Marilu's husband, Gesines, had been aware of their future home long before they bought it, having once lived on the same street. ‘He always thought it was a lovely house, with its stained-glass windows,’ she explains. ‘So some years later, he approached the old woman who lived here, and asked her to let him know if she ever wanted to sell, and that's how it came to be ours.’ Although picturesque on the outside, the interior was another story. ‘There was one main
