,
"That's the value of being mother and daughter — she's not going to lose me.
I'm always going to love her and think she's awesome and have her back. I know that's our
default position. It's not like two business partners who can just go their separate ways."
As Mina explained to the outlet,
she and Karen aren't just business partners or family — they're friends.
"We're just a couple of likable gingers."
Any viewer of HGTV knows that women can crush it in the home renovation industry,
but there are unfortunately still a lot of skeptics out there.
Karen broke a lot of ground when she and her daughter started Two Chicks and a Hammer,
but she still had to deal with sexism at some points in her career.
As Karen told the IndyStar, she has sometimes gotten some "sass" from men in the industry.
She explained that she often worked with middle-aged men who have been in
the industry for a long time, but she won't put up with them being, quote,
"mouthy," as letting things slide would lead to them disrespecting her. She added,
"If I'm your boss, you don't get to be disrespectful."
While she may have had to put up with naysayers,
Karen has proven over the years that she definitely knows what she's doing.
While some celebrities may find themselves too busy to interact much with their fans,
Karen isn't one of them. The Good Bones star cares a lot about her fans,
and she makes sure to set aside time to engage with each one who reaches out to her.
Karen told PopCulture that many of her fans reach out to tell her how her show
has impacted their lives, and hearing these stories means a lot to her. She also enjoys
hearing about their own renovation projects and even asks for pictures of what they're working on.
Not only does she respond to the few snail mail letters she gets, she claims to answer
"every message [she] gets on social media."
Karen is touched that people care and that they're watching her on Good Bones,
and she loves knowing that she inspires so many people who watch the show. She added,
"That's job security for me. I like it."
Between her law career, her home renovation business, and her reality star status,
Karen has had more careers than most people. She's not one to take things easy, though.
After she announced that she was stepping back from Two Chicks and a Hammer, she revealed to
PopCulture that she was going to use some of her newly freed up time to start yet another career.
Karen's new career path will require her going back to school divinity school,
to be specific. She joked that it might seem like going to law school "would be enough" schooling,
but she's always dreamed of preaching, and divinity school will help her reach that goal.
Retiring from her company has not only provided her with more time to finally pursue her dream,
but also the money to afford going back to school.
How does Karen find so much time? Sure, leaving her business might have freed up some hours,
but that doesn't explain how she has found the time to juggle school,
family, Good Bones, and the nonprofit she started after leaving her company.
Karen's nonprofit, Indy Home, is another way that she's showing her love for Indianapolis.
The reality star has spent years fixing up homes in her city,
but her nonprofit is a way for her to help people in the city who don't have homes.
Karen told PopCulture that the concept behind Indy Home, known as "Housing First," is
"controversial" as it aims to "address homelessness" by giving people a home.
Karen explained that when people are required to give something up,
such as "a pet, or a loved one" before they find housing, they're,quote, "going to resist being
in a home." She believes that by giving people a place where they feel secure,
then their "first basic need is being met," which can lead to a better life.
When Karen and Mina landed their own show, it seemed like a dream come true.
But filming Good Bones isn't always as glamorous as it looks, though,
and the show didn't exactly bring them an immediate windfall. In fact,
Karen and Mina mortgaged their homes and asked family members to invest money so
they could grow their business enough to film the show and still run Two Chicks and a Hammer.
Another wrench was thrown into the works when Karen's husband was diagnosed with cancer.
But instead of stepping back from the company or show, Karen went into overdrive. There was
no room for failure, with Mina telling the Indianapolis Monthly that they didn't have
a choice. She explained that their new mantra became "just do it," and added,
"There was no more talking about the hurdles."
Karen was juggling the business and Good Bones, but she also managed to take care of her husband
during his surgery and recovery, staying by his side through all of his treatments.
Karen has a pretty big family, and Good Bones fans are most familiar with her daughter Mina,
for obvious reasons. But Karen actually has three other children. As the mother and
daughter explained in a behind-the-scenes video for season two of Good Bones,
Karen had three children with her first husband, and another daughter with her second husband.
Karen is also a doting grandma who seems to enjoy spending time with her family's
youngest members. When Mina welcomed her first child, Jack, in August 2018,
the proud grandmother posted a picture on Instagram of herself holding her
new grandson and calling him "such a tiny little bundle" in the caption.
Jack has made a few appearances on Karen's Instagram account over the
years. In one post, she revealed that Jack loves to hear her husband sing.
Likely respecting her family's desire for privacy,
she hasn't talked about her other grandchildren as much over the years. One 2018 Instagram post
shows two of her adorable granddaughters eating corn on a family vacation to Hawaii.
A 2017 photo also shows her spending some quality
one-on-one time with one of her grandkids. Karen wrote,
"Singing and eating dinner on my deck with my granddaughter is a big 'night out' for me."
It won't come as a surprise that Karen has some pretty strong opinions when it comes
to matters of the home. She is an expert, after all. In an interview with Pop Culture,
the reality star revealed a surprising must-have she
believes everyone should invest in for their homes and that's barware.
Karen explained that the barware "doesn't have to be super fancy," but it's good to have on
hand for when you have guests over, even if you're just serving them water. She added,
"If you don't have any nice glasses, you should get a couple of nice glasses."
Karen is also a big fan of floral decor, and said, quote, "there's just something about
flowers." That being said, she does think you can have too much of a good thing. She went on to say,
"Some people have enough pillows [...] they should stop."
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus,
even more List videos about your favorite stuff are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.