The Name Of Good Bones Was Originally Very Different
HGTV's Good Bones launched back in 2016 but its lovable mother-daughter duo, Mina Starsiak-Hawk and Karen Laine, were working together for several years before the show came along. The two ladies formed their home renovation company, Two Chicks and a Hammer, back in 2007. As the official website notes, the duo discovered their shared passion after renovating a home Starsiak-Hawk bought straight out of college, when she wasn't sure what to do with her life.
During the subsequent years, the two ladies would work on houses whenever they could, in between their jobs as a lawyer (Laine) and waitress (Starsiak-Hawk), before finally committing full time — at which point HGTV came calling. "We just learned as we went," Starsiak-Hawk told People. "I read directions on how to install flooring and watched online videos about putting up tile. It was really trial and error."
The hit HGTV show was originally named after the ladies themselves
Mina Starsiak-Hawk and Karen Laine had been busily renovating houses together for seven years straight when production company High Noon Entertainment tapped them to headline their own HGTV show (via House Beautiful). The pilot aired in 2015, with a very different title. Rather than Good Bones, the show was called Two Chicks and a Hammer, after the ladies' super successful business. Unsurprisingly, it was a hit, leading HGTV to order more episodes. They changed the name to Good Bones in the process and, just two months after the pilot dropped, filming began in Indianapolis.
Although the ambitious ladies were thrilled to land their own show, Starsiak-Hawk admitted that the name Good Bones didn't really make sense to her — at least at first. In fact, during an Instagram Q&A, the reality star revealed she "hated" the show's title initially (via Pop Culture). "[People] think we have so much more say than we do," she said. "I build houses. The powers that be make a show." Starsiak-Hawk came around to the name eventually, of course, and now acknowledges it fits their ethos completely.