Thomas was born in 1952 in Pomona, California, and is the oldest of six children.

Education

Thomas received his bachelor's degree in philosophy from Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. While at Evergreen, he supported himself as a licensed painting contractor and carpenter.

Sailing and construction

In 1977, Thomas worked as a carpenter on a 75 foot ketch under construction in Antibes, France. Thomas also logged many nautical miles sailing a 43 foot wooden sloop from England to San Francisco via the Panama Canal, Galapagos Islands, Marquesas, and Hawaii. He moved to Massachusetts in 1980. In the early 1980s, Thomas journeyed to the remote Micronesian island of Satawal to learn the ancient technique of star path navigation under the master navigator, Mau Piailug.

Television

In 1989, Thomas returned to Satawal to film a documentary with Piailug for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) series Adventure. In 1989, while researching his next book, on his family's history in the Alaskan Arctic, Thomas was approached by people from the PBS series This Old House who had already screened more than 400 candidates. He was cast to replace Bob Vila and hosted the show from 1989 through 2003, during which time he and the show won many awards.

Since leaving This Old House, Thomas has contributed to programming on The History Channel, hosting and producing the Save Our History series, including one program showing George Washington's estate, and another in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.

Thomas is a popular speaker on green renovation for builders and homeowners. He is especially interested in green, energy efficient, and low maintenance technologies and materials. He is often a guest on television shows such as The Early Show on CBS, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Jon & Kate Plus 8.

Thomas can now be seen hosting Renovation Nation which can be seen on Discovery's channel Planet Green.

Thomas renovated an 1836 Colonial Revival for his family in a seaport on the north shore of Boston. He now resides in Santa Fe, NM with his wife, son, and two standard poodles. A recent project involved renovating a cottage and building a timber-frame barn on a small island off the coast of Maine. This became a two-part special on Renovation Nation.

Thomas received the 1997—1998 Daytime Emmy Award of 'Outstanding Service Show Host' for This Old House, plus nine nominations for the same category.