How Meridith Baer Built a $40M Design Empire by Saying “Yes” at 50

Inside the creative grit and entrepreneurial wisdom behind Meridith Baer Home’s national rise

In a revealing interview on the Masters of Trade podcast from DIGS, Meridith Baer opened up about her unexpected rise from screenwriter to design mogul. “I’ll walk into the living room on my way to the kitchen and think, ‘Something’s not right.’ I move things until it feels right,” she said on the Masters of Trade podcast by DIGS. That instinct — a blend of aesthetics, emotion, and intuition — isn’t just habit. It’s the same compass that led her to build Meridith Baer Home, a $40M+ interior design and home staging powerhouse that transformed a niche industry and redefined what “home” feels like.

But here’s the kicker: she didn’t start until she was 50.

Act One: From Pepsi Commercials to Screenplays

Meridith’s career didn’t begin in design. It started with a surprise encounter in college when famed producer Jerry Bruckheimer asked her to be in a Pepsi commercial. That serendipitous moment launched her into acting, then screenwriting. For two decades, she made a living writing stories — skills that would later shape her uncanny ability to “set the stage” in homes.

“As a writer, you’re setting the scene, explaining who the characters are by where they live, how they live,” Baer explains. “That’s what staging is — telling a story without words”.

Act Two: Accidental Entrepreneurship at 50

Meridith never planned to start a business. Her pivot to design began as a favor: helping a friend prep a home for sale. Her eye for space and emotional storytelling clicked. One job led to another, and soon, she found herself building an entire company with no debt, no backing, and no business training.

“I couldn't get a loan. I had to build the company incrementally with the profits we made,” she shared. “We’d get a check for the job tomorrow, run out, scramble to find what we needed. We just got through it”.

That grit paid off. Today, Meridith Baer Home operates 200,000 square feet of inventory in Los Angeles, employs hundreds of artists and designers, and stages multimillion-dollar homes from Miami to the Hamptons.

Innovation in a Time of Crisis: “InstaHome”

Long before COVID-19 redefined the meaning of “home,” Meridith’s team quietly launched a service called InstaHome — fully furnished, turnkey homes delivered in days. The pandemic, with its disrupted supply chains and newfound demand for immediate comfort, made InstaHome explode.

“We were doing them weekly. We’d deliver a whole home — furniture, dishes, Q-tips if they wanted — and give them a price list. They’d keep what they wanted, and we’d pick up the rest,” Baer said. “People wanted home, and they wanted it now”.

On Style, Substance, and the Power of Storytelling

What sets Baer’s approach apart isn’t just aesthetics — it’s emotional intelligence. She trains her team to imagine how a family will live in the home: where they’ll sit to talk, where a child might place their toy, how accessories “relate” to one another. Her rule of thumb? Style is about relationships.

“I think furnishing is about relationships,” she said. “It’s about arranging space so when your people are over, it encourages dialogue and closeness. It’s not just pretty — it’s personal”.

Lessons for Founders and Creators:

Baer’s journey is a masterclass for wantrepreneurs and creatives who feel like it’s “too late” or “too risky” to start. Here are a few takeaways:

• Start where you are: Baer didn’t have capital or a plan. She just started — with one job, one space, one yes.
• Say yes, then figure it out: “Can you stage a 15,000-square-foot home?” they asked. “Yes,” she replied — then figured it out.
• Trust your gut: “When you don’t, you pay the price,” she says. Intuition, to Baer, is just deeply integrated experience.
• Build with people, not just profits: Her team includes longtime artists, movers, painters, and designers. “I’m proud of my people. That it all just works.”
• Redefine success: “I don’t want a fancier house. I want peace, friends, family — the things that really matter”.

The Entrepreneur’s Final Act: Giving Back

Now in her next chapter, Meridith is investing in philanthropy — furnishing Habitat for Humanity homes, supporting underserved communities, and encouraging her team to volunteer design services.

“We feel life has given us a lot,” she says. “So we want to give it back where it’s a good fit.”