96 DIGS.NET
|
12.16.2016
A R C H I T E C T | D E S I G N | B U I L D
n the late 1990s, Meridith Baer was moving and looking for somewhere to store her
things. She suggested to a developer she knew, whose property was languishing
on the market, that he should let her decorate the empty home with pieces of her
furniture and extensive plant collection. He agreed, and the property sold swiftly—and
way above its asking price. Baer was asked to decorate another home. And another.
Today, her company, Meridith Baer Home, is a national force in design, staging an
average of nearly 150 homes a month, from New York City to Miami, Pacific Palisades
to Palos Verdes, and she's starting in on global properties, too. (When we spoke in
early October, her tally for the year had topped 1,600.) Baer's offices are in glamour
pulse points like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, the Hamptons and Miami, and
she has a new line of furnishings, The Meridith Baer Home Collection, some of which is
manufactured here in Southern California.
Baer's firm also does private interior design and the leasing of luxury furnishings,
all the way down to spoons and sheets. Speaking of, the latter wing of her business,
which is growing rapidly, initially came from celebrities who were desirous of having
a certain look to homes they were leasing, and wanted it done in as turnkey way as
possible. "We've even been asked to get Q-tips and toothpaste for clients," Baer says.
"And we'll do it." There was even a network show, HGTV's Staged To Perfection, which
featured Baer and her team staging luxe homes around Los Angeles.
"It's beyond my comprehension," the affable home mogul says of her success. So
much so, that when she heads to her bustling Los Angeles headquarters (included in
Los Angeles Business Journal's list of 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies for two
years running), or surveys her warehouse—a mammoth space that houses a dizzying
inventory of furnishings, artwork and other home-styling artillery that Baer describes
as "Disneyland for lovers of things and interiors"—she's still in happy disbelief.
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page)
South
Florida.
Photo
by
Felipe
Ariano,
courtesy
of
Cristina
Marquez
www.crmrealtymiami.com
and
Nelson
Gonzalez
www.nelsongonzalez.com.
(this
page,
from
top)
NYC,
photo
courtesy
of
Dane
Hope,
Leslie
J.
Gar•eld
&
Co
www.lesliegar•eld.com.
Beverly
Hills,
photo
courtesy
of
Konstantine
Valissarakos,
Sotheby's
International
Realty
www.konstantinevalissarakos.com.
