Article updated: 12/16/2012 8:56 AM

Mini to the max: Living well in 425 square feet

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Skyla Freeman's living room has a small-scale sofa and a wall of magazine photos framed in $10 frames.

Katherine Frey/The Washington Post

Skyla Freeman started her design blog, Sanity Fair, a few days after leaving her job at the White House in 2009. Her home office, a bamboo desk, is tucked into a corner of her studio apartment.

Katherine Frey/The Washington Post

Freeman created a bedroom niche using an Ikea bookcase as a room divider; her headboard is a vintage Chinese screen.

Katherine Frey/The Washington Post

Floor carpet tiles define the living room, and foo dogs from Saigon flank a white credenza purchased on eBay.

Katherine Frey/The Washington Post

Tiny foo dogs from Target on this side table have been spray-painted three times in different colors.

About this Article

Skyla Freeman left her West Wing job at the Bush White House on Jan. 20, 2009, part of a wave of Washingtonians who retool every four or eight years when administrations change. "What can I do now?" Freeman remembers thinking. "I was ready to try something nonpolitical."