Passion for design, creativity, led to launch of Upstate Roots Design

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Kristin Lindley was well entrenched in the corporate world, handling sales for a firm with global reach and Fortune 500 ties.

The job took Lindley and husband Jesse from Rochester to Chicago and back for six years, and provided work-from-home flexibility a decade before the pandemic made the spare-bedroom office the norm for so many.

But it wasn’t who she was or what she was about. She came to that realization late in 2016 when her father, James “JP” Weilert, lost a year-long battle to cancer.

“Seeing my father looking at me from his ICU bed and wanting nothing more than to live made me realize I wasn’t happy in my career,” Lindley said.

So she quit, walking away from a six-figure income to partner with her childhood friend and Aquinas Institute classmate, Meagan Baker, to found Upstate Roots Design, a boutique home staging and redesign firm.

The two provide design staging for vacant and furnished homes on the real estate market as well as interior decorating for those wanting to upgrade their own homes.

“It wasn’t an easy decision, but time is all you don’t have and you need to be happy in the time you do have,” Lindley said.

Baker and Lindley, both 39 and Aquinas class of 2000 graduates, had bounced around ideas for the ideal business with design always at the forefront, Baker said.

“I’m the crazy creative,” Lindley said. “I would always be saying, ‘Dad, make this for me,’ and he would. I wanted a big clock for the wall in my living room and there was nothing in the stores so my dad made one; he cut all the little wood numbers by hand. I wanted a ladder chandelier above my dining room table. They weren’t popular 12 years ago and I couldn’t find one, so my dad made one.

“After he died, I couldn’t bring myself to have someone else doing things in my house so I decided I was going to learn to do it myself.”

In the summer of 2018 Lindley began to share her design creation journey, entitled Upstate Roots Filling My Dad’s Boots, on Instagram and Facebook. She posted photos of arrangements and room décor. From eclectic to rustic, graceful to simplistic, each post was accompanied by her thoughts.

“At the time I didn’t realize it,” Lindley said, “but it was also an outlet for me to grieve.”

Said Baker: “Watching her navigate her way through that box, I saw something special; the way she could pull people in through emotions.”

Based on the reactions and interactions with those who saw the posts, the two realized it was time to expand beyond their own homes and turn Upstate Roots into a business. They gained certification in staging and redesign, created a logo and mission statement, and spent months establishing their brand. They finally staged their first home in the summer of 2019.

At first, the operation was small. It was just Baker and Lindley and they sometimes plucked a few items from their own homes to complete the ideal staging design.

“We were moving things into the house — couches, chairs, dining room tables — and we realized we’re going to hate this before we get started,” Baker said with a laugh.

So they hired a moving company to handle transportation and the heavy lifting. They still handle the accent pieces and remain a two-woman operation, but have plans to hire their first employee.

They have amassed more than 2,000 furniture items inventoried for use in staging up to a dozen homes at a time. That doesn’t include an equally vast inventory of décor and accent items such as bedding, lamps, table settings and artwork.

Statistics show staging boosts the sale price of homes. The 2021 Profile of Home Staging by the National Association of Realtors showed sellers paid between 1 and 5 percent more for homes that were staged. The Real Estate Staging Association said a 1.3 percent investment on presentation resulted in a 7.1 percent return in sales price.

That’s especially true for an empty home, according to Angie Flack Brown of Keller Williams. She has used Upstate Roots Design for several listings.

“When people walk into a vacant home, they feel sad because it’s empty or they notice the flaws,” Flack Brown said. “But when it’s staged, they feel happy, they feel joyful because it’s warm and welcoming. It creates an emotional response you don’t get with a vacant home.”

For homes still occupied by the seller, tweaks in décor often are necessary. The goal for Upstate Roots when they stage a house that is still owner-occupied: depersonalize and de-clutter.

“We want to make it so it’s appealing to all eyes,” Baker said. “Ultimately we’re trying to capture a feeling. Each room is designed with a purpose that creates an emotional experience for buyers. They can visualize it as their own.”

That’s critical when a home may have the odd nook or cranny.

“If it’s just an empty space, people think, ‘What would I do with that, it’s awkward,’ so it’s our job to put a purpose to each space,” Lindley said. “You only get one chance to make a first impression and it’s our job to make that impression a great one. We curate a look for every home based on the needs.”

Sometimes the look created by Baker and Lindley makes the seller have second thoughts.

“Even my sellers say, ‘I don’t want to sell now if it can look like this,’ ” Flack Brown said.

The designers also say it’s critical to be true to the home itself. You don’t pretend a historic home with features of a bygone era will look right in ultra modern.

And while some people believe an unfurnished home gives the perception that it is larger than it really is, the empty look does not necessarily sell the house.

“People can’t understand scale,” Lindley said. “Staging is a science. You determine what the focal point is and create an emotional experience from that focal point.”

Upstate Roots also provides interior redesign. HGTV and other shows geared toward the home provide great ideas, but they also can depress homeowners, they said.

“Everything people see on TV makes them hate their homes,” Lindley said. “So we enhance spaces. We get to know you so we can create a space you love. You don’t need to get rid of everything to create that space, either.”

When this venture began their husbands were very supportive, though perhaps a little unsure of viability, they said.

“Jesse said, ‘Is this an expensive hobby or is it going to take off?’ ”

Upstate Roots has definitely taken flight.

“Now my husband (Tim) is like, ‘Look at what you’ve done,’ ” Baker said.

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