Two Chicks and a Hammer was launched back in 2007, per House Beautiful. Prior to that, Mina Starsiak-Hawk completed a degree in general studies at Indiana University while her mother, Karen Laine, worked as a lawyer.
She co-signed the loan on Starsiawk-Hawk’s first property, which became their first renovation project, launching the duo’s newfound career. Naturally, they continued working elsewhere until the business took off.
Starsiak-Hawk and Laine had been renovating extensively throughout Indianapolis for around seven years when HGTV came calling. In an interview with Indianapolis Monthly, Starsiak-Hawk described landing “Good Bones” as a total “accident.” As Laine explained, when producers originally contacted them, her daughter assumed it was a “scam.”
She recalled, “We did a Skype interview, had to get background checks, and went through social-media checks. We filmed a couple of weeks with a Flip-cam. They have a first-look agreement, and HGTV said to make a pilot.” As Starsiak-Hawk admitted to House Beautiful, she didn’t think she and Laine were “cool” enough to be on TV (fans would totally disagree).
The pilot aired in May 2015 under the original name “Two Chicks and a Hammer.” HGTV ordered more episodes immediately but changed the title to “Good Bones” with filming kicking off just a couple months after the pilot dropped. The rest is HGTV history.
