Indianapolis-based 'Good Bones' star will compete in HGTV's 'Rock the Block'

After establishing popular TV series “Good Bones” and helping to renovate the “Brady Bunch” house, Mina Starsiak Hawk will enter what she describes as a “pressure cooker” on new HGTV competition show “Rock the Block.”

“Rock the Block,” which debuts at 9 tonight, challenges four HGTV personalities to renovate identical homes in a Southern California subdivision.

Starsiak Hawk, co-star of Indianapolis-based “Good Bones” since 2016, is facing off against Leanne Ford (“Restored by the Fords”), Jasmine Roth (“Hidden Potential”) and Alison Victoria (“Windy City Rehab”).

If there’s any question Starsiak Hawk hopes to win the competition, she gets the first words in the premiere episode: “I am so competitive, it’s probably to an unhealthy level.”

Starsiak Hawk refers to “Rock the Block” as a fun experience that followed the work she and her mother, Karen E. Laine, put into hit series “A Very Brady Renovation.”

“Rock the Block” also served as a serious test of mettle.

“It was such a pressure cooker of time, of money,” Starsiak Hawk said. “It was 105 degrees. It was rough. I stress-cried a couple of times.”

The show allows a budget of $175,000 to add as much value as possible to a newly constructed house with an existing market price of $750,000. Matching the timeline of when episodes air, the competitors had four weeks to complete their projects.

Starsiak Hawk said she hasn’t previewed “Rock the Block” episodes.

“Depending on how they edit it, I might look angrier than you see me on ‘Good Bones,’ ” she said with a laugh.

"Property Brothers" co-star Drew Scott hosts "Rock the Block," which will be won by the renovator whose house is appraised at the highest value. In addition to bragging rights, the winner will have a street in the subdivision named in her honor and HGTV will donate 100,000 meals to the Turn Up! Fight Hunger initiative.

Before "Rock the Block" arrives, Starsiak Hawk talked with IndyStar about other "Good Bones"-related news: 

Mom makes a transition 

Laine recently announced her retirement from day-to-day operations at Two Chicks and a Hammer, the company she and Starsiak Hawk founded in 2007. Laine will continue to be part of "Good Bones," slated to return for its fifth season in 2020.

Starsiak Hawk said Laine is looking forward to spending more time with her husband, Roger, who retired more than a year ago.

"It's been a tug back-and-forth between him doing all these fun things and her really wanting to be able to do that without feeling the pressure," Starsiak Hawk said of Laine, who traveled to Paris this month.

New year, new retail store

Starsiak Hawk said March is the revised target date for opening the District Co. decor store, 1531 S. East St.

Two Chicks and a Hammer initially planned to open the shop in the Bates-Hendricks neighborhood this year, but financing caused a delay.

"It’s tricky for us, because our business has always been to put money into a house, renovate it, sell it and get that money back," Starsiak Hawk told IndyStar in July. "And that’s what funds our next project. But (the store) isn’t something we’re going to be seeing a return on any time soon. It’s been hard to figure out maintaining the pace of the show, doing 13 houses a year, and setting aside funds to build out this store."

Construction at the building that opened in 1912 as the Lincoln Theatre movie house will begin before January.

Celebrity and the home renovator

Starsiak Hawk said "A Very Brady Renovation," the HGTV sensation that attracted more than 28 million viewers this fall, hasn't changed her life.

She is, however, now friends with "Marcia Brady" actress Maureen McCormick.

"Still just little old me in Midwest Indiana," Starsiak Hawk said. "If I post on a photo Maureen McCormick posted, she'll comment back — which is super cool."

Starsiak Hawk added that some loyal fans of "Good Bones" are too young to be active on social media.

"Moms bring 8-year-old boys to events and say, 'My son watches all the episodes,' " she said. "Nine out of 10 kids say the demolition is their favorite part of the show. I think that’s where we hook a younger generation: ‘Yeah, let’s break some stuff.’ "

IndianapoLIST:Obsessed with Indianapolis? Subscribe to our newsletter

Call IndyStar reporter David Lindquist at 317-444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.