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ATTLEBORO -- Todd Hall says he doesn't know whether he would call the work he and William Chase Bowles have done on their Queen Anne Victorian-style house on Pleasant Street a renovation or a "taking out of the renovations someone else put in."

"Probably the latter," he says.

But there is no question all the hard work paid off. In June, the Attleboro Historic Preservation Society included the circa 1875-76 house in its annual home tour, and recently the group invited the home improvement duo to come and speak to the public about their work. The Society is trying to encourage people to keep intact some of the city's older homes and show that they can be adapted to today's lifestyles.

"This shows you what's possible," Frank Monti, president of the Society, said of Hall's and Bowles's work.

The duo titled their presentation, "Living in a turn-of-the-century Attleboro home today." Bowles said he picked the property at 876 Pleasant St. from about 30 three years ago because he and Hall wanted an older home to work on. They had just moved here from Texas, where they lived in what Bowles called "a boring, nondescript brick home" in a neighborhood of cookie-cutter homes.

The Pleasant Street Victorian is the third, and oldest, property the two have renovated. The first was a 1930s farmhouse in Texas; the second was the aforementioned brick home, which, though new, they renovated to reflect their style.

Renovating and restoring their Attleboro home, built by prominent city businessman Edward S. Horton, was daunting.

Hall said the first consideration, especially considering the age of the structure, was how to protect the house from the elements as renovations proceeded. Then came researching the home's history, updating its mechanical and electrical elements, and adding necessities including a washing machine.

The decor dated to the 1960s. It was in that decade that Frederick Cooper bought the home and moved it about a mile from what is now the parking lot of Papa Gino's on Pleasant Street to its present location, sparing it from demolition. (The Horton family owned the home until 1923, and after that prominent families such as the Carpenters and the Coopers lived in it.)

Commenting on his renovation work, Hall, who is the director of marketing for a global health insurance firm, joked that his hair is not naturally white. "There's probably still plaster dust in it," he said.

Hall estimated that seven to eight dumpsters worth of material ended up being taken out of the home.

Bowles and Hall added as much as took away, careful to keep the character of the original architecture.

The duo actually found two wood doors, circa 1860s, to close off a laundry room they created.

"After sanding the rough doors, we hung them on the newly-created laundry room and had every intention of painting them to match all of the other doors upstairs. But we liked the way the different colors and layers looked, so we sealed them and left them as they were," Bowles said via e-mail following his talk with the Preservation Society. The doors were among their finds at New England Demolition and Salvage in Wareham, where they found many items to renovate their home.

In what they call the Great Room off the kitchen, the two installed hardwood floors to replace the carpeting and plywood flooring, and painted and added trim and molding.

In all, the two renovated nine rooms downstairs and eight upstairs, including foyers. They did it room by room, Hall said.

"You do it once, you're pretty good; do it a second time and it's better," he told the Preservation Society audience. "By the 13th room, you're a real pro."

Hall and Bowles also made improvements to the yard and outside of the home, including the porches. They were recognized by the Preservation Society in 2004 for their efforts.

While not planning to move from their newly renovated house, both men said they would be interested in restoring another old home.

"At the end of the day, there's a real sense of satisfaction," Hall said.

SUSAN LaHOUD can be reached at 508-236-0398 or at slahoud@thesunchronicle.com.