April 24, 2017

Meet Kristy Ortega & JJ Ortega of K&J Design Group in Chamblee

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristy Ortega & JJ Ortega.

Kristy & JJ, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
We both came from real estate backgrounds and in 2013 we opened K&J Design Group as a boutique outfit, focusing on staging high end, luxury homes in Atlanta. We quickly became one of the only companies in Atlanta that offered luxury furnishings that could accommodate the most exclusive homes in Atlanta.

In the fall of 2015, we began to see the need to start a furniture store as people kept asking us if we had one after seeing the homes we would stage. It had always been a dream of ours so we went out on faith and signed a lease on a 1400 square foot store front in Chamblee. After being there a couple of months we quickly realized that we needed to be in a warehouse space with a loading dock as retail was not going to be something we wanted to do. The landlord was gracious enough to let us out of our lease and we moved to a warehouse around the corner where we’ve been ever since.

Our main motivation for starting this business was for us to make a living while we build our family. We have two boys named Knox and Owen and have another one on his way due in October. The flexibility of owning and running our own business was very important to us as we live by the mantra of God first, then family, then work.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Like with many small businesses the majority of our “struggles” were in the beginning. We were living off of our savings in a new unfamiliar town where we didn’t have any family or friends; Kristy was five months pregnant with our first son, Knox. On top of building a brand, we were starting a life together in a new city. Three months into that venture, we realized it was too much pressure and we headed back home to Atlanta. By the grace of God, we were successful in creating our brand in that short amount of time and have continued to build since then.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with K&J Design Group – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
In a few words, we sell higher end furnishings and stage and decorate homes. The real estate community in Atlanta has established us as the go to vacant home staging company for the luxury home market and they love the fact that we are a furniture store that can pull from our standing inventory to stage their vacant listing at a moment’s notice. Real estate agents expect perfection and speed and we accommodate them 100% of the time.

Our furniture sales are concentrated at our Warehouse Sales, Westside Market and at Scott Antique Market where we gain exposure from people looking for great furniture at great prices. The first Warehouse Sale we held was in the summer of 2016 where we had over 3000 people show up over a span of a few hours! It was truly incredible and something that we believe Atlanta has not seen in recent history. A buzz was created through social media and our brand immediately started to gain traction.

We started showing furniture at Scott’s in January of 2016 and since then, we have become known as the “booth to see” by people who frequent there. Our success is credited to the fact that we set up our booth with vignettes helping people visualize how to decorate their home. This makes it easier for the multitude of designers who visit us each month show their clients how their home could look. When people walk up to our booth for the first time we often hear them say to their friends, “I want my house to look like this!” We love it!

Something that we are very proud of is the fact that we work together very well. JJ is the dreamer and Kristy is the implementer. Little did we know that people would respond so well to shopping local and helping our small business not only grow, but explode!

We built this brand from the ground up. When you call our company, you speak directly to the owners and we are 100% committed to every aspect of our business. There’s a lot of people that do what we do, but what sets us apart is that people look forward to working with us and we give them the confidence that they are going to get the best value and service than anybody else in the marketplace. We honestly believe that we do it better than anybody else in Atlanta!

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
First of all, we are expecting our third boy in October, so our immediate plans are focused there.

The new construction home building that is going on in Atlanta is incredible so we are forecasting to collaborate with more builders looking to make an impression on buyers as they walk through their models. We do have aspirations of expanding into other markets in the Southeast where we understand there are not as many options for home furnishings like we offer.

The Warehouse Sale phenomenon is something we hope to recreate in markets like Nashville, Birmingham and even Seaside, FL where we often sell furniture to people who are decorating for their beach home rentals.

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