Dirt Digs In: Meridith Baer

Meridith Baer is the founder of Meridith Baer Home, the premier home staging company in the nation. Celebrating over 20 years making properties more beautiful and more marketable, Meridith and her team treat every space like a unique vignette, telling its story through alluring, artful design. With offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, the Hamptons, and Miami, MBH offers staging, interior design, luxury furniture leasing, and Instant Home services. Meridith Baer Home has been widely featured in media, notably ABC, CBS, NBC, HGTV and Bravo.

Describe the most beautiful room you’ve ever been in. The Castelvecchio Museum in Verona, Italy is a marriage of ancient and modern, and the simple, spare presentation of relics takes your breath away. Carlo Scarpa’s reimaging of the medieval castle is genius. (Scarpa restored the castle between the years 1959 and 1973.)

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What is your favorite architectural style? At the moment I’m most fond of the modern ranch house with high ceilings, metal doors and lots of glass.

What is your idea of the perfect view? Gardens and trees.

What is your most cherished article of clothing? Super soft pajamas.

As a child, which room of the house did you spend the most time in? Outdoors! I loved just running around. Inside, I liked my room. I was always rearranging it.

What is the one thing you can’t live without? My cat.

What qualities do you appreciate most in your friends? Honesty, loyalty, flexibility and a great sense of humor.

What is your greatest fear? Being homeless.

Which three people, living or dead, would you invite to your dinner party? Socrates, Nelson Mandela and Leonardo da Vinci.

What aspect of your personality has created the most problems for you in life? My independent nature.

Who is your favorite architect? The late Peter Choate, who was my neighbor and designed and built my home to perfection.

Which song always makes you cry? “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong.

At what point did you become an adult? Still working on it.

When did you first fall in love? At the age of five when I got my first puppy.

When was the last time you surprised yourself? Creating new recipes and cooking up a storm during Covid-19.

When do you feel powerful? When I’m gardening.

What is the most challenging thing about aging? Life is finite, not knowing how much time is left.

What was desperately important to you when you were young that no longer seems quite so pressing? Being popular.

Which movie can you watch over and over again? Milos Forman’s “Amadeus.”

What is your definition of luxury? A nap.

What is your greatest extravagance? Eating out often.

What’s the most widely held misconception about money? That there is a safe place for it.

What three things never fail to bring you pleasure? Good food, good friends, good conversation.

What or who is the greatest love of your life? Home.

When and where were you happiest? Here and now.

Which talent would you most like to have? I’d love to be able to sing. I try, but these strange sounds come out.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? Starting my business at age fifty.

What is your most treasured possession? Life.

Who are your heroes? Teachers and firefighters.

What’s the most significant historical event that’s occurred over the course of your life? The death of JFK. It was the first time I realized how vulnerable we all are.

What is the biggest obstacle you’ve overcome in life? Moving a mountain in my backyard. It took 250 truckloads of dirt.

What is a small kindness we can all extend to one another today? Show up on time.

The Dirt Questionnaire, a regular feature that invites leading figures in real estate, property development, and architecture and design industries to share their thoughts on all things sacred and profane.

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