George and Terry Saunders are masters of the art of compromise and know that keeping an open mind makes for a happy collecting marriage. George once sat for hours at a shop on the rue du Seine as Terry and her sister got absorbed looking at a cache of Line Vautrin jewelry. But he learned something from this experience, and today is a fan of Vautrin’s mirrors, two of which he now owns.

The couple’s 1920s Chicago high-rise apartment represents the merging of their sometimes-differing tastes. Filled with Vienna Secessionist and Art Deco pieces, contemporary British paintings and Abstract Expressionist works, the residence is a fitting showcase for the fruits of 22 years of avid collecting. "There was never a chance we were going to furnish a home with Louis XVI furniture," says George. "We like straight lines, simple things. And the Secessionist and Art Deco material certainly fit the bill."
 
"I’m more the Abstract Expressionist fan in the family," admits Terry, "so we’ve settled on work that is figurative but abstract." That shared taste includes works by contemporary British painters Ian McKeever, Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff. Still, their home remains a testament to diverging interests. For example, in the den is George’s "Portrait of Lincoln in the Manner of Gilbert Stuart’s Unfinished Portrait of George Washington," a 2004 oil-on-canvas by Don Pollock, a Chicago-based artist known mostly for his landscapes. Terry’s taste is reflected in the entrance hall, where she displays Ab-Ex painter Milton Resnick’s "Bondo," a 1982 oil-on-board.

In 2001, the couple realized that it was time to give their residence and the collection within more light. "It had all sorts of moldings and cornices and chair rails, and it was very dark," Terry says of the previous design. "As I got older, I decided what I wanted was simplicity and light."
 
The couple enlisted the help of architect Paul Florian and the late designer Julie Thoma to create the perfect environment for their collection: a clean, uncluttered space where every object has its place.
 
Florian started by streamlining the residence, adjusting walls and reorienting rooms to let in more light. "We looked at one huge gesture, like a curved wall the full length of the apartment," he says, "but we opted for a kind of classic modernism with a warmer, more muted palette." While Florian outfitted the space with unique details—such as a Donald Judd–like glass-backed box on the living room wall that functions as display space and allows sunlight to pass through from the kitchen—he was determined to avoid a stark, gallery-like effect.
 
Pointing to a substantial Jacques-Émile Ruhlmann cabinet in the entry hall, Florian says, "These are very beautiful pieces and need a certain amount of space to be seen, but they are glamorous in themselves, so you don’t have to support them with a whole lot."