Vrinda Bachchan
‘Good Bones’ is not your regular home improvement show on HGTV. ‘Good Bones’ is unique. It is hosted by a mother-daughter duo who don’t like to call themselves “house flippers” but home rehabbers. Karen (the mother) and her daughter Mina insist that they are trying to revitalize their city of Indianapolis, one dilapidated home at a time. What they basically do is buy sad old rundown houses (some for real cheap!) and then strip them down to their bones and rebuild them from scratch. Karen and Mina run a renovation company called Two Chicks and a Hammer, and they have a whole bunch of skilled employees working for them, some of who regularly feature on ‘Good Bones’. Want to know more about the main cast of ‘Good Bones’? Read on then.
Karen E. Laine (Host)
Karen (the mom of the Two Chicks duo) used to be a defense attorney! She gave up a career in law to start a house renovation business with her daughter Mina. Karen is known for her hippie flair and usually focuses on the repurposing of old furniture and DIYs that they do for any remodel project they have going on. Apart from this, she also brings legal counsel and community mindfulness to the team. Karen also likes using art from local artists to personalize spaces and loves adding green spaces wherever she can. Karen divorced Mina’s father and remarried twice before finding her current spouse. She is currently happily married to Roger, her fourth husband.
Mina Starsiak Hawk (Host)
Mina graduated from Indiana University and started working as a waitress to pay the bills. At the time, she didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life but found her true calling when she purchased her first house for $37000 and renovated it with mom Karen. That was in 2007. In 2008, Karen and Mina started Two Chicks and a Hammer, and they never looked back. It was after 7 years of renovating and remodeling homes in Indianapolis that the mother-daughter duo got contacted by HGTV for a reality series. Mina met her husband Steve on Facebook and went on one disastrous date but she decided to give him a second chance and they ended up getting married in 2016. They now have a 2-year-old son (who’s made an appearance on the show now and then) and Mina is expecting her second child in September 2020. The most impressive thing about Mina and Karen, though? They are totally self-taught.
Tad Starsiak (Project Manager)
Leading the demolition crew is project manager Thadeus “Tad” Starsiak. He is Mina’s half-brother from her dad’s second marriage. After Karen and Casey (Mina’s father) got divorced (they share three kids), Casey got married to a woman named Cheryl and had two kids with her – Jess and Tad. After Cheryl passed away, Tad had suffered a falling out with his old man and moved into the Karen-Mina camp, joining Two Chicks and a Hammer full-time. Tad is funny, friendly, and skilled, and he easily seems to fit in with Karen and Mina (the half-siblings seem close). Tad’s stepfather is also part of the crew but more on that later.
Cory Miller (Project Manager)
Cory Miller is not related to either Karen or Mina in any way. He is a childhood friend of Mina’s from high school. Cory is very passionate about all things construction and “eats, sleeps and breathes construction” according to his Linkedin profile. Cory comes from a big family (though his parents are divorced). He has a girlfriend named Shelby and together, they are parents to a lot of cute animals (including two pigs and several chickens). It is mainly Cory’s job to scout out new properties alongside Tad.
Austin Aynes (Demolition Crew)
Another non-family member of the crew, Austin Aynes joined the team part-time as demolition crew back in 2016. Austin has a bachelor’s degree in Biology and was looking for jobs when his old college buddy Tad Starsiak asked Austin to be part of the crew for the pilot episode. Before then, Austin had dabbled in demolition casually while in college to earn a quick buck and had no other construction experience. He decided to give it a try anyway, despite his mother’s disapproval. Turns out, Austin loved working with Karen and Mina so much that he gave up his lab job and joined them full-time a couple of years ago. Apart from construction, Austin’s other interests include sports (all kinds literally) and plants.
That’s the current main cast for Season 5 of ‘Good Bones’. Till 2019, the main cast included Lenny, Tad’s stepfather who was married to his mom Cheryl before she passed away. Lenny was part of the demolition crew also but he left Two Chicks and ‘Good Bones’ shortly after Season 4 was filmed.
Read More: Where is Good Bones Filmed?
