# Meridith Baer Home: Meridith Baer. She Started Over at 50 and Put Home Staging on the Map.

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2025-12-01
- Length: 1h 03m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-12-01-meridith-baer-home-meridith-baer-she-started-over-at-50-and-put-home-staging-on

## Summary

Meridith Baer, founder of Meridith Baer Home, explains how she pivoted from a stalled Hollywood screenwriting career to building one of the largest home staging companies in the US after accidentally staging her rental home at age 50. She details her bootstrapped growth strategy, including pricing based on value created for sellers, leveraging consignment rugs, and manufacturing 60-70% of upholstered furniture in-house to maintain margins. Baer also discusses the operational challenges of scaling to a 320-person company, navigating a significant tax compliance issue and a cancer diagnosis simultaneously, and her decision to remain debt-free by reinvesting profits rather than seeking outside venture capital.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-12-01-meridith-baer-home-meridith-baer-she-started-over-at-50-and-put-home-staging-on#t=0) Introduction: Meridith Baer and the origins of home staging
- [4:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-12-01-meridith-baer-home-meridith-baer-she-started-over-at-50-and-put-home-staging-on#t=249) Early life, acting career, and screenwriting in Hollywood
- [27:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-12-01-meridith-baer-home-meridith-baer-she-started-over-at-50-and-put-home-staging-on#t=1655) The accidental start of Meridith Baer Home at age 50
- [35:15](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-12-01-meridith-baer-home-meridith-baer-she-started-over-at-50-and-put-home-staging-on#t=2115) Early operations: pricing, sourcing, and initial scaling
- [47:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-12-01-meridith-baer-home-meridith-baer-she-started-over-at-50-and-put-home-staging-on#t=2821) Navigating tax trouble, cancer, and national expansion
- [1:00:21](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-12-01-meridith-baer-home-meridith-baer-she-started-over-at-50-and-put-home-staging-on#t=3621) Scaling to 320 employees, manufacturing, and future plans

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Meridith Baer Home (company)
- Jerry Bruckheimer (other)
- Penthouse magazine (other)
- Patrick Stewart (other)
- Home Depot (other)
- HGTV (other)
- U.S. Bank (other)

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- [Afterschool Podcast, Episode 7 - Catherine Bailey (10/1)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/core77-podcast/2013-11-05-afterschool-podcast-episode-7-catherine-bailey-10-1) (Core77 Podcast)
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## Citing this page

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