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ATTLEBORO -- A transformation is how Bill Carlson describes the renovations he and his wife, Amy, have done to the Colonial style house they purchased six years ago at 55 Butterworth Drive.

When Bill, a capital equipment specialist for Vista Consulting Group Inc., and Amy, now a stay-at-home mom for their 3-year-old daughter Emily, purchased the 1968 Colonial, in fact, Bill says the house was barely visible with its dark exterior set behind a property of overgrown trees and brush.

"I was looking for a fixer-upper because I had always wanted to do one," Bill said. "The main reason I bought this house was because of the neighbors. They kept their houses pristine and this one was really overgrown and needed a lot of work."

The house, freshly adorned with new light gray vinyl siding and white aluminum trim, now stands out majestically for all to see, complete with new doors and custom replacement windows.

The house is also now set against nicely landscaped grounds, where Bill cleared away excess shrubs and trees, regraded the property and added brick walkways in the front and decorative stone walls along the sides and back. In the back yard, the stone walls have also helped to expand the area behind the house, which Bill says was once half covered with a steep hill that spanned the entire width of the yard. With the help of friends and relatives, Bill cleared the hill back about 15 feet and added two decorative retaining walls in a terraced effect. He also added a curved walkway of crushed red stone, bordered in cobblestone, which spans the outer edge of the hill and leads to a storage shed.

To make the most of the expanded back yard, Bill has also created a patio against the house in an alternating pattern of red and gray brick. In addition, he replaced all the screens on the screened porch, just to the left of the patio.

Inside, Bill and Amy have transformed the house from an overall dark and outdated decor to a much brighter and modern decor.

In the foyer, they replaced a slate entry area and parquet floor with beige ceramic tile and painted the walls a linen white, with white woodwork trim, all of which Bill says makes the entire area appear larger. He also painted the dark brown sides of the staircase white and replaced the wrought iron railing with a white spindle railing, topped with an oak bannister. He also upgraded the plywood treads to oak and added a brass and glass ceiling light.

In keeping with the same decor, Bill and Amy added a fresh coat of white paint to the once dark brown French doors, which lead left to the living room and right to the dining room. They also upgraded the simple antique brass door handles with more stylish polished brass handles.

He and Amy also added oak floors in both rooms along with new sub-flooring, after replacing wall-to-wall carpeting in the living room and a parquet floor in the dining room.

In the front-to-back living room, which measures 13 by 25 feet, the Carlsons painted the walls a soft gold against soft green and beige accessories, which include elaborate tapestry valances given to them by Amy's sister as a wedding gift.

In the dining room, they added a black wrought iron chandelier, which Amy complemented by adding a wrought iron wine rack in one corner and a wrought iron plant stand in another. She also complemented the sage green glazed frame of their daughter's photo collage with sage green walls and other accents.

Both the dining room and the foyer offer open doorways to the 17-by 12-foot kitchen, where the Carlsons have added a low-maintenance, high grade linoleum floor, which resembles tumbled stone.

The Carlsons completely remodelled the kitchen as well, with new cherry cabinets, finished in a honey stain and topped with sandstone Corian countertops. Incorporating a feature he saw in a "This Old House" magazine, Bill also had the cabinet maker, Al's Woodworks of Norton, add two kick panel drawers, which are wide, shallow drawers with pull tabs, set beneath the lower cabinets for extra storage. In keeping with their theme of matching accessories, the Carlsons had the cabinetry adorned with brushed nickel handles to match the brushed nickel ceiling fixture they added in the eating area of the kitchen. The cabinetry is also nicely offset with black appliances, which include a wall-mounted black microwave above a black stove range with double oven.

The kitchen also offers a white sliding window over a stainless steel sink and a bay window in the eating area, both of which offer a view of the back yard and its terraced stone walls.

A mud area off the kitchen leads to a 20- by 14-foot family room, where the Carlons enjoy many a free moment, with easy access to their screened porch.

The Carlsons brightened this spacious room by adding beige Berber carpeting, replacing dark panelling with beige walls and removing dark faux ceiling beams from the angled ceiling, which Bill says is referred to as a shed dormer ceiling.

For a special upgrade in the living room, Bill built a mantel around the existing brick fireplace and raised hearth. The mantel offers fluted sides and dentil crown molding, and Bill also added a decorative black fireplace screen, with bi-fold glass doors, to the once rough opening.

Carrying the brighter decor to the second floor, the Carlsons added antique white plush carpeting to all four of the bedrooms and painted the bedroom walls off-white with the exception of Emily's room, which they painted a cheerful mint green.

Bill and Amy also enhanced the home's two and a half baths as well, and Bill says he particularly had a lot of fun on a basement project, where he transformed an unfinished 21- by 21-foot unfinished area into a playroom for Emily.

The playroom is carpeted in a beige Berber and painted a pale yellow with white louvered doors on the area's four closets, along with white fluted columns, which Bill created by adorning lolley columns with a wraparound oak veneer beadboard.

The property is listed for $473,000 with Art Hillman at Bristol County Realty in Attleboro at 508-226-5516 and can be viewed during an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5.