Out and About - Between character and personality, the distinction is not so fine

All too often, the décor of a house is so overwhelming that potential purchasers cannot see the proverbial forest. The personality of the residence is so strong that it's all but impossible for the buyer with a conventional sensibility to see past, say, the primitive sculptures on virtually every horizontal surface. Or for the person enamored of contemporary Italian design to appreciate a property furnished with Victoriana. Or, worse yet, for almost anyone to take a liking to a home so cluttered that the place crowds them mercilessly.

An excess of personality is almost always detrimental to a sale, and there is no better example of such a mistake than the 1921 Federal-style townhouse in the West End, perfectly located near Dupont Circle. With four bedrooms, two full baths and two half baths, an in-law suite, finished attic loft up a steep staircase, private brick patio and detached two-car garage, this home has all the hallmarks of a desirable property. But wait. . .

Walking through the lovely foyer into the living room, the eye is assaulted from one end of the house to the other with a riot of patterned fabrics on a plethora of overstuffed furniture and seeming acres of richly ornamented Oriental rugs. Beyond the two seating areas in the modest living room, without so much as a double door, is yet another similarly over-decorated seating area, this one with table set for four hard by the incongruously open kitchen. A family room that also lacks any physical separation from the rest of the main floor lies beyond, filled to capacity with even more overstuffed furniture covered with swirly textiles and competing with a collection of oriental rugs.

Yes, this is an aesthetic of periodic popularity, though not now, not by any stretch of the imagination. Today, it serves only to defeat the likelihood that a buyer will be able to get past the personality to envision the potential of this over-the-top house, which has been on the market since Dec. 12 at $1.795 million.

In contrast to so aggressive a presence is a far less prepossessing rowhouse that has more character than personality in Columbia Heights. On a block evidently still in transition, this three-bedroom, one-bath house lacking anything in the way of contemporary style has a number of deficits - among them, a tiny grim rear yard with no place to park, a spare and partially updated kitchen (into which, disconcertingly, opens a powder room), and a dowdy façade, albeit with a little porch.

But the house retains the charm of original details such as pocket doors that work, lovely woodwork, bay windows, transoms upstairs and nine-foot ceilings. (The ones on the second floor need to be rid of their modern finishes.) Built in 1912, this home - which also boasts a food pantry, skylight, storage basement and formal dining room - speaks quietly of its past and eloquently about the possibilities that could be realized with a significant investment. It is listed appropriately at $559,000.

Some of the other properties seen in the past week:

• In Logan Circle, two apartments in the same handsome, two-year-old pet-friendly condominium. One is a 650-SF unit with one bedroom, one bath, nine-foot ceilings. The apartment has a balcony through sliding glass doors, but the view is confined and depressing. Right inside the front door is the kitchen, absent of the highest quality accoutrements, and there is carpeting in the bedroom. But pluses include the pleasant bath, walk-in closet, washer/dryer and the potential to rent or buy garage parking. The price of $425,000, with a $310 monthly fee, is a bit higher than it ought to be. The second unit is a 575-SF studio with essentially the same kitchen and a rectangular living area that somehow makes it possible to keep the sleeping part appear to be separate. It is offered at $345,000, or $600 per square foot, which it might have fetched only last summer.
• A Georgetown rowhouse that has four bedrooms (one transformed into a dressing room and the other, in the basement) and four and a half baths on three levels. Renovated in 2004, the home has an impressive center-island kitchen, high ceilings, all new systems, beautiful baths and alley parking beyond a landscaped yard. But that main floor is too weird: Visitors enter almost directly into the living room, which is smaller than and open to the supposedly formal dining room beyond. The dining room has a table big enough for King Arthur, and the space overwhelms the rest of the whole floor. As currently configured with just two bedrooms and two dressing rooms, this house is way overpriced at $2.350 million. Even with three bedrooms upstairs, it still should sell for less.
• In Chevy Chase, D.C., a 1950 tired red brick colonial with three bedrooms and two full baths on the second floor, a dreary lower level family room with paneling and a fireplace, a big rear yard and a kitchen in need of serious improvement. It is listed ambitiously at $699,000.
• A pleasant one-bedroom plus den condo in the U Street corridor with one and a half baths; a 15-foot patio in an interior courtyard; modern open kitchen that has stainless appliances, maple cabinets and Travertine marble floors; hardwood floors elsewhere; gas fireplace; nine-foot ceilings; and in-unit washer/dryer. Garage parking is available for $40,000 in this pet-friendly 2004 building that has amenities such as a staffed front desk and fitness center. Although purchased originally for under $150,000, the apartment is worth the just reduced $409,000 asking price.
• In Glover Park, a recently converted building with appealing one-bedroom apartments starting at $329,900 and two-bedroom units at $409,900. Rooms are generally a good size, and the apartments have distinct dining areas. The kitchens have GE Profile appliances, and other features of the apartments include washer/dryers, bicycle storage and optional parking in a pet-friendly building. These units represent value.
• An attached rowhouse in Columbia Heights near Adams Morgan and the U Street corridor. This three-bedroom, three-bath home looks like a textbook example of a developer expecting to profit big after buying the place for something over half a million dollars (doubtless a pittance in his view), gutting it and putting it on the market for an unrealistic $875,000 (decidedly more than a pittance). There are Brazilian cherry floors, granite countertops and fancy baths. So far, so good. But there is only a small deck for a rear yard and no parking, while there are two baths, needlessly, on the third floor, where the master bedroom is located. The other two bedrooms are on the second floor, but they have no bath. In the low-ceiling finished basement with a single, high and shallow window, there is another bath at the foot of plain painted stairs. It is as if all those luminous baths are intended to distract from the odd layout, small rooms and other defects of the house.
• In Shaw, a newly constructed rowhouse with a promising rental unit still under construction in the basement. Altogether, there are three bedrooms, two and a half baths, parking for two cars, hardwood floors, a little balcony with ugly alley views off the master bedroom, and a large table-space kitchen with high-end appliances, granite counters and high-quality cabinetry. Because the building is officially two condos, it can be purchased with both for $925,000 or, for the upper two floors, $725,000 - and $30,000 less without a deeded parking space. It probably should sell for under $900,000.
• An unimaginably cave-like condo in a gated complex in Dupont Circle. With one bedroom plus den, two-and-a-half baths and limited light, this 1,100-SF piggyback townhouse, which looks up to an alley, appears to have been untouched since the 1970s. Even with that amount of space in such a location, the price of $439,000 with a $321 monthly condo fee is short on reality. There is said to be a short list for rental parking beneath the building.
• In the Colony Hill neighborhood of Berkley, an exquisite five-bedroom, five-full-bath, two-half-bath home rescued from a wreck and transformed into a perfectly decorated residence with every improvement thoughtfully included and tastefully selected. No expense has been spared in, for example, the kitchen, which, refreshingly, does not have black granite but Luna-Pearl and does not have cherry cabinets but creamy ones by Brookhaven. The rooms are spacious, offering usage from library to wine cellar, the ceilings are high, and the location is ideal. This property should fetch top dollar, and the price of $2.45 million does not seem avaricious.
• A charming Mount Pleasant attached rowhouse with, unfortunately, only two bedrooms and two baths upstairs, plus a welcoming sunroom beyond the larger bedroom. The lower level is finished as a family room, but it is not either very bright or otherwise enticing. Still, the home has a nice modern kitchen, formal dining room, decent living room and parking a stone's throw from Rock Creek Park. The price of $639,000 is appropriate.
• In a Cleveland Park co-op, a basic one-bedroom apartment with a dual entry bath, excellent verdant views removed from a busy avenue, a small dining room, no central air conditioning, and a kitchen that might be charitably described as antique or quaint and definitely tiny. But the price of $369,000 makes sense, as does the $490 monthly fee, which includes property taxes and heat.
• East of Logan and north of Shaw on a busy avenue, a compact three-bedroom, two-bath rowhouse on three levels, including a dark and uninviting family room in the basement. With hardly any closet space, this 1900 home has central air conditioning, a marginally acceptable but improved kitchen, nice old refinished floors, and small narrow backyard that has a storage shed and minimum appeal. The price of $434,900 is appropriate, given the compromises the owners have to make.
• In Logan Circle, a true loft apartment on the ground floor of a one-time industrial building. Consistent with New York style, this condo has windows - a wall of them - only at one end of the unit. As a result, the two so-called bedrooms do not technically fit that description and natural light has to struggle to reach the far end of this rectangular apartment, the biggest in the building at nearly 1,300 square feet. Stylish to the extreme, this sleek dwelling with modern kitchen, luxurious baths and Travertine marble floors throughout also features a garage parking space accessible directly through a side door of the unit, a private brick patio off the sidewalk and a building that is pet friendly. With a $344 monthly fee, this apartment with nine-foot ceilings was listed more than a month ago for $725,000 and recently was lowered by all of $10,000 with $5,000 worth of condo fees thrown in. Because it will attract only a narrow segment of the market, don't expect it to sell for more than $675,000.
• A grand 2,650 SF apartment in a pet-friendly building burdened by its presence in Columbia Heights in the midst of commercial activity and - how to put it - vibrant street life. But the apartment is perhaps redeemed by its renovation, which introduced everything from a beautiful modern kitchen with glass-tiled backsplash to a double-size whirlpool bath and, yes, a sauna while retaining original 1915 architectural details such as flanking columns, French doors, box beamed ceiling and paneled wainscoting. There are three bedrooms, two livings rooms, two full baths and a den. Although elements of this co-op betray its age, this airy unit did not result for any cookie-cutter, perhaps there is an urbanite somewhere who will value the unit at its asking price of $899,000 with an $848 month fee that includes property taxes and heat, but not the added central air conditioning.
• In Dupont Circle, a 1916 Edwardian Brownstone that has plenty of potential, given the surviving architectural details, the amount of space in well-proportioned rooms on three floors, plus a neglected lower level, and two-car garage. But there is much work yet to be done in this house, which has five bedrooms, two full baths and two half baths. It is not worth close to the asking price of $1.795 million.