Blonde Chick with A Hammer owner Jess Cook cuts a piece of wood for her next creation.
by Bridget Weishaar
Jess Cook of McLouth describes herself as creative, very motivated, determined when it comes to her work and maybe even a little scatterbrained.
You see, Jess isn’t just any run-of-the-mill mother and housewife. Some might say she has her very own superpower — a superpower known to her clients as Blonde Chick with a Hammer or BCH.
What began as a hobby and a few recycled pallet gifts to family and friends has now led Cook to a full-time job in the furniture building business.
Considering herself always on the creative side Cook has a degree in business from the University of Phoenix online and a cosmetology license from Z Hair Academy, Lawrence. Her creative hands have also dabbled in cake decorating, sewing, interior design, accounting, and restaurant management but nothing seemed to ever fit just right according to her.
It wasn’t until purchasing a small fixer-upper within the city limits of McLouth in 2013 with her husband, Derik, that the furniture making aspect even came into play.
Needing some repairs and not finding just the right pieces to fill the space, the couple decided to tackle the projects on their own.
With the help of Derik who Jess says has always been on board with her crazy ideas, they fabricated an entryway table for their new home.
Toying with old pallets, Cook would then build an occasional coffee table or custom wall art but still just considered what she was doing something she did for fun after work.
It wasn’t until her co-workers started to take interest in her projects, wanting to buy them, she decided to take the furniture building process to the next level.
In 2017, a conversation between a co-worker/friend and the carpentry instructor at the correctional facility where Cook was then employed led her to researching how to build a sliding barn door and violá the business was born.
Stealing her husband’s miter saw and borrowing a few of his tools, Jess set up shop in the small unoccupied house they owned next door to their own.
Cook now has quite the arsenal of custom pieces in her repertoire: sliding doors, entryway and kitchen tables, islands and desks. She even surprised herself when she attempted a Murphy bed for one client and a “HUGE” king-sized bed for another.
Over the years, her most requested pieces consisted of sliding barn doors and kitchen tables. Most recently the desired pieces have been custom TV consoles and dog crates for any size breeds.
“Every piece literally has blood, sweat, and tears from me. I appreciate every customer and try to make sure that it was the piece they couldn’t find in a store,” Jess says.
The business hasn’t come without its hardships. In 2021, when her father-in-law, Brad Cook, owner of Cook’s Tire, passed away unexpectedly, her husband needed help with the daily aspects of the family business now handed down to him. Her business took a short break and then changed locations. In February 2022 Blonde Chick with a Hammer loaded up shop and relocated into a small garage on the property.
Roughly two short weeks later, Cook found herself at ground zero when tragedy stuck in the form of faulty wiring and an electrical fire. The fire burned over half the garage, taking with it all of her tools, most of her lumber supply, and a few specialty pieces completed earlier that week.
Replacing everything out of pocket was tough, but the business survived. Cook was grateful for a Go Fund Me page started by a family member to help lessen the financial burden of starting over.
BCH moved back into its original shop and began again until they eventually sold their home and the adjacent space with it.
This summer, the couple purchased property on Union Street, downtown McLouth. The main building became living quarters and the two outbuildings his and her shops. One houses BCH, the other is for Derik to tinker in building hot rods and restoring antiques and vintage items.
The bigger space brings with it a new freedom for larger pieces. Jess more than doubled her work space moving from a 600-square-foot, two-room shop, into roughly 1,200 square feet of open space.
“It still needs some work but I finally have my own space,” Cook said.
While Jess would like to admit her business name is as unique as her custom pieces, the story behind it is really quite simple. She made a Facebook post asking for help, someone she went to high school with suggested it and she just fell in love.
Starting with abandoned pallets, Cook has since graduated to a love of pine. “It’s easy to work with and can be stained or painted any color,” she stated.
The hardest part of opening her business hasn’t been the furniture making, but building her own personal confidence in making custom pieces for each customer.
“I taught myself how to do all of it, so there were definitely some trial and error times,” said Cook.
Besides custom furniture pieces, Jess’s handiwork can be seen on the porch remodel of the McLouth Flower Loft, a front office upgrade at Piper Elementary School, and even an oversized book train in the Bonner Springs City Library.
More samples of Cook’s work can be found on the business’s Facebook page, Blonde Chick with A Hammer. She can be reached by email at Jess.cook327@gmail.com or by calling 785-217-8327.
Cook was born in Kansas City. She attended Piper High School, graduating in 2002. She met Derik, a native of McLouth, in 2005 and the couple married in 2008. They have two children, Cash, an 11-year-old McLouth middle schooler, and Lucy, 8.