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Resale of the week: Dupont Circle row house sits on quiet block

by Michele Lerner, January 3, 2013

The Dupont Circle neighborhood inspires plenty of longing among many D.C.-area residents who visit the restaurants, shops and nightlife in this lively community and wish they lived in the midst of its excitement.

While Connecticut Avenue and 17th Street are lined with commercial establishments, the 1700 block of P Street offers elegant homes and condominiums. Some of the original row houses along this street have been converted to condos and apartments, while others have been preserved or restored as single-family homes.

The row house at 1708 P St. NW, has been meticulously restored and enhanced with modern amenities designed to blend with the antique detailing throughout the home. On the market for $1,595,000, this property rests in the heart of one of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods and yet offers a sense of seclusion within its walls.

A wrought-iron fence and gate enclose the front entrance, which has flagstone steps and a flagstone foundation that complement the brick house. A peaked roof draws eyes upward past windows framed by green paint.

The wood front door, which has a brick archway above it, opens into a vestibule with a tiled floor and textured stucco walls. A second door with glass inserts opens into the foyer, which has a painted ceiling design and an elaborate wood grill framing an archway into a receiving area with a fireplace.

Hardwood flooring has been restored throughout the three upper levels of this home. Transoms, detailed wood trim and deep moldings add charm, and the each of the six working fireplaces has an elaborately detailed wood mantel reaching to the ceiling. The main-level fireplaces have been converted to gas while the upper-level fireplaces are wood-burning.

To the left of the foyer, sliding doors open onto an entertaining space with a colorful ceiling medallion and crystal chandelier, a corner fireplace and a box bay alcove with floor-to-ceiling windows framing a view of P Street. The alcove functions as a dining space and includes custom-designed window treatments.

The kitchen, separated by pocket doors from the receiving area, includes a generously sized center island with deep storage drawers, cabinets and a breakfast bar. The kitchen has pendant lighting, granite counters and an abundance of wood cabinets that reach the ceiling, many of them with open or glass fronts.

Upgraded stainless steel appliances include a Sub-Zero refrigerator and a Thermador stove with a grill area. The kitchen has a fireplace tucked under a stained-glass window and flanked by two more tall windows framing a view of the back terrace.

Adjacent to the kitchen is a mudroom or small home office with tile flooring and a built-in desk and open cabinets to the ceiling. The mudroom has a glass door leading to a few outdoor steps down to the flagstone terrace, which has an oversized hot tub in one corner, space for dining outside and garden beds.

A powder room near the kitchen includes hand-painted striped walls.

Hardwood stairs lead to the two upper levels and have an oversized skylight edged in stained glass at the top. On the second level, at the front of the home is the room currently used as the master bedroom. This room could function as an upper-level family room and includes a box bay window alcove facing P Street, an arched sitting area and an angled fireplace with a carved wood mantel. This bedroom also has elaborate custom-designed window treatments that convey to the new owner and a walk-in closet with built-in organizers.

The second bedroom, overlooking the rear terrace, has a painted ceiling medallion, a vintage pendant lamp, tall windows and a fireplace with a carved wood mantel. An arched entrance leads into a full bath with a window, black-and-white tile flooring, a pedestal sink, a claw-foot tub with a shower and a built-in mirrored dressing table. Adjacent to the bath is a walk-in closet.

The third level has a front bedroom with a ceiling fan, a walk-in closet with organizers and a private balcony high above P Street. Next to this bedroom is a room-sized closet with floor-to-ceiling built-in organizers and a door to the laundry room, which has tile flooring and cabinets.

At the back of this level is a fourth bedroom with a ceiling fan, a fireplace with a decorative mantel and windows overlooking the terrace. Nearby is a bath with white marble flooring, two pedestal sinks, a claw-foot tub with a shower, and a dressing area next to another walk-in closet.

The lower level, which could function as part of the home or as a separate apartment, has front and rear exterior entrances along with access to the main staircase. The apartment, which has brick floors and exposed-brick walls, has a charming living room with a decorative fireplace, a window seat and an office alcove. The open kitchen includes white tile counters, white cabinets and a breakfast bar. At the back of this level are a bedroom, a mirrored closet with a washer and dryer and a full bath with a combination tub and shower and decorative tile detailing. This level also has a wine refrigerator.

It’s easy to picture elegant evenings spent in this home beside a glowing fireplace or enjoying the soothing hot tub on the terrace, but residents may spend most of their time savoring the joy of living in one of the city’s most interesting communities.

Details:

Address: 1708 P St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20036

Community: Dupont Circle

Age: Built circa 1900

Price: $1,595,000

Size: Lot of approximately 1,200 square feet

Taxes: $9,184 (2012 estimated)

Homeowners association fee: None

Exterior features: Colonial-style brick row house with flagstone steps, foundation and stoop; solid wood front door with brick arch above.

Interior features: Four finished levels with five bedrooms, three full baths and powder room; hardwood flooring on three upper levels; main level with living room, dining alcove and center-island kitchen; second level with two bedrooms and one full bath; upper level with two bedrooms, one bath and laundry room; finished lower level with brick walls and floor, bedroom, laundry room, full bath, open kitchen and living room with decorative fireplace

Amenities: Enclosed flagstone terrace with hot tub, balcony off third-level bedroom, six fireplaces including two gas fireplaces, two-zone heating and air conditioning, alarm system

Close by: Walk to shops, restaurants, Dupont Circle Metro; 14th Street and U Street corridor; Georgetown; easy access to downtown Washington.

Open house: By appointment

Contact: Realtors Tammy Gale, Heidi Hatfield, Anne Hatfield Weir or Andrea Hatfield at 202/243-1649 or 202/297-0169 at Washington Fine Properties or visit WashingtonFineProperties.com

Pros make a house look like home to lure buyers

by Karen Goff, October 29, 2008

Caroline Carter has stacks and stacks of plates that will never hold food, beds that won't be slept in and books that no one is going to read.

All these accouterments are necessary to sell a house these days. Ms. Carter is president of Done in a Day Inc. home staging. In the current economy of sagging businesses and dragging home sales, home stagers like Ms. Carter are doing a booming business.

Stagers are different from interior decorators, who specialize in making your home suit your tastes. A home stager neutralizes and accessorizes a home for sale to appeal to everyone's taste. Stagers give home sellers tips on which personal items to put away, what to fix and how to make their lived-in home look as it would if, well, no one lived there.

If the relationship works out, it could mean the difference between selling your house and having it linger on the market. The National Association of Realtors says a staged home will sell 50 percent faster than one that is not staged. Home staging can run anywhere from a couple hundred dollars for a consultation that will give you ideas you can do yourself up to many thousands for a room-by-room design plan with furniture and accessories.

If you already have moved to a new home, stagers can bring in furniture, art, throw pillows - whatever the space needs to look less empty and more defined. They can bring definition to undefined spaces, too - making a nook say "office" with a desk and bookshelves or a breakfast room have meaning with a table and coffee canisters.

"The way you live in a house and the way you market it are two different things," says Barbara Schwarz, founder of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals.

"These days, to get top dollar, you have to put away and rearrange," she says. "In a hot market, you would have 10 houses for sale and they all would sell. In a slower market, you may have 100 houses for sale and only 10 will sell. The ninety that don't probably weren't staged."

Granted, it is unlikely that anyone searching for a home chooses one because of the fluffy towels or an interesting ottoman. There are intangible factors, though, that catch a potential buyer's eye and heart. If Ms. Carter thinks faux ebony candlesticks will do the trick, she will go to her 6,000-square-foot warehouse of stuff to find them.

"Staging is both physical and psychological," says Ms. Carter, who says her sales have doubled every year since she started her company four years ago.

When Ms. Schwarz started the IAHSP, which offers Accredited Staging Professional training and certification, in 2000, she was the only member. Membership has increased to about 2,500, she says. That doesn't include any number of Realtors and stagers who are not members of the association.

Also boosting the profession are a number of television shows on the topic. HGTV's "Designed to Sell" and "The Stagers" have pulled phrases such as "curb appeal" and "room's focal point" into the vernacular.

Dorothy LaChapelle had staging shows in mind when she called Preferred Staging LLC before putting her Herndon rambler on the market over the summer.

"My house was empty," she says. "I know that houses sell better with furniture. People like to see what rooms will look like."

Monica Murphy of Preferred Staging, based in Potomac Falls, Va., brought in furniture, artwork, even soft throw blankets for the sofa, which really made a difference, Ms. LaChapelle says. Her house went to settlement two weeks ago.

"I do think staging made a difference," she says.

Ms. Murphy says most people don't really "see" a room unless there is something in it.

"They need something there to measure it for them," she says, referring to the dining room set or reading lamp that can give that definition. "They just see a big, vacant room. Staging creates a welcome environment."

Both Ms. Murphy and Ms. Carter say staging is not just for the glut of McMansions for sale. They have staged one-bedroom apartments as well as elegant estates.

In fact, staging sometimes makes the difference in the lower-priced properties, Ms. Murphy says. A prospective home buyer looking at 20 boxy and nearly identical condominiums may remember yours because of the retro drapes or the objets d'art the stager added.

Ms. Carter says she tries to envision who might be looking at the property before she makes a design plan. A two-bedroom condo in Clarendon could be on the list of 30-year-old newlyweds; they might see themselves with mod chairs and a glass-topped table.

Move-up buyers with children looking at a Colonial in Rockville might go for more traditional decor with an emphasis on family space - she even has children's books to fill up the shelves in the fourth bedroom.

Sometimes projects call for way more than Ms. Carter's library of 2,000 throw pillows can handle. Done in a Day was asked to stage a house in Northwest Washington where Richard and Pat Nixon lived before the White House. The eight-bedroom home, priced at $4.9 million, sat on the market for nine months last year before it was staged.

"The owners had kept Pat Nixon's original cabinets and pink bathrooms," Ms. Carter says.

After $41,000 worth of staging (and nearly as much spent on renovations), the Tudor-style home - with decor that looked toward the future for a young family rather than back to the Eisenhower era - was under contract within a month.

Recent testimonials:

"I just mailed my letter describing how unbelievably amazing you and your team are.  I had even more friends come over today and everyone is completely amazed.  One of them said - 'it's like being on HGTV!'   I've given everyone your website address and your name."

"We have loved living in a house staged by you.  We received so many compliments from our friends on how beautiful the house looked.  And I learned a lot about superb decorating, too."

"I just returned from my trip, and the place is stunningly perfect.  You're a genius, and I'm grateful."