Tiny apartment wins national award for swankiest space

ST. LOUIS — When Anu Suebsawangkul and her family moved to St. Louis from Chicago five years ago, she found a cheap apartment complex where her brother, sister and she could have their own places. Its biggest selling point: It was close to their family's restaurant, the Blue Elephant, in Clayton, Mo.

But one big challenge loomed: Her apartment measured just 408 square feet.

And to make small smaller, the walls had been painted teal.

The night she moved in, Anu made a beeline for Home Depot and bought gallons of white paint. Clean, fresh, plays-well-with-others white. She and her friends spent hours scouring the remnants of tenants past.

Little by little — by little, as in cash — Anu feathered her tiny nest: a white slipcover on the sofa; a tall white headboard with built-in recessed lighting for her bed from Ikea; a splash of drama with a zebra-print rug.

A fan of Hollywood regency style, Anu went online and discovered the décor of Dorothy Draper. Draper, considered the first and most famous interior decorator in America, designed hotels all over the world in her modern Baroque style.

Once Anu had a plan, she made sure every square inch of her apartment fit the style, from the ornate black latticework pattern handpainted in her hallway to the starburst mirror ($50 at Target) in the entry.

Anu submitted photos of her apartment for a design contest in Metropolitan Home magazine. She won for "Swankiest Small Space." Her prize? A bathtub — that she plans to sell.