DEALER'S CHOICE

An unexpected upsizing leads a pair of furniture-thrifting obsessives into a curated new home (and career path).

- Monica Khemsurov

TO MAKE THEIR HOUSE A HOME, Joey Meyers and Mark Baehser had to go through a long, challenging process of downsizing—but not in the way you’d expect.

In 2015, Meyers, who worked in the food industry, and Baehser, a pediatrician, were living in a 500-square-foot rental in Brooklyn and searching, in vain, for a comparable space nearby they could afford to purchase. When desperation brought the couple across the river to Jersey City, New Jersey, they ended up falling for a 3,500-square-foot freestanding 1880s Victorian with striking stained-glass windows, three floors, and five bedrooms.