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Decorating small spaces A Capitol Hill studio, a Penn Quarter condo, a Dupont Circle condo and a Chevy Chase bungalow show how to fit clever design in minimal square footage.
Capitol Hill studio
Skyla Freeman, a Capitol Hill design blogger, writes posts at a white faux bamboo table. Freeman, who was a writer in the George W. Bush White House and is now a congressional aide, uses her 425-square-foot apartment as a design lab.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
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Sticking to a strict color scheme, in her case grass green and white, is a good plan for small spaces, Freeman says. Her sofa is lined with green-and-white pillows: The ikat pillows were a find at $20 apiece from Wisteria.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
Everything in Freeman's walk-in closet is on display, because it is the only way into the bathroom. She artfully organized her jewelry and accessories using storage containers from Target and the Container Store.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
Freeman keeps a lot of her jewelry in small drawers. Sometimes she uses scarves to line the drawers.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
The green-and-white wall storage unit she picked up at Target stashes sunglasses and hats. She neatly stores all of her out-of-season clothes in garment bags.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
A cornice adds drama to her hall closet door.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
The grass-green walls show off some of her favorite photos, which have gold bamboo frames. She found the mirror at the Georgia Avenue Thrift Shop. It was yellow, and she painted it white.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
A Chinoiserie vintage in the kitchen shelf holds some of her collection of blue-and-white china.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
A group of fashion and design photos she culled from favorite magazine articles highlights the color of her studio apartment, grass green. They are in identical plain-white Ikea frames.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
To make the most of her tiny kitchen, Freeman found stylish and functional organizing accessories. Baskets, from World Market, atop cabinets hold serving pieces; green lacquer boxes from Container Store hold vitamins.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
A large credenza she scored on eBay was painted white and serves as her TV stand and storage unit.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
Skyla Freeman's father bought a pair of large green-and-white Foo dogs in Saigon while he was serving as a pilot in the Vietnam War. She proudly displays them in her living room.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
A bookcase that Skyla Freeman calls her library separates the living room and bedroom into distinct areas.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
Skyla Freeman's 425-square-foot studio apartment is divided into distinct spaces. The living room, the bookcase-library, the bedroom and a corner of the dining-room table can be seen in this picture.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
Dinner for two at Freeman's petite Chinoiserie dining table features pagodas from Z Gallerie. The wall includes blue-and-white plates from Anthropologie, Tiffany and HomeGoods mixed with vintage English transferware.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
A vintage white Palm Beach-style table is a nice place to display accessories by the sofa.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
The bedroom niche is framed by the Ikea Expedit bookshelf. The wall grouping includes prints of paintings used for four White House holiday cards, a gift from President George W. Bush to White House staffers each year.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
Every inch counts in a studio apartment. A clear acrylic tray in the bathroom is a place to organize cosmetics and other essentials.
Katherine Frey
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The Washington Post
Penn Quarter condo
Glen Ackerman, a lawyer originally from New Orleans, moved to Washington in 2006 to open his own law firm. He hired Georgetown architect and designer Ernesto Santalla to gut and remake a dated, 600-square-foot condo in Penn Quarter.
Geoffrey Hodgdon
The 1992 one-bedroom condo had chopped-up rooms and an inefficient use of space. Santalla, the designer, opened up the kitchen and living area to create the sense of a much larger place.
Geoffrey Hodgdon
There is more counter space in Ackerman's kitchen, post-renovation.
Geoffrey Hodgdon
The stackable washer and dryer set, Whirlpool's front-load Duet series, is 27 inches wide, fits perfectly in this closet and operates very quietly.
Geoffrey Hodgdon
Santalla kept the colors the same throughout the apartment. In the bedroom, the built-in cream velvet headboard extends across one wall, which is painted Benjamin Moore's Rustic Taupe. The off-white lacquer bedside tables are from Design Within Reach.
Geoffrey Hodgdon
Design Within Reach's Collator, an accordion metal file, can be folded away when not in use.
Geoffrey Hodgdon
The California Closets organizing system was accessorized with Huggable hangers, non-slip slim hangers that can double the amount of clothing in a hanging space.
Geoffrey Hodgdon
The charcoal gray Vera Wang Wedgwood pattern "Naturals" was chosen to blend with the interiors of the rest of the apartment.
Geoffrey Hodgdon
Dupont Circle condo
Architect Andrew Rollman left his dark condo apartment and created an airy, open space that's like "a cool bar in Dupont Circle," he says.
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Len Spoden for The Washington Post
Standard high-gloss white KraftMaid cabinets have the look of lacquer without the expense. Rollman spurned more costly stainless-steel appliances in favor of standard white. He splurged on a high-end Franke faucet, which was more expensive than the GE fridge.
Dan Cunningham
Without interior walls, the room is spacious and functional. Rollman created areas for dining, watching TV and having breakfast or cocktails. He used the same marble floor tiles throughout the condo, unifying the space and providing his two cats a cool place to lie down.
Dan Cunningham
Benjamin Moore's Super White was used to paint the walls of the bedroom and the other rooms. Two doors with frosted glass open to storage spaces. Between them is cabinetry in the same white high-gloss material as in the kitchen.
Dan Cunningham
The white theme extends to the sophisticated-looking bathroom.
Dan Cunningham
A view of the space before Rollman renovated.
Courtesy Andy Rollman
Chevy Chase bungalow
Megan Hanlon, a divorced mother with two kids, moved from a large house to a 1,500-square-foot bungalow several years ago. Hanlon was drawn to the 1926 Chevy Chase bungalow because of its cozy spaces. When she bought the house, it was covered in green vinyl siding; the family found the original wood underneath.
John McDonnell
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The Washington Post
Hanlon, left, and her children, Elena de Toledo and Nico de Toledo, relax in the back porch area, which looks into the kitchen. Hanlon hired designer Elizabeth Wilson Boland to help pull the 1,500-square-foot place together on a limited budget with lots of style.
John McDonnell
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The Washington Post
The living room of Hanlon's bungalow.
John McDonnell
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The Washington Post
Nico de Toledo’s bedroom was once the home’s garage.
John McDonnell
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The Washington Post
The 14-year-old decided that he wanted a minimalist place to sleep in, so the bed with Pendleton’s Glacier National Park blanket is the focal point. Windowsills hold his collection of fossils and other natural objects.
John McDonnell
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The Washington Post
Elena de Toledo, 12, recently repainted and rearranged her small bedroom to make it more restful.
John McDonnell
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The Washington Post
She chose Benjamin Moore’s In Your Eyes, which she calls "tranquil blue." Her iron bed came from Pottery Barn Teen, and the white slipper chairs are from Ikea.
John McDonnell
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The Washington Post
The sunny dining room, painted in Benjamin Moore’s Little Dipper, provides a lot of storage for books. The oversize metal lantern adds drama, says designer Elizabeth Wilson Boland. The wooden oval table and vintage chairs were painted to add more color. The family spends a lot of time there eating, talking and studying.
John McDonnell
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The Washington Post
The white bed in Hanlon’s bedroom came from the Sidwell Friends Next-to-New Sale. Shelves were installed on both sides of the bed because there is limited storage.
John McDonnell
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The Washington Post
The attic that was originally going to be a teen bedroom was rehabbed as a place to hang out with friends. Most of the pillows are from HomeGoods.
John McDonnell
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The Washington Post
Because there was no entrance hall, Hanlon and her kids hung baskets by the front door to organize keys and sunglasses.
John McDonnell
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The Washington Post
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Section:/lifestyle/home
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