‘Two Chicks and a Hammer’ stars entertain audiences at Johnson County Home and Garden Show

Karen Laine and her daughter Mina Starsiak, taking the main stage at the Johnson County Home and Garden Show on Saturday, joked that no one at the convention center knew who they were.

But that is likely to change soon.

The mother-daughter duo star in HGTV’s new show “Good Bones,” which follows their Indianapolis home renovation business Two Chicks and a Hammer.

A few in the audience at the Overland Park Convention Center knew Laine and Sarsiak from the pilot episode, which aired in May and was named after their business. The program follows the women’s efforts to buy dilapidated houses and renovate them in their Fountain Square neighborhood near downtown Indianapolis.

“The core of our business is we buy houses in the neighborhood that no one wants to live in and we improve the neighborhood,” Laine said.

The two women told stories about things they’ve found in old houses, including baby dolls floating facedown in a flooded basement and old freezers preserving foul odors.

They have renovated about 30 houses since they began, many of which they bought through a city program and are sold with income restrictions. The women began with one house and largely taught themselves how to buy, renovate and sell.

The pair gently teased two people who left during the middle of the show to get a beer. Bob Heinemann and Alycia Maurer had come to see Matt Muenster of HGTV’s “Bath Crashers” but found themselves drawn into the Two Chicks and a Hammer show.

“They were awesome. I loved it,” Maurer said. “I’m looking forward to recording and watching the show.”

Laine and Starsiak will take the stage again at the Home and Garden Show on Sunday at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

This story was originally published January 23, 2016 at 8:19 PM.