Karen E. Laine Goes Dancing with a Longtime Good Bones Costar to Celebrate New Home: ‘The First Fun I’ve Had’ (Exclusive)

Karen E. Laine embraces her new home in North Carolina – with a familiar face from Good bones.

In an exclusive preview clip from Good bones‘ new spinoff shared with PEOPLE, a home renovation expert learns a local dance in Wilmington, where she transforms a beach bungalow.

She calls on Austin Aynes, a longtime member of her team from the original Good bonesfor a lesson in slag dancing, which she explains is a type of swing popular on the North Carolina coast.

“If I’m going to live in Wilmington, I’ve got to do a Wilmington dance, so that’s why we’re here,” Laine tells Aynes, noting that the dance has a “dig your feet in the sand” movement because it’s meant to be done on the beach.

Austin Aynes and Karen E. Laine.

HGTV

Karen E. Laine Says ‘I Can Do Whatever I Want’ Since Retiring From Business With Daughter Mina Starsiak Hawk

Laine and Aynes practice their steps with a pair of instructors, then perfect each other’s moves, which makes Laine smile and clap.

“When I come in, I work until dark,” she explains of the time she spent commuting to Wilmington from her main residence in Indianapolis. “I haven’t really had a good time yet. I had fun with this dance for the first time.

Laine enjoys dancing so much that she says it could become a weekly hobby.

“I feel like that might be one of my activities in Wilmington, on Friday nights, I show up and find people who will tolerate dancing with me,” she says.

In the previous episode, Laine reflected on her family life and the freedom of retirement.

“I don’t work for a paycheck anymore,” she said. “I retired in 2019 and can do whatever I want.”

Karen E. Laine and Austin Aynes.

HGTV

Laine started the Two Chicks and a Hammer business with her daughter and Good bones Costar, Mina Starsiak Hawk, 2007 Laine retired from the company five years ago, but continued to appear on Good bones until it finished its first eight seasons in October 2023.

“I was doing everything I wanted to do,” Laine continued. “I did some landscaping projects. I practiced law.”

During a conversation with Aynes and two other cast members from the original Good bonesMJ Coyle and Cory Miller, Laine shared what inspired her to buy the 120-year-old bungalow.

“I’m tired of the Indiana winter,” she told the trio. “And I had this idea: Wouldn’t it be nice to retire in Wilmington?”

“I went there once and I liked it,” she continued. “So I came back in January. It was 80 degrees during the day. So I got on the interwebs and found a house for sale and bought it.”

Tad Starsiak, Cort Miller, Austin Aynes and Mina Starsiak Hawk on the original ‘Good Bones’.

Austin Aynes/Instagram

However, she noted that she was dealing with the top fixings, which were held up by a crane on “a pile of wobbly bricks”.

“This house is like one of our original ones Good bones houses — just miserable,” she added.

“There’s a part of this foundation that’s up in the air,” Laine said. “It takes a lot of love, but we can fix anything.”

The new series focuses on “new beginnings” as Laina and Starsiak Hawk’s lives “evolve behind a time of home renovations in Indianapolis” and they start projects in different states, according to HGTV.

Starsiak Hawk previously revealed on her podcast, Mina AF, that there was tension between her and her family as the final season of the original series aired in 2023. She said she wasn’t “in a good place” with either Laine or brother Tad.

Mina Starsiak Hawk and Karen E. Laine.

Courtesy of HGTV (2)

Mina Starsiak Hawk Discovers New Lake House She Calls ‘Healing Place’ After Losing 3 Family Members (Exclusive)

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While Laine’s beach getaway is the focus of the second and third episodes of the new season, its 90-minute premiere focused on Mina’s renovation of the lake house she will enjoy with her husband Steve Hawk and their two children: 5-year-old Jack and 3-year-old Charlie.

In the episode, Mina said the retreat by the lake “will be very healing for Steve because he’s lost so much.”

Steve’s mother died of stomach cancer in 2018, and six months later his father died suddenly after falling down the stairs. In 2020, his younger sister Stefanie died of ethanol poisoning.

“She’s going through life in the best possible way after just a really, really epic loss in a very, very short time,” Mina explained. “And because his time with his family was cut short, that’s why we wanted this lake house for Jack and Charlie — really, long-term, for memories, for experiences. I think that’s why it’s really important to both of us.”

The third and last episode Good bones‘ season nine, “Karen Gets Colorful,” will air Wednesday, August 28, at 9:00 PM ET/PT on HGTV.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education