The annual event benefits victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Southbury and surrounding towns.

This year's tour will be especially easy to navigate, said Safe Haven Executive Director Peggy Panagrossi.

"We have two houses in Old Field, two houses in Traditions and a new, 'green' home on Westen Hook Terrace," she said. "Each one is different, and they're all spectacular."

Choosing homes in the same neighborhood illustrates how homes with similar facades and floor plans can look entirely different on the inside, the director said.

Distinguished by Nantucket-style buildings, mature trees and stone walls, Old Field was developed in the late 1990s and early 2000s and occupies 21 acres, part of which lies within the town's Historic District.

Susan Dillman moved into her Falmouth model at Old Field five years ago. At 2,290 square feet, the townhouse offered high ceilings and room to accommodate the large scale furniture she brought from her former home in Massachusetts.

Bold walls of blue, green, brown, gold and red help integrate the furniture and showcase a handsome art collection.

Susan's late husband was a country veterinarian. An antique hay fork in the two-story foyer hints at the family's fondness for antique agricultural implements as objets d'art.

Art photography hanging here and throughout the home is almost exclusively by the couple's late son.

The light-filled living-dining area is accented with red and gold and touches of green. Susan inherited the bronze cat sculpture by the fireplace from her mother.

In the red and white kitchen, glass-door cabinets display a milk bottle collection, many from the Berkshire farms where Susan's husband cared for the animals.

An island fashioned from a 19th-century conservatory table holds an antique scale. An oversized mortar and pestle are French, also 19th century.

A child's maple school desk stands in for an end table next to a pink-and-yellow toile easy chair.

A Pierre Frey toile from France dictates the deep blue walls in the downstairs guest room. The armoire and nightstand here were made by Susan's husband, who also carved many of the wooden birds displayed in the nearby half-bath.

Upstairs, the master bedroom is painted Rosemary Sprig green to complement a hand-painted desk. An antique tobacco drying basket from Virginia hangs over the fruitwood four-poster bed.

In the nearby sitting room, the Steuben crystals are memorials to Susan's husband and son.

Since moving to Old Field a year ago, Ellen and David Brown have transformed their 2,200 square-foot home into a sophisticated retreat filled with an eclectic collection of traditional furnishings and contemporary art.

Without changing the footprint, the couple altered the floor plan slightly to reveal a front-to-back view of the property, added a marble mantel and architectural moldings and enlarged the living room to accommodate a baby grand piano.

In the living room, a tiny, cone-shaped end table rests on three bocce balls near a pair of formal side chairs once owned by Charles Revson. An antique French crystal chandelier hangs over the dining room table; a vintage game chest serves as a bar.

A cozy library boasts new built-in bookcases and mirrored French doors that offer privacy when the room doubles as a guest room.

In the chocolate brown powder room, an antique Chinese butcher's table supports an ultra-contemporary glass sink.

In the country kitchen, what appears to be a Delft tile back splash is actually paper; Mr. Brown color-copied a set of Delft tiles from a previous home and decoupaged them onto gray paper that mimics grout.

A pine hutch holds a collection of blue-and-white china that overflows onto the walls. The framed recipes are ones Mrs. Brown has had published in various magazines.

Off the kitchen, vintage rattan furniture and an antique carpet extend the living area to the screened porch.

Upstairs, six antique Chinese prints provide a focal point in the master bedroom, where a distinctive coffee table was found in a Bronxville, N.Y., resale shop.

The bedside tables came from the Salvation Army and the window treatments were "glued together" by Mr. Brown.

The homeowner's creative expression extends to every room of the house, including a small footstool he upholstered in leather cut from a Louis Vuitton suitcase he found on a New York City sidewalk.

Vincent and Jeanette Pryor live in a four-year-old Colonial on Concord Court in Traditions, a diverse, multi-generational neighborhood that marches up a wooded hillside off Route 172.

With clapboard houses and white picket fences, Traditions was planned to recapture the feeling of a small New England town. An arbor connects each single-family home to its neighbor.

Situated on a cul-de-sac, the Pryors' house is a Gettysburg II, the largest model at about 3,100 square feet. Jeanette describes her home as a mixture of Country French and Cottage Style.

Downstairs, new furnishings from Stockbridge and Berry and accessories from Newbury Place blend seamlessly with a handsome collection of antique clocks, with three vintage timepieces in the dining room alone.

Off the foyer, French doors reveal a glimpse of the art-filled library-office.

In the two-story family room, moss green walls are the backdrop for casual country furniture in shades of red and gold.

The kitchen boasts cherry cabinets against deep red walls with wood floors and a black granite island and countertops. Rooster tiles accent the back splash.

A deck off the kitchen is one of several spots from which to enjoy breathtaking views to the west.

Upstairs, a crystal chandelier that belonged to Jeanette's mother finds a home in the large master bedroom suite, with its tray ceiling, avocado green walls and king-sized Country French sleigh bed.

Fern green toile decorates the tranquil master bath.

A young daughter's pink and green bedroom features checked window treatments and a pink chandelier, a walk-in closet and its own bath.

Two guest rooms follow the colorful Country French theme.

With a welcoming covered porch that spans the front of the house, John and Beth Brink's home in Traditions is filled with antique furnishings handed down from the family farmstead in upstate New York, accented with artwork purchased while the couple lived in France.

Among the focal points of the family room are an early-19th-century wedding chest from the Pyrenees, a 1920s redwork quilt hand-stitched by Beth's mother as a child and the wooden trunk that carried her great-grandfather's worldly goods from Ireland in 1865.

The eat-in kitchen showcases Beth's collection of Blue Willow china, "some very old, some not," displayed in a cabinet from Beth's grandfather's dental laboratory. The early-19th-century kitchen table is French Canadian.

An artist, Beth did all the pastels and watercolors in the living and dining rooms, including a portrait of her granddaughter over the buffet. Her mother completed the intricate needlework pillow.

A secretary in the living room, a family piece, dates to at least 1825. The dining room table came from the family farm and once had seven leaves to accommodate all the farmhands.

Upstairs, the master suite features an 1840 Empire chest and an 1870s loveseat.

In the periwinkle blue guest room, what appear to be vintage nursery rhyme prints are framed menus from the SS France, circa 1970.

Beth's grandmother made both quilts here; a friend stitched the seven monogrammed pillows, one for each grandchild.

Beth painted the delicate florals on the walls of two baths. Her home studio will be open to view on tour day.

At 5,600 square feet on 8.66 acres, George Bertram and Shanna McKee's new home on Westen Hook Terrace is by far the largest on the tour.

But according to the homeowners, this very large house has a very small carbon footprint and "doesn't cost a bundle to maintain."

Heated by LP forced hot air, the four-bedroom, five-bath residence was built in 2008 to Energy Star standards.

A 39-panel solar array on the roof produces 70 to 75 percent of the electricity needed year-round and has generated more than 15,000 kilowatt hours of energy since installation. So far, said Shanna, their biggest electric bill has been $70.

The extra-long driveway is paved with recycled highway pavement at one-third the cost of conventional paving.

Much of the rock used in the foundation came from the property; all the trees removed in construction were recycled as firewood and mulch.

The African slate foyer features a travertine and marble mosaic of a stylized compass star. Low voltage halogen track lighting illuminates the Great Room with its 19-foot vaulted pine ceiling, fir beams and massive granite fireplace.

The clean-lined, contemporary, eat-in kitchen was designed for functionality with maple cabinets, granite counters, a commercial size Viking refrigerator and Wolf six-burner stove with dual ovens and a pot-filler.

The first-floor master bedroom suite features his-and-her closets and a window alcove where houseplants thrive.

In the master bath, the air-jetted tub is faced with Jerusalem limestone, mined from an ancient seabed.

Rather than the typical "McMansion" two-story entry, the couple opted to forgo the heat loss and enclose the area above the foyer, creating a reading nook they call their "pocket library."

Also upstairs are three guest bedrooms, each "en suite" with its own distinctive bath, as well as a sizable bonus area.

A cavernous basement houses a state-of-the-art, infrared camera security system that detects water, temperature, sound and movement.

Tickets for the Safe Haven Southbury House Tour are $25 in advance - $5 less than last year's price - available at Gayle O'Neill Fine Jewelry in the Southbury Green, Patti's of Southbury in Heritage Village, Newbury Place at 41 Oak Tree Rd. and at the Southbury Community Thrift Shop in Bennett Square; in Woodbury at New Morning Natural and Organic in the Middle Quarter Mall, and at the Safe Haven office in Waterbury.

Tickets can be purchased for $30 on the day of the tour at any of the homes or at Church of the Epiphany, 262 Main St. North.

Five themed gift baskets, each valued at about $150, will be raffled that day with tickets on sale in each home.

Those seeking additional information may call 203-575-0388.