We had the great fortune of meeting Rachel Moore in our own coworking space, when she single-handedly overhauled our cozy (don't make us say "tiny"), slightly drab office. To say it was a pretty big deal is an understatement.
The space in question is Career Contessa's first real office. Before moving into Impact Hub Los Angeles, we were working out of an unfinished warehouse with no AC, so just the fact that we had our own keys to a door we could open and shut at our discretion was, you know, pretty exciting. Still, our new office was raw—lots of white walls and fluorescent lighting—and not exactly homey. We found ourselves wanting to settle in but with zero idea how. The interior design gods must have been feeling generous when they sent us Rachel, the lead designer at Madison Modern Home.
Rachel's career in home staging didn't exactly follow a logical trajectory (she started out interning at a small art gallery and studied graphic design before deciding to move into interior design), but there's no arguing with talent. Let's just put it this way: before Rachel, we spent most of our days on couches in the coworking space's common area—after Rachel, people have to beg us to leave our desks. You can see some pictures of the finished office in the slideshow below.
Coworking spaces aren't Rachel's usual M.O. You'll typically find her staging houses across Los Angeles, giving them a little character before they go up for sale. It's amazing what an eye for design and a few sheepskins can do to transform a space. She runs Mad Mod Home (cute nickname, right?) with her mom, so their design aesthetic feels simultaneously familial and distinct. It's a signature style—you can tell when they've touched a space.
The best part about Rachel is that she's not afraid to get her hands dirty. We mean literally. She'll hit flea markets and vintage furniture warehouses, lug chairs up flights of stairs, install shelves—whatever the day requires. In fact, it's her can-do approach that makes her perfect for the career she's chosen. That, and a shocking knack for knowing exactly where to toss a throw pillow.
Photos: Stephanie Yang (Rachel Moore) and Joe+Kathrina (Career Contessa office)
Her Starting Point
Before going to school, you took an internship at the now-defunct GhettoGloss Gallery in Los Angeles. What did you learn in that first job that you couldn't have learned anywhere else?
Interning at GhettoGloss was one of the best parts of my early 20s. I worked the bar at gallery openings, the boutique during the day and chatted with the guests to sell art. The most valuable knowledge I gained there was that I was a part of the artistic community of Los Angeles. I felt like I belonged, like I was appreciated and respected. It also taught me networking and conversational skills like nowhere else. And on the day Michael Jackson died, we had an epic dance party that I will never, ever forget!
You ultimately studied interior design at FIDM in Los Angeles, but you also have a background in graphic design. How did your studies help you professionally?
I fell in love with Photoshop when I was 15. I'd stay up all night working on weird little vignettes I thought up and would print them out and put them in the plastic sleeve of my school binder. Then I taught myself HTML from a beginner’s guide and started a blog, and found myself completely immersed in the fun of creating my own unique expressions and sharing them online. I knew I was a designer then, and that a design school was the only way to go. I didn't discover FIDM for several years after I graduated from high school, but I'm so happy I entered the school when I was more mature. FIDM doesn't mess around. Their curriculum literally took over my life for two years, something I wouldn't have been able to fully appreciate and excel at as a younger adult.
Did you have any mentors along the way? What’s the best advice you received when you were starting out?
My mom (and design partner), Robin, has always been my mentor. She inspires me everyday, as a designer, small business owner and most importantly as a mother. The best advice she gave me was to say "yes" now and worry about the details later. This advice has helped me overcome myriad insecurities, because now I don't waste time thinking about whether or not I can do it. I know I can.
Going into interior design and home staging was a bit of a career change for you. How did you decide it was time to move into a different field? Was there an "a-ha" moment?
The "moment" I decided to start making a move toward interior design was when I moved in with my then-boyfriend (now husband), Ernie. His apartment was a mélange of road-side furniture finds, mostly hideous and dilapidated. On a shoestring budget, I slowly started replacing each piece with something slightly more desirable from Craigslist, garage sales, and thrift stores. I would study Domino magazine, ApartmentTherapy.com, Design Within Reach catalogs, and anything else I could get my hands on for free. I used our apartment as a design lab and made tons of mistakes (like painting a red accent wall, a failed black light hallway, using Liquid Nails to affix wine crate shelves to the wall). There was never any difficulty making the switch because all my creative energy was spent thinking and dreaming about what I could do to improve our living space.
Her Big Break
OK, but what is home staging like? We know no day’s typical, but can you walk us through what a Tuesday might look like when you’re working on a project?
7:20AM: I wake up from dreaming about furniture and floor plans and do my interval-based exercise tape or jog around the Silver Lake reservoir.
8:30AM: Make my green smoothie and coffee.
9:30AM: Arrive at our 3,400 square foot warehouse and I pull out my notebook. We usually start planning and sourcing new pieces a few days beforehand, and my notebook holds floor plans of every room and information about what furniture, art and decor accessories we need for our staging project that day.
10:30AM: My mom and I start pulling together our furniture plan and color scheme with books, rugs, pillows, lamps and art. Our movers arrive and we they load everything into their truck.
11:30AM: We're usually en route to the job site by now, and I'm Yelping whatever the nearest healthy lunch option there is around the home we're staging.
12:30PM: Eat lunch standing up, a wrap in one hand and attaching a lamp shade to a lamp with the other.
1:30PM: Our team loads in all the furniture and decor.
2:30PM: By this time most of the furniture has been built and placed in the right spot by our team, so we start hanging art and adding in pillows and lamps.
3:45PM: Depending on the size of the home, things are starting to look pulled together by now. Now the details get taken care of, like touching up furniture with touch-up pens, wiping smudges off of framed art, straightening lamp shades and fluffing up the beds so they have a lived-in look.
5:00PM: Snap some Instagram-worthy vignettes for our social media channels.
5:30PM: Pack the truck with the leftovers from the day and start planning our next project.
7:00PM: Unwind with a glass of wine and discuss business strategies with my husband (our project manager).
You run Madison Modern Home with your mom, so it’s a family-run business. What’s that like? Do you find the experience is different than working with strangers?
My mom and I can channel our respective creative energies to create a single design plan without even really discussing the project much. We think so similarly because we're mother and daughter. I'm spoiled in that sense—I wouldn't want to work with anyone else!
Madison Modern Home is run out of Los Angeles, and your projects feel very Los Angeles, if that makes sense (lots of plants, vintage mid-century furniture, natural light…). Do you find the city influences your work?
Los Angeles is an endless source of inspiration. A place where you can go hiking in Angeles Crest mountains and grab some fallen manzanita branches for your mantel, snag a giant Hollywood sign movie prop from Nick Metropolis on La Brea, find a reclaimed wood coffee table on Craigslist made by a local artisan. It's a city that seems like it has no boundaries, where you can find anything and everything you want.
What’s the best project you’ve ever worked on?
My favorite project is always the last one we've finished. There's something so satisfying about seeing a static floor plan, mood board, or 3D rendering come to life and to walk around in it.
Her Perspective
Confession time: tell us about a mistake you made along the way. What did you learn from it?
The biggest mistake I've made (and sometimes continue to make) is taking on too many projects at once. It's hard to say no sometimes, but my personal sanity has to come first. Otherwise, the design could suffer. If I could change one thing I've done, it would be sticking up for my professional opinions more. I used to get talked over in meetings because I didn't have enough confidence in my knowledge. Now I tell it like it is.
We’re all women trying to make our houses look good and keep our budgets in check. If you had to pick a single piece of savvy design advice (a “hack,” if you will), what would it be?
Don't have anything in your home that isn't useful or beautiful (+10 points if it does double-duty). I live in a 500 square foot apartment and it starts to feel cluttered the minute I put down my mail and keys. It brings a sense of calm to know that my space is a personal sanctuary that also reflects my personality.
Given that your job is all about creating beautiful spaces, how do you stay inspired? Where do you look for ideas?
I've been on a museum binge lately. A recent trip to Europe provided me the opportunity to visit the Musee de Arts Decoratifs in Paris and the Tate Modern museum in London. When I got back I wanted more, so I went straight to the Broad Museum, then to MOCA and the Hammer. Now I'm seeking out smaller, more intimate galleries in Downtown LA. Exposure to new types of creative expression is what keeps me inspired.
What would you tell a woman who’s interested in getting her feet wet in the interior design/staging world? Where should she start?
There are so many facets in the world of design careers: styling, staging, interior design, furniture design, set design. Try out a few different ones by interning, because they are all so unique. Volunteer at local design events, schedule informational interviews with companies you like, make design friends on Instagram, and just keep talking and networking.
And finally, what do you wake up looking forward to? What’s next for your career?
I wake up looking forward to a lifetime of doing what I really love to do. A lot of people struggle to find their path here in Los Angeles and I knew from a fairly young age that I had a distinct purpose. I consider myself to be fortunate in that sense. Next up is taking on more interior design projects with bigger budgets so we can have more freedom while shopping.
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