Karen E. Laine Says 'I Can Do Anything I Want’ Since Retiring from Business with Daughter Mina Starsiak Hawk

Karen E. Laine is enjoying the freedom of retirement.

IN Good bones‘ new spinoff, a home renovation expert and former attorney buys an upper lot in Wilmington, NC, to turn it into her dream beach house.

In an exclusive preview clip he shared with PEOPLE, Laine explains what inspired the purchase while reflecting on his recent family life.

“I don’t work for a paycheck anymore,” she says. “I retired in 2019 and I can do whatever I want.” Laine started Two Chicks and a Hammer in Indianapolis with her daughter Good bones costar, Mina Starsiak Hawk. 2007. While Laine retired from the company five years ago, she 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 continues. “I did some landscaping projects. I practiced law.”

Karen E. Laine in the new spinoff ‘Good Bones’. Mina Starsiak Hawk Discovers New Lake House She Calls ‘Healing Place’ After Losing 3 Family Members (Exclusive)

“Taking care of the grandkids, that’s fun,” adds Laine as she is seen surrounded by her son CR Starsiak’s four children.

Laine has a large blended family. In addition to CR, she shares Mina and son William Starsiak with her first husband, Casey Starsiak. Laine and Casey divorced, and Laine then married a man named Randy Gray, with whom she shares a daughter, Kelsy Spaeth.

Laine and Randy eventually divorced, and she married twice more—first to a man named Mick and later to her current husband, Roger. Casey remarried to a woman named Cheryl, with whom he shares Thadeus “Tada” Starsiak and daughter Jessica. Cheryl died when Tad and Jessica were young and they became close to Laine.

Karen E. Laine with her grandchildren.

The clip also shows Laine reuniting with three members of her team from the original Good bones: MJ Coyle, Cory Miller and Austin Aynes.

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

“I went there once and I loved it,” she continues. “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.”

However, he notes that he is dealing with 120-year-old bungalows, which are held up by a crane on “a pile of wobbly bricks”.

Karen E. Laine with MJ Coyle, Cory Miller and Austin Aynes.

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

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

The new series focuses on “new beginnings” as Laina and Mina’s lives “evolve back to their time renovating homes in Indianapolis” and they start projects in different states, according to HGTV. It seems they filmed the show completely separately. Mina previously revealed on her podcast, Mina AF, that there were tensions 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 Tad.

In October 2023, she said about her mom: “We don’t talk. We haven’t for a long time.”

Karen E. Laine is working on her home in North Carolina. Mina Starsiak Hawk’s Family: What to Know About Her Parents and Siblings Amid Their Split

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The 90-minute series premiere, which aired on August 14, focused on Mina renovating a lakeside retreat to enjoy with her husband Steve Hawke and their two children: 5-year-old Jack and 3-year-old Charlie .

“The lake house will be very healing for Steve because he’s lost so much,” Mina said in the episode.

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.”

Second episode of Good bones‘ season nine, “Karen’s Beach Bungalow,” will air Wednesday, August 21, at 9:00 PM ET/PT on HGTV.

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Source: HIS Education