‘Good Bones’ Stars Ditch Their ‘New Beginnings’ Weeks After Spinoff

Heavy/HGTV Mina Starsiak Hawk and Karen E. Laine, former stars of "Good Bones"

Mere weeks after former “Good Bones” co-stars Mina Starsiak Hawk and Karen E. Laine showcased their “new beginnings” in a three-part spinoff of their now-defunct series on HGTV, they’ve both left behind the projects they started.

On September 29, 2024, Starsiak Hawk abruptly closed the brick-and-mortar store she was so excited about opening on “Good Bones: New Beginnings.” Meanwhile, her mom, from whom she’s been in estranged for over a year, has decided to sell the North Carolina house she renovated on the spinoff, despite gushing over it becoming her retirement home.

Mina Starsiak Hawk’s Shop Was Open for 7 Months

“Good Bones” fans were shocked in August 2023 when Starsiak Hawk revealed on her podcast that she and her mom were “not on good terms” and that their show was ending after eight seasons. Though there are signs things aren’t as contentious between them as they once were, the women were featured in separate episodes of the three-part spinoff that aired in August 2024, showcasing what they were up to a year after the show’s end.

Starsiak Hawk’s 90-minute episode chronicled her family’s renovation of a lake home and the evolution of her business, from decreasing the amount of renovations she conducts each year to finding a new home for her Indianapolis retail shop, Two Chicks District Co., which she begrudgingly closed in October 2023 due to slow sales.

The mom of two was elated when a city rep from nearby Noblesville contacted her about re-opening her shop in an available retail location within the suburb’s shopping hub, as seen on the spinoff. When the new store opened in early March, Starsiak Hawk shared on Instagram that she was “beyond thrilled with the warm welcome we have received from this amazing community.”

“From the moment we opened our doors, we have been blown away by the buzz and excitement that has surrounded our store,” she wrote at the time, but on September 26 the store’s social media accounts announced that the “pop-up shop” was closing on the 29th and having a clearance sale that weekend.

Starsiak Hawk told the Indianapolis Star that she’d agreed to a short-term lease on the space and that the home decor and gift store wasn’t making enough money to rationalize staying open.

“By the time it came to make a decision to stay, I just couldn’t,” she told the paper, adding, “It was so amazing, the neighborhood and the people, and I hate that the business side just isn’t there to support it, but being in a very urban spot, unfortunately it has to be a profitable venture.”

Starsiak Hawk plans to keep her online shop open, she said on Instagram, which will include a “cute holiday collection I have coming soon.”

Karen E. Laine Lists Newly Renovated Beach Home for $500,000

Meanwhile, Laine has also given up on a major endeavor featured on the two hour-long episodes of “Good Bones: New Beginnings” that gave fans a look at her next chapter. In 2019, Laine decided to retire and sold Starsiak Hawk her half of the Indianapolis renovation business they once ran together, but she continued to appear on “Good Bones.”

Amid divorcing her fourth husband in 2023, Laine said on an episode of the “What’s Up Wilmington” podcast that she decided to build a retirement home in Wilmington after falling in love with the town during a visit years before. She purchased a fixer-upper and began sharing her renovations on Instagram, before the full project was chronicled on “Good Bones: New Beginnings.”

On the show, Laine was emphatic that she was choosing all of her design elements to make herself happy — including teal-colored wood floors — since it was her personal getaway and not for re-sale. But during the last weekend of September, Laine put the home up for sale by owner, hoping to fetch $500,000 for the one-bedroom cottage.

Though HGTV said the renovated property was 525-square-feet after the “Good Bones” spinoff aired, Laine’s listing says the home is 1,000-square-feet. The Zillow listing says she purchased the home in February 2023 for $70,000.

On August 29, Laine posted a video revealing that she was in Wilmington “for a long weekend” and shared how happy she was that the home across the street had just begun its own renovations. At the time of publication, she had not addressed why she’s leaving the home nor whether she’s leaving North Carolina for good.