She's making the moves on customers.

• Position: Brief Article

Long before she was a move-in maven, Angelia Moon was pushing furniture around for free. "When I was a girl and visiting my grandmother's house, I would rearrange things in her living room. I've always enjoyed redoing things, accessorizing and moving things around."

She didn't pursue it at first. Her father, a Chatham County chicken farmer until Moon was 10, wanted her to get a college degree and a real job. "My father was concerned about me having a safety net. He didn't think design was it."

So Moon, 38, earned a bachelor's in communications and fine arts from UNC Greensboro in 1985 and a master's in organizational communication from Wake Forest University in 1988. She joined Wachovia Bank and Trust and eventually moved to the private-banking division, managing the portfolios of about 250 affluent clients a year. "Mostly doctors," she says. "I had about 65% of all the doctors in Greensboro."

Struggling to find a creative outlet, she used two weeks of vacation in 1991 to work at the furniture market in High Point, greeting and helping visitors. After two years, she started designing showroom layouts, eventually gaining about 30 clients. At Wachovia, she was promoted to the head of the private-banking division in Greensboro, but the job took a heavy toll. "I was having really bad headaches every day and was actually in the hospital a couple of times. I was a workaholic, working 60- to 70-hour weeks and still not able to get everything done."

In 1994, she quit to become a full-time interior-design consultant. Her big break came in 1995, when she helped decorate the home of race-ca driver Bobby Labonte in Trinity. That led to jobs with other prominent clients. Her fast start surprised her. "I started making money the first year. I thought I was doing something wrong."

Moon Interiors Inc. employs five, with projected 1999 sales of $1.5 million, up from $1 million in 1998. About 60% of her business comes from visual coordination -- basically, rearranging customers' furniture for between $400 and $800 an hour, depending on the amount of furniture. Another 20% comes from what she calls "48 Hour Move-In." For about $2,500, Moon Interiors will unpack and set up a household in two days. In 1998, she hooked up with Lawrence Transportation Systems of Roanoke, Va., part of United Van Lines, to market the concept. She also hopes to franchise the name and concept to visual coordinators statewide. "Nobody knows how we do it in 48 hours," she says. "That's...