'HOME STAGING IS NOT FOR SISSIES'

INTERIOR DESIGNER TO THE STARS MERIDITH BAER HAS WORKED HER MAGIC TO HELP SELL COUNTLESS HOMES, BUT IT TOOK ALMOST 25 YEARS TO BUILD HER REPUTATION

- KIRSTY HATCHER

A 90-tree orchard, swimming pool and half a dozen water fountains are just some of the features that greet you at home stager Meridith Baer’s Californian property.

Situated in a canyon on a quiet street in Los Angeles, the three-bedroom, four-bathroom property has been home to Meridith, 75, for the past 23 years, and she doesn’t plan on leaving any time soon.

“I am madly in love with my home and it probably shows,” says Meridith, who has staged the homes of everyone from Beyoncé and Meryl Streep to Scarlett Johansson and Jonah Hill.

“You couldn’t get me out of here. This is where I’ll live forever. I live on a street where there are horses and you feel like you’re in the country. I couldn’t believe this was a street in Los Angeles, I fell in love the moment I walked on the street.”

Meridith purchased the property in 1999 after offering $100,000 over the asking price, and she immediately got to work on creating her dream home within an idyllic setting.

“I built exactly the home I wanted to live in,” she tells us. “When I moved in it was falling apart so I started remodelling one part at a time and adding square footage.

“Then I realised there was this huge mountain behind my house, so I removed 300 truckloads of dirt and opened up a huge space and built steps up to a pergola and orchard. I have 90 fruit trees so it’s fun to go out and pick a lemon when I need one. I really am a big gardener so to me the most important part of my home is the outdoors.”