'Good Bones' Season 5 Episode 11: Mina and Karen turn non-profit's dilapidated home into an artist's paradise
Mina Starsiak Hawke and Karen Laine are back in Garfield Park to transform more homes into an artist's paradise. A couple that runs a profit benefiting the neighborhood recruits the mother-daughter duo to renovate one of their dilapidated properties under a tight budget, ensuring it is everything that an artist would want in a home.
Garfield Park is a locality just south of downtown Indianapolis. It has been through some rough times but is making a comeback as an artist community. The owners of the Tube Factory, a non-profit art space that showcases the talents of up-and-coming artists, have enlisted the Two Chicks and a Hammer Inc team's help to remodel a 790-square-feet house on Nelson Street. The non-profit also provides affordable housing for local artists in need, so the team is working with a small budget to revamp the $6,000, one-bedroom-one-bath home.
After scouring out the property, Mina and Karen conclude that they have to open up the enclosed front porch as well as replace the paint and siding. Inside, the kitchen will be moved to where the dining room currently sits, while a laundry room and mudroom are added. The budget for the renovation allocated by the non-profit is $90,000 bringing the total investment to $96,000. Mina is fairly certain that once the house is made inhabitable again, it can sell for $120,000.
During the reno, the team encountered two problems. The front porch has a continuous foundation and joists with the rest of the house, it has to be waterproofed and is integral to the elements that form the bones of the house. They have to do everything necessary to sustain the home with the fixed budget, which they cannot cross. So they decide on keeping the porch area as is and turn it into an enclosed sun porch instead. In another instance, they realized that the original joists holding up the flooring above the basement were sagging would need more support.
The kitchen will get white cabinets and butcher block countertop, with a crisp white backsplash. Everything in the house is going to be neutral which will make it easier for whoever lives there to adapt it for their own use. Another reason why they opted for the neutral palette is that the size of the house is so small, the white could help open up space and make it feel less claustrophobic. The light grey and white will just serve as a blank canvas for the artist that buys the home to incorporate their own creative touches.
On the exterior, while they had decided to paint the new siding and the limestone, they figure that they could save some money. By adding new vinyl in a board and batten pattern to the outside, they intend to add a bit of oomph to the charm of the home, while staying within the limited budget. The flooring is installed with honey-colored panels that help warm up and compliment the neutral interiors, while the kitchen also gets some open cabinets at the top.
The house gets some curb appeal with new shrubs planted in front of the house, and the closed porch gets a wall-garden to liven it up with some greenery. In terms of the interiors, the team adds a few eclectic touches, while ensuring that the space is light bright and airy. After a second opinion from her doctor on her IVF journey, Mina sits through an IE procedure and is told to take a pregnancy test after two weeks. Ten days later an excited and impatient Mina takes a pregnancy test in the bathroom of a restaurant while on lunch break, that comes out positive.
'Good Bones' airs on Tuesdays at 9 pm ET/PT on HGTV.