“Good Bones” star Karen E. Laine on new freedom after working with daughter Mina Starsiak Hawk (exclusive)

Karen E. Laine enjoys the freedom of retirement.

In Good bonesIn the new spin-off, the home renovation expert and former lawyer purchases a house in Wilmington, North Carolina, in need of renovation to transform it into her dream beach house.

In an exclusive preview clip shared with PEOPLE, Laine explains what inspired her to make the purchase while reflecting on her recent family life.

“I don't work for a paycheck anymore,” she says. “I retired in 2019 and can do whatever I want.” Laine founded Indianapolis-based Two Chicks and a Hammer with her daughter and Good bones co-star, Mina Starsiak Hawk. in 2007. While Laine left the company five years ago, she continued to appear on Good bones until the first season with eight seasons ended in October 2023.

“I did everything I wanted to do,” Laine continues. “I worked on some landscaping projects. I worked as a lawyer.”

“Taking care of the grandchildren is fun,” adds Laine, surrounded by her son CR Starsiak’s four children.

Laine has a large blended family. In addition to CR, she has Mina and son William Starsiak with her first husband Casey Starsiak. Laine and Casey divorced and Laine then married a man named Randy Gray, with whom she has a daughter, Kelsy Spaeth.

Laine and Randy eventually divorced, and she married twice more – first to a man named Mick and later to her current husband Roger. Casey married a woman named Cheryl, with whom he has Thadeus “Tad” Starsiak and daughter Jessica. Cheryl died when Tad and Jessica were young, and they were very close to Laine.

The clip also shows Laine reuniting with three members of her team from the original Good bones: MJ Coyle, Cory Miller and Austin Aynes.

“I'm tired of winters in Indiana,” she tells the trio. “And I had this idea: Wouldn't it be nice to retire in Wilmington?”

“I went there once and loved it,” she continues. “So I went back in January. It was 27 degrees during the day. So I looked online for a house for sale and bought it.”

However, she admits that it will be no easy task with the 120-year-old bungalow, which is propped up on a “pile of wobbly bricks” using a car jack.

“This house is like one of our original Good bones “The houses are just pathetic,” she says.

“Part of that foundation is hanging in the air,” Laine adds. “It takes a lot of love, but we can fix anything.”

The new series focuses on “new beginnings” as Laine and Mina's lives “evolve beyond their time renovating homes in Indianapolis” and they tackle projects in different states, according to HGTV. They appear to have filmed the show completely separately.

Mina previously revealed in her podcast: Mina AF, that there was tension between her and her family during the airing of the final season of the original series in 2023. She said that she was not “okay” with either Laine or Tad.

In October 2023, she said of her mother: “We don't talk to each other. We haven't in a long time.”

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The show's 90-minute premiere, which aired August 14, focused on Mina renovating a lakefront retreat to enjoy with her husband, Steve Hawk, and their two children, five-year-old Jack and three-year-old Charlie.

“The lake house will be a great healing for Steve because he has lost so much,” Mina said in the episode.

Steve's mother died of stomach cancer in 2018 and six months later his father died unexpectedly after falling down the stairs. In 2020, his younger sister Stefanie died of ethanol poisoning.

“He's going through life as best he can after suffering a really, really tremendous loss in a very, very short period of time,” Mina explained. “And because his time with his family was so short, we wanted this lake house for Jack and Charlie – really, for the long term, for the memories, for the experiences. That's why I think it's so important to both of us.”

The second episode of Good bonesThe ninth season, “Karen's Beach Bungalow,” airs Wednesday, August 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV.