WHEN I WAS in my teens, I fantasized about setting up house in the family bathroom. It was a spacious space with lots of minty-green tile edged in shiny black. Just being there gave me the inspirational chills.
 

ONE GOALS WAS to visually create distinct living, dining and sleeping areas. This corner of the living space holds all media equipment (stored in an Indonesian cabinet, from Antique Liquidators) as well as a comfortable chair and sofa (by Canadian designer Neils Bendtsen, at Inform). The Art Deco tea set (foreground) is from Deluxe Junk. The round woven stool/table is from Seva.

I could just see bedding piled high in the tub, clothes folded in the cupboard, the shower stall stocked with potions. The only thing missing was a small refrigerator. Of course, I wasn't so much in love with the bathroom as I was with the idea of a parentless retreat.

Even so, the cozy containment fantasy has merit.

After all, there's a certain charm to a doll-sized domain, charm that's hard to replicate in umpteen-thousand square feet. And unlike those who dream but never do, Jan Sewell was brave enough to take on the grown-up challenge of living a very full life in a very small space.

Today, her scant 430 square feet of top-floor condominium space — space that opens up to 600 square feet of private deck — has been transformed from relatively humble beginnings not once, but twice.

When Sewell first saw the Capitol Hill condo in 1995, it was painted stark-white, had matted wall-to-wall carpet and featured harsh motel-style lighting. It also had a 300-square-foot deck and amazing interior light. And Sewell liked the fact that the courtyard-centered complex had only 11 units, each with a private exterior entrance.

Then there was the view.

From the deck, you could see the Olympic Mountains, much of downtown, the Space Needle, the hilltop architectural landmark that would become Amazon's corporate headquarters, and (at night) the lights at Boeing Field. Nice, too, was the view of three landmark church spires that acted as beacons in the evening sky.

The only problem was that Sewell wanted Old World charm, and this wasn't it. But where there's a creative will, there's a way. She replaced lights, pulled up the carpet, sponge-painted the plywood floors, dry-brushed the walls, added molding, hung mirrors and heavy drapes and filled the place with antiques. In no time at all, a Victorian paradise.
 

	LOOKING OUT from her bedroom area, Sewell takes in the whole of her domain. Throughout, the walls are plastered with "Beadex" by artist Evgenia Messenger, a color-infused joint compound topped with a coat of wax. The process gives the look of Venetian ground-marble plaster without the cost. To the rear right are the office armoire and dining table.
	WHEN PLANNING the garden, Jan Sewell considered both her need for privacy (the neighbor's deck is several feet away) and her desire to make the most of the view. All teak furniture and the canvas Indonesian umbrella with tin ornaments are from David Smith in Seattle.

Before too long, she petitioned the homeowner's association for permission to expand the space by another 300 square feet. That feat was accomplished by extending the decking over the exposed roof of the condominium below.

And so things stayed for six happy (though visually cluttered) years. Coincidentally, the home turned out to be a career catalyst times two. When Sewell first saw the place, she was still a renter. In that she'd just become an agent for Windermere Real Estate, she felt compelled to take her own "buy now" advice. Besides, she'd fixed up every space she'd ever lived in. This redo, at least, would bring tangible rewards.

A few years later, an out-of-state real-estate client who knew of Sewell's design talents asked if she'd be willing to furnish his new home down to the kitchen utensils. She had two weeks. "They loved it, and I caught the interior bug," she says.

And so Jan Sewell Designs set up shop in the living room. Today, her business revolves around "staging" homes just before they're put on the market. At first, Sewell pulled decorative items out from under her bed. Today, her collection requires 5,000 square feet of commercial storage space. On top of it all, she continues to sell homes.

She found that her professional exposure to a wide variety of interior styles was also changing her personal aesthetic. "I started to appreciate a simpler look. As time went on, I began to feel suffocated by all my things."

As often happens, one change led to another. "Just new bamboo floors and countertops," she said, at first. But once Sewell took down the heavy drapes and moved everything out so construction could begin, the die was cast.

"When I heard myself asking how much it would cost to put a plaster finish on the walls, I knew there was no going back. The truth is, no matter how much you love a place, sometimes you feel the need to change."

Suddenly, Old World was out, contemporary was in. She wanted a clean, neutral background with shades-of-orange accents. Ambient lighting would soften the space, as would walls of buttery-cream color.

In the new scheme, every item had a specific purpose — or two, if Sewell was lucky. She also decided larger pieces of furniture would make the place appear more spacious. As for her prized antiques, most were absorbed into the staging inventory. "It's not easy to get rid of things, but it feels great when you do," says Sewell.

In the end, perhaps the most important change of all was consolidating her business equipment into an office armoire. "Getting the computer off the dining-room table made me feel as if I was home when I was home," she says. With the new interior came a renewed focus on the outdoor space. Intent on staying true to the existing bamboo, grass and lavender theme, Sewell asked her friend (and landscape designer) Christopher Balder to help create an even more lush environment that would look as good in winter as in summer. Today, 50-plus garden pots contain the original plantings, four significant-size trees and ever-changing hits of seasonal color.

In the summer, the deck is in constant entertainment mode. In the winter, she hosts smaller dinner parties inside. "I'm very proud of the fact that I cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner in this little kitchen," she says.

Without a doubt, Sewell could move to a more spacious space, but for now it's not in the cards. "Living alone in a large house would more than likely make me feel lonely," she admits. "In this space, it never seems as if I'm rattling around. I feel so lucky to live here."

FOR SPECIAL CELEBRATIONS, Sewell's deck can hold up to 20 friends. Some even choose to climb a heavy-duty bamboo ladder to the roof to look down on the party below.

TO GIVE THE KITCHEN a contemporary look, artist Evgenia Messenger coated the existing countertops with "Milestone," a color-infused concrete-and-resin compound. Messenger also fronted each cabinet with a wood frame and inserted a thin sheet of copper. On the counter, a prized painting ("Little Green Bird") is by artist Christopher Balder.

Victoria Medgyesi writes about houses and the people who live in them. Benjamin Benschneider is a Pacific Northwest magazine staff photographer.

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