The concept of J Thomas Home was set in motion before Josh and Emily, husband and wife, and company co-owners, ever described themselves as "entrepreneurs." They both grew up creating and crafting from a young age. Josh helped build his grandparents' big back deck and was always up for a creative challenge, and Emily, who fearlessly enrolled in her high school's construction course hung drywall and used power tools with confidence. Fast forward to 2016, Josh and Emily found themselves building their own furniture for their very own home. They took great pride in the superior quality and loved that they could completely customize the pieces to their taste and needs.
When friends and family started to subtly hint that they would like some of these beautiful furniture and decor pieces for their homes, Josh and Emily knew they had found their niche. They quickly transformed their home, garage, and even deck into their full production, painting, and shipping space. What began as an in-home operation, and as what some might refer to today as a "side hustle," quickly expanded!
With a growing base of loyal customers, and increasing demand, it became obvious that JTH needed to find a space of its very own. Josh and Emily decided to make the move to their first leased spaces, affectionately referred to as Spruce and Keeler. They were excited, not only by the new opportunity to let their creativity run wild, but also to be getting their home space back!
Spruce and Keeler are where the business really took off, but it was fairly difficult to have their manpower and equipment split between two separate locations. Emily and Josh made the big leap and purchased a shop of their very own! The large warehouse space in Olathe, KS, was previously operating as the Original Crawford Sales - Anheuser Busch Company distribution facility.
The space provided great opportunity for their operations, but they knew that they had a lot of work ahead of them. Their vision was to transform the open warehouse into a top-of-the line woodworking shop, shipping operation, offices, and an inviting showroom for their customers.
Renovations were no small feat, requiring them to tear down walls and put up new ones, resolve a few plumbing mishaps dating back to 1998, and a complete re-facing of the building exterior. All of this was completed while executing normal business operations, on-boarding new team members, and continuing to grow their business.
After months of effort, sweat, many leanings and laughs, Josh and Emily find themselves getting ready to put the finishing touches on their first formal showroom -- a space dedicated to welcoming their customers, and making custom furniture, decor, and cabinetry shopping fun, helping design beautiful pieces that will last a lifetime.
Check back soon for the grand-reveal of our showroom! In the meantime, visit our website at jthomashome.com or we'd love to welcome you at 703 S. Kansas Avenue, Olathe, KS, to start the design process with you!
Call 913-353-4263 to schedule your free appointment!