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Mina Starsiak Hawk is an Indianapolis-based business owner and the star of HGTV’s nationally acclaimed hit renovation show “Good Bones,” now filming its seventh season.
She and her mom are co-founders of Two Chicks and a Hammer, a home rehabbing company created to revitalize their community. She recently opened a brick-and-mortar home furnishings company, Two Chicks District Co., where a portion of sales help local residents with home upkeep. And she just published her first children’s book, “Built Together.”
She recently joined The Washington Post’s Home Front online chat. Here is an edited excerpt.
Q: What are the most important places to childproof in a house? I can’t afford to spend a lot right now, but I’m hoping to add items incrementally as I can afford to buy more.
A: I would start with your electrical outlets. I just bought a pack of 100 simple outlet covers for about $10. Basic baby gates would be my next suggestion. You don’t need anything fancy – just functional. They’re around $20, and they’ll do the job until your kids are mid-toddler age. You can avoid cabinet locks if you’re fine with your kids getting into those items; move your chemicals and breakables up top, and leave pans, pots and tupperware in lower, accessible cabinets.
Q: My husband and I never seem to start any home projects because our kids, ages 3 and 5, always want to “help” and make everything much harder. I want to repaint our kitchen cabinets, but I don’t know how to make them feel involved without them actually being involved. Any suggestions?
A: I feel your pain. Our son, Jack, wants to be involved in everything. I recommend giving them a project to do at the same time. Drop a cloth wherever you’re working. Get some cardboard boxes, a.k.a. “cabinets,” and put them in charge of painting those. Jack loves a good tool. He hung out in my attic with me for about an hour, messing with a piece of wood and a hammer, while I was installing some subfloor. I tapped a dozen or so nails into the piece of wood, which I nailed to the floor to keep it from bouncing around, and I asked him to hammer them in for me. He loved it, and I finished what I needed to do. Keep in mind that you don’t want to give them a huge hammer or anything. Use something fairly lightweight, so if they bop a finger, they won’t lose it.
Q: What’s the best way to childproof sharp corners on coffee tables and fireplaces?
A: It’s extremely hard to do this effectively and still make it look pretty. The best option I’ve found is a clear, rubber L channel that sticks to anything. You can still see it a bit because of the rubber’s shine, but it’s far less intrusive than the thick, colored, foam L channels you often see.
Q: I have a baby and live in a house with multiple staircases. How do I keep my child safe without sacrificing style?
A: There are many options, none of which are terribly stylish, but some are definitely more aesthetically pleasing than others. My gates are made of white metal, and I went more for function over form. But if you want something less ugly, they make gates that essentially work like this: Imagine a roll of wrapping paper standing up that attaches to a wall, and you can pull it across an opening and hook it to the other wall; however, instead of wrapping paper, there are multiple colored fabric options, and the fabric retracts back into the roll, so you don’t have a large gate anywhere.
Q: What’s the best tile material for a children’s bathroom?
A: Anything nonslip. I love engineered vinyl plank, or EVP, flooring; we have it throughout our house, because it looks like wood flooring but can withstand water, so it’s fine in the kitchen and bathrooms. If you’re going with a tile, I would pick a nonslip in a color that’s not pure white and that doesn’t have a ton of grout-line space. The more grout lines, the more potential for water to leak through.
Q: I have two tween boys. And although we’ve worked on getting them to pick up after themselves, they’re a mess. Our big problem is our entryway, which is a walk-into-the-living-room situation. There’s a landing at the stairs and no closet. When they were smaller, we put in a bench with two baskets where their shoes were supposed to go. Now that they’re bigger, not much fits there, and there is a general chaotic mess. How can we tame this when there’s very little space?
A: If you can fit the depth of a bench, I would suggest installing pantry-like cabinets. You would probably have to special-order them, but you can get floor-to-ceiling cabinets with or without shelving, or with a combination of the two. I would order them more shallow than a typical base cabinet, which is 24 inches. Do what you think you can fit without crowding the space, and go maybe 12 to 18 inches deep. Then you can have a wall of closed storage with a combination of various shelving and storage options. Depending on the depth you can fit, maybe keep a gap in between two of the cabinets and install a hanging rod. You would need to either do this “open air” or you’d need it to be able to fit in a 24-inch cabinet to be able to fit a hanger and still close the doors, so keep that in mind. The most shallow you can go on any closet-type space and still fit a standard hanger is 22 inches.
Q: What do you do to keep your kids away from outlets?
A: I have replaced several outlet covers with special kid-proof ones. Remove the entire outlet face. The new one has the plug-in holes slightly offset, so to plug something in, you put the plug teeth into a super-shallow indent, then push it to the side to insert the plug. I also have full outlet covers that completely cover the outlet. The best part is there’s a cord that comes out of the bottom that attaches to a small power strip, so the outlet is still usable, but it’s in a safer location.
Q: We have an open-concept house. Is there a way to keep our toddler contained and safe while keeping the house looking nice?
A: Our house is also an open concept. Until Jack was maybe 2 1/2, he was content in his playpen with all his toys. Now he wants to run free, and it’s definitely a battle to keep the house from looking as if it exploded. We have a rule that a new toy can’t come out until the old one is put away, which works about half the time, and we have a really pretty sideboard in the dining area that has a toy chest, where toys can be easily shoved.
Q: We live in an old apartment in New York. Unfortunately, we’re limited in what we can nail and drill because we’re renters. What can we do to childproof the apartment that’s safe but won’t hurt our walls?
A: Most landlords will allow you to drill into the walls as long as you patch and repair them before moving out. (Check with your landlord first.) Magnetic cabinet locks stick on, work well and can be removed easily without damaging your cabinets. You could also get baby gates that operate like a shower curtain rod and push against two walls, but keep in mind that they’re not the most effective as kids get older.
Q: What do you use in the kitchen when your kids want to help cook?
A: I have a learning tower. It’s helpful, because it has a really sturdy base and what I would call guardrails around the top. Jack can push it around, then climb into it on his own and be the height of the counter. It has an adjustable standing height to accommodate kids of different ages. I also have kid-safe knives. Jack loves to cut and mix. The knives are some kind of magic; they’re sharp enough to cut food but not his hands.
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