Who We Are
Chatham Home is family owned and operated.
Faith (the mom) is the official owner and Hope (the daughter) is the award winning interior designer. Together they run the day-to-day operations of the business, merchandise selection, marketing, product presentation, and create the inspiring and relaxing ambiance. Our philosophy on shopping: make the experience easy and enjoyable. At Chatham Home we leave you alone to browse unless you have questions or just need another opinion. We never pressure you to buy and always offer our honest opinion. Christian (the dad) helps out behind-the-scenes repairing furniture, restocking the store and other odd jobs. He occasionally even makes his own unique furniture. Alex (the son) handles all of our IT needs. Finally, Joel (the son-in-law) is always ready to lend some extra muscle to restock our exceptionally heavy items.
Our History
Our journey began over 20 years ago when a relative of ours, Mike, began his own company selling clothing called Exotic Threads… which morphed into gift items and became Exotic Cargo… which morphed into home furnishings and accessories and finally became Exotic Home. We have followed his progress and admired his ideas over the many years. Every time we visited his stores we were so excited by his latest product, we wished we could redo our entire home. As an avid and fearless traveler, he constantly combs the world for unique, quality craftsmanship and inspiring one of a kind pieces.
In 2006, we began discussing the idea of bringing Mike’s concept of "hand-crafted solid wood" to Indianapolis. Like our own family, Indiana customers were seeking the natural beauty and durability of solid wood furniture and unique home accessories at affordable prices. Four years later we discovered the perfect home for our ideas in the historic Chatham Arch neighborhood anchored by the progressive Mass Ave. retail and residential area in downtown Indianapolis.
Next began the long process of renovating the historic industrial building that once housed a thriving tool and die engineering site for three generations. The Schumaker family had taken amazing care of this 1900s building but it was hardly suited for its new and very different use.
Our renovation included tearing out all existing plaster and lathe walls, both staircases, the bathroom, electrical and plumbing, and just about everything except the original brick walls, flooring, and incredibly solid internal structural elements. Once we had the core elements preserved and the historical beauty exposed, we then had to adapt it to enhance our hand selected home décor products.
Hope set her interior design skills to work and added interior venues to display furniture in natural room settings while preserving the industrial history of this unique building. We also redesigned the main staircase in an open design to connect the first and second floor showroom experience. Ten months later in August of 2011 we opened our doors for Indy’s first unique furniture shopping experience.
Our Team
Our Part-time Team
We have been very blessed over the years with a wonderful group of part-time help. Some were with us for only a short while and others for an extended stay but each has left their mark on the store. Andrew, Ray, John, Jen, Annette, Cassie, Sally, Allison - we couldn't do this without each one of you!
Faith Felder
Owner, Sales, Accounting, Marketing, Buyer
Faith was a career mom who enjoyed renovating older properties on the side before moving to Indy in 1997. She teamed up with her daughter Hope to renovate several older homes in Indianapolis and Bloomington gaining a ton of knowledge that aided them in the renovation of their first industrial building. Faith has a degree in business from the College of William and Mary, which she puts to use handling the store's accounting and business affairs. In her spare time she loves planning her next beach getaway and tries to get there any chance she gets.
Hope Harsin
General Manager, Sales, Marketing, Buyer, Local Artist (City Chroma)
Hope graduated with a degree in Interior Design from IU, Bloomington. She has had a special interest in historic preservation, which led to a mother-daughter hands-on renovation team reclaiming several older homes in Bloomington and Indianapolis. Helping create Chatham Home allowed her to develop the total home design, decorating, and furniture shopping experience from product selection to customer delivery. One of her favorite store duties is finding new and interesting accessories and gifts at affordable prices. She looks forward to each buying trip with anticipation. In her spare time she wrangles 3 small children with her husband and continues to renovate her own unique home. She also fuels her paper obsession by turning interesting bits of paper and other upcycled scraps into wearable art under the name City Chroma.
Christian Felder
Furniture Fixer, Showroom Restocker, Box Unpacker, Custom Furniture Maker
Chris has finally retired from his real job and swears he'll have more time to help us with the behind-the-scenes needs at Chatham Home. He handles all of our furniture repair needs when things inevitably come in with a boo-boo. His repairs are usually stronger than the original and loves to play a game where he fixes it and challenges us to find the fix. This is why we love solid wood - it can be repaired, giving it new life and longevity. He also steps in when all our furniture orders arrive in the same week and helps us unclog the back room. His favorite task though is making custom wood or metal furniture for the store or for a customer when a need arises. He loves a good challenge. In his spare time he tries not to drive Faith crazy as she adjusts to him being home all the time.
Alex Felder
IT Specialist
Alex is the family IT guru….what family can survive these days without one? Although Alex’s primary focus is his full time tech job, he also is our sole IT specialist. He is a genius at computers and has built our server and website from scratch, set up all of our business systems including our wireless sound system and point of sale system. He also helps us move the extra heavy furniture around the store when we need all hands on deck. In his spare time he enjoys converting buses or vans into RVs and traveling the country with his dog Sudo.
Joel Harsin
Showroom Restocking, Buyer, Local IFD Fireman
Joel was dating Hope when the furniture store idea became a reality and has helped out with every step of the process. This includes the renovation (he almost singlehandedly pulled down the upstairs plaster and lathe ceiling in one day), stocking and restocking the store, filling in on the sales floor and offering his own unique vision to the items selected for the store. He must really enjoy the abuse or love Hope because he also proposed and married her in the same year the store opened. They are continuing the tradition of historic restoration through their own project converting a historic church into a family home. They have added 3 small children to the chaos and are looking forward to things calming down just a little bit.