Picture this: Chestnuts roasting on an open fire (you're one of the lucky ones with gas burners), Jack Frost nipping at your nose (well, Jack Daniel's, but who's keeping track?). Your friends have gathered in your kitchen to help you out with the big meal — but the guy in charge of the stuffing suddenly catches fire.

This nightmare scenario really happened to Nick Koutsias, 35, whose Bethesda condo features an 11-by-7-foot kitchen. At a get-together, his friend "leaned back against what he thought was counter space but was really the stove," Koutsias says. "There were four or five of us hanging outside the kitchen and he walked out and said, 'I'm on fire. ... Don't just stand there, do something!'" Koutsias stamped out the fire, and his friend was fine.

Fortunately, Koutsias, a research specialist at Marketresearch.com, and his wife, Katherine, 32, a supply specialist for home appliance parts supplier Totalline, usually deal with more mundane kitchen issues, like space constraints.

When cooking on a large scale, "the biggest problem is both my wife and I getting involved," Koutsias says. "We have basically one section of counter space and one corner spot. We have a shelving unit … and sometimes use the bottom [of it] for preparation." Problems occur when they try to use the sink or oven at the same time, he says.

But the husband-and-wife team have developed routines for coping with their kitchen's limitations. "For the most part, we try to do the prep stuff first, so that, say, I'll start prepping things for the sauce — I'll chop the vegetables — and I'll start cooking it. Then my wife will start preparing side dishes — cutting tomatoes for the salad or cleaning the rice," he says.

Koutsias' counter top deficit is actually the prime condo kitchen problem, says Jan Schneider, 43, an interior decorator who owns the Arlington-based business NoVa Design (j.a.schneider@live.com). Although kitchens come in a variety of shapes and sizes, Schneider says the L-shaped kitchen with a breakfast bar is one of the most common. This blueprint is often built into a corner of the condo and consists of two perpendicular counter tops.

1. DOWNSIZING YOUR HOME WITH STYLE
"Downsizing Your Home With Style" (by Lauri Ward, Collins Living, $18) is filled with straightforward tips on how to plan for and make the most of diminutive quarters, especially when you're leaving behind more posh surroundings. Some of the book's advice is reinforced visually, with "before" and "after" pictures that show how rooms can be organized to give the illusion of extra space. It's hard to argue with the when-in-doubt-store-it-out-of-sight notion once you see chaotic piles of books drowning a study in one "before" shot.
» Best For: Someone who wants basic tips on reorganizing and rearranging their his or her home — regardless of its size.

2. TOWNHOUSES & MORE
Produced by Braun, a Berlin-based publisher known for its coffee table volumes on contemporary architecture, "Townhouses & More" (by Sibylle Kramer, $63, Braun) features swoon-worthy shots of sleek city abodes from cities such as Berlin, Philadelphia, Tokyo and Vancouver.

Well-arranged photographs and floor plan sketches give a sense of the dimensions and atmosphere of more than 50 townhouses.

We love the geometric Tetris Apartments in Ljubljana, Slovenia; the building's exterior looks like a gigantic pattern from the Nintendo classic. And the striking circular Tietgen Dormitory in Copenhagen, Denmark, is so Ikea-hip, it makes us yearn to enroll in a school in Scandinavia.
» Best For: Design and architecture aficionados.

As Bertrand paints, she also explains why and how to use stencils — when suddenly she flicks a blob of paint where it isn't supposed to be.

"That's the best part about paint: Everything is fixable," Bertrand says to the camera, dabbing the mistake and showing how to paint over it.

Not too long ago, Bertrand, 33, and her husband, Chris, were running their own design business in Kansas City. Then Bertrand made it onto the third season of HGTV's "Design Star," a seven-week reality competition among nine designers to win the chance to host their own design show. Bertrand won the weekly reality show in August, which led to her hosting "Paint-Over." Ever since, she says, it's been a whirlwind of television and travel, with the occasional visit home.

We caught up with Bertrand during her lunch break from filming in mid-October.

» EXPRESS: How can people start to develop their own style in their first condo?
» BERTRAND: I have all my clients do this, even if they're working with a designer: Create your own style file. Basically, you just go through home magazines and rip them apart. You'll start to see your personal style, and you'll see what you're drawn to based on that alone. [You'll realize,] "My gosh, I like everything clean and light," or, "I really like bold color."
If you are really intimidated by choosing colors, you can find designers who will do color consultations for you and come help you choose your paint palette. But be sure to find a designer who you feel understands your style and what you're about.
And when you're ready to paint but still not sure [where], paint two coats of the color on huge poster boards and hang them around the room. Look at them in morning, day and evening light to see how the light in your space affects the color. A little quart of paint and some poster board — [those materials] can help save you a lot of time.

KITCHEN
Todd Martz, owner of Todd Martz Interiors (2901 Elliott St. NW, 202-641-4896), conceived of this kitchen as a multifunctional family room, where everyone could eat, kids could study, adults could do paperwork, and the whole gang could relax and hang out together.

To personalize the room, the designer created a "memory wall," pictured, filled with a mix of unexpected flourishes — antique toys (including sections of a vintage toy train track), a framed needlepoint, vintage labels and old fly swatters. Martz painted one wall red. "It's an exciting, fun color and gives the space a warm and cozy feel," he says. On a third wall, he grouped a few photographs of colorful vegetables.

For reasons of maintenance and practicality, Martz upholstered the banquette surrounding the room's round table in leather that can be wiped clean, and both the table and chairs are on casters so they can easily be moved around the space.

Steal This Idea
» Put personality on display: Use what you have to make the space meaningful to you — whether it's Grandma's silver bowl or your children's drawings.
» Play with color: Paint is an easy, inexpensive way to change the mood of a room. Just painting one wall red can infuse a room with warmth and vibrancy.
» Show off snapshots: Martz says photography is frequently less expensive than other types of art. His selections cost less than $200 each. If you can't stretch your budget to buy original photos, upload your own snapshots and have them professionally printed on foam or matboard at Mpix.com ($32 for a 20-inch by 30-inch photo on foam core), or have them transformed into paint-on-canvas masterpieces at Photofiddle.com ($60 for an 8-inch by 12-inch stretched canvas frame).

»EXPRESS: Why do people find it hard to inject personality into their living space?
»FILICIA: Instead of looking to their wardrobe or favorite colors or interests or what makes them happy or putting things in their living room they really like, they tend to use inspirations from catalogs and magazines and other people's homes rather than their own inspiration. It's great to take initial concepts and ideas from other places to understand the process and what you want to accomplish. Your home should be a reflection of you, your lifestyle, point of view, interests. It's your past, present and future.

»EXPRESS: In the new book, you advise people avoid being too matchy. But sometimes it's intimidating to try to mix pieces together on your own. Any advice?
»FILICIA: "Too matchy" means you don't want to overly match; it doesn't mean you don't want to coordinate at all. You want it to look good, in the same way you coordinate clothing, but you don't necessarily want it to look like you bought it all at the same time and same place. You want it to have a little more personality to it.

»EXPRESS: What are your tips for decorating small spaces?
»FILICIA: A big tip for a small space is this: Don't under-furnish it to try to make it look bigger. And don't use small furniture. A small room with a small amount of small furniture is a big letdown. There's nowhere to sit and nowhere to entertain.

To help the nursery blend in with the rest of the condo, they chose furniture in the same type of wood that they had elsewhere, and they painted one of the walls in a checkerboard pattern with colors found in the living area, like dark brown, ocean blue and yellow.

"We made it into a baby's room, and it's clear that it's a baby's room, but it's not like it's got blue elephants or anything painted on the walls," says Dean, 30. "We get lots of compliments when people come in and see it."

Of course, the lack of a dining room means that the Deans typically end up eating on the couch. And getting Evan to sleep for the night involves starting him out in a pack-and-play (a portable crib that can be used as a crib or playpen) in the master bedroom and then moving him to his crib once Mom and Dad are ready to go to bed.

» LESS IS MORE: When it comes to choosing colors for a nursery, less can be more. "Pick one or two colors as the main palette, and then add in small hints of completely opposite colors through toys," says Lisa Masterson, founder of Avalisa (Avalisa.com), which sells modern wall art and rugs for kids and adults. "This can be done by adding in dolls with patterned retro clothing or by adding a statement pillow to the rocker."

To celebrate their freedom from the tyranny of lawns to mow and homes to maintain, the new owners threw a condo-warming party. In return, they received a letter from their condo association issuing them a $250 fine. Their crimes? Excessive noise ($25), noncompliant decorations ($25), smoking in restricted areas ($25), having glass in the pool area ($100) and violating the visitor parking policy ($75).

"It was not a nice way to say, 'Welcome to the neighborhood,'" says Nalini Kapadia, a 65-year-old retired doctor. "We are not some young kids [who've] come to trash the place." But Kapadia admits that she and her husband, Ranjan, 69, a retired physician, had not considered the restrictions of condo life when downsizing from a single-family home.

"We hadn't done our homework and hadn't asked about condominium rules," she says. "Our real estate agent should have given us a copy [of the condo documents] prior to closing, but she didn't."

"Making this a requirement has helped the District become a leader in the green building movement," says Tina McDaniel, spokeswoman for the affordable housing nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners. The Green Building Act requires developers to bring both residential and commercial buildings up to a newer, greener code. Residential buildings must meet standards set by the Green Communities certification system, and commercial buildings will need to meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards.

It's a source of both good and bad news for low-income communities. Implementing sustainable building practices by increasing durability, improving insulation and installing energy-efficient appliances drastically cuts down on long-term costs. It often lowers residents' gas, electric and water bills — not to mention it contributes to the health of the planet.

» EXPRESS: Do you think somebody without years of experience being in war zones as a reporter in places like Rwanda, Chechnya and Sudan would be able to do what you did?
» MATLOFF: I think it takes a certain spirit of adventure, and a tough skin, to do it and not feel paroxysms of fear. When you're in areas where people are actually starving it humbles you. It teaches you humans can adapt to anything. This [experience of renovating a house in a sketchy neighborhood] was not terribly dramatic; it was more of an annoyance.

Also, living abroad helps you deal with other cultures. [Moving to a new area] is a lot like moving into another foreign country, so you try to respect their mores and customs. Living abroad teaches you a little bit about negotiating, because you're always an outsider. Your comfort level is always being jolted.

» EXPRESS: Would you buy and rehab a house in a gentrifying neighborhood again? Would you ever want to?
» MATLOFF: We were thinking of doing it again when the South Bronx was really cheap. We were thinking of buying an old factory warehouse, but then we looked at each other and — well, really, friends and family looked at each other and said, "You can't do that again." It's a little like childbirth; you forget the pain each time.

Incidentally, the house is still a total wreck. We didn't manage to fix the stairs totally to the wall; the stairs are coming off again. And the house is still sloping. An engineer came in and said, "It'll cost just a little bit, just $50,000 to $100,000." Increasingly, with the mortgage squeeze and food prices going through the roof, every little extra $5 matters, let alone $50,000. So we've kind of put that off. ... We just hope the house doesn't fall down in the next few years.