'It seemed like a house bereft, just waiting to come alive, ' says Cheryl Lerner of the house she and her husband Roger discovered half a block from a busy Los Angeles street. 'Although it had had a very eventful past and its original owner had been a colourful lady who built it in 1922 and lived in it until her death at the age of 106, the new owners had painted it completely beige. It was so boring.', , Cheryl and Roger had been looking for a house with some architectural style in one of the older neighbourhoods of Los Angeles, with the idea that when they came across the right home, it would just 'tell' them what they should do with it. So when a friend suggested this Italian-style 'casa colonica', it sparked memories of Cheryl's student days in the 1960s at the University of Pavia, Italy and she did indeed know what she should do with it. 'Italy changed the way I look at everything, including houses, ' she explains, 'and I realised at once that this house was offering me the chance to Italianize my own environment.', , However, the neighbours were less thrilled at the prospect of an Italianized corner ofàààà.full text available
