a lesson in scale

Downsizing never went so big. Soon-to-be empty nesters Courtney McEnery, above, and her husband, Roger, were moving from an 1870s Victorian home in Chicago's Lincoln Park area to a co-op of roughly the same square footage on the 22nd floor of a building overlooking Lake Michigan. With a house full of elegant antique furniture, the couple figured they wouldn't need to buy a thing. "We thought we were set," Courtney says. But as movers hauled the furniture into the 5,800-square-foot residence, her heart sank. "It looked like doll furniture," she recalls. "Our biggest sofa looked like a tiny love seat in one corner of the living room. It was a real lesson in scale." Design: Jessica Lagrange, Jessica Lagrange Interiors LLC, 605 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611; 312/751-8727, jessicalagrange.com. Photographs by James Yochum Text by Amy Elbert Produced by Gisela Rose

Design:
Interior designer: Debra Martinson, DM Interiors, 3020 St. Albans Mill Rd., Minnetonka, MN 55305; 952/545-5351.
Co-designer: Dana Alpeter, Dana Alpeter Interiors, 4405 Browndale Ave., Edina, MN 55424; 952/928-3749.
Architect/Design-Build: Leffert Tigelaar, Choice Wood Co., 3300 Gorham Ave. S., Saint Louis Park, MN 55426; 952/924-0043.
Landscape design: Bob Palmer, Landscape Renovation, 12515 40th St. S., Afton, MN 55001; 651/248-4020.

Photographs by Susan Gilmore
Text by Candace Ord Manroe
Produced by Alecia Stevens