She took on a job that would terrify less visionary homeowners, but in just about two years, Peggy Frederick completely transformed the 1830 home at 195 High St. from a “tearer-downer” that earned the moniker “Vulture House” in honor of a couple of its transient residents.

An avid preservationist, Frederick couldn’t resist the challenge. She enlisted the help of architect Melissa Hutchinson and builder James Tavares; DaPonte’s Landscaping did the sitework, executing landscape designer Brooke Merriam’s vision.

The end result is a net-zero home with contemporary systems that nonetheless respects the home’s nearly 200-year history, along with a new garage that looks like it has always been part of the property. The project earned Frederick a Rhody Award nomination from Preserve Rhode Island.

So what made her take it on?

“I wanted to live in the historic district, and I do like the process of building, so it didn’t scare me,” said Frederick, a veteran of several significant renovation projects over the years, before correcting herself. “It scared me a little, because of the extent of the work that needed to be done here.

“But I thought I could have a clean slate and do it the way I wanted. And I thought it would be fun.”

For the most part, it was fun — though Frederick admits getting a little nervous when the full scope of what needed to be done to the property structurally revealed itself.

“There was more than I expected,” she said. “This house was really basically rebuilt from the inside out.” She admits the scope of the structural work forced some budget revisions.

Among all the decisions that need to be made during the course of a project of this scale, it’s color that Frederick struggles with the most. “Colors. I can just agonize over them,” she said. “My friend Patty happens to be very good at color, so I was really lucky that she helped me. But it was agonizing — I probably bought 100 paint samples.”

Now that it’s all done, Frederick couldn’t be happier with the result. “It’s exceeded my expectations,” she said. “I had a vision, and it really does look like what I expected, but I love it more than I realized I would … I really enjoyed most of the process.

“But the thing that’s really been rewarding is how grateful people are. Almost every day somebody stops me and says what a great job I did and how thankful they are to see the change. That’s been really gratifying.”