IT was the cavernous games room, with its triangular beams and monochrome colour scheme that ultimately sold Almoners Barn to the Parnabys. Paula’s 30- year-old husband loves having the boys round for a bit of male bonding – and there was the matter of finding space for a pool table. Paula, 33, was just happy that they would be kept away from her.

“It’s good when he gets his friends round because they can just shut the door and I’m at the other end of the house and don’t hear them,” she laughs. “He’s got a projector screen that comes down over the TV and they can watch the football or the boxing.”

The couple bought the house in December 2006 but didn’t actually move in until fairly recently because they moved to Birmingham in 2007. Last year, they returned to their native North-East, which they both consider to be home.

The Parnabys share Almoners Barn with Winston, who is a pug/beagle cross known as a “puggle”. The couple met in 2004, when Paula was working at the ticket desk at Durham Tees Valley Airport and her husband was boarding a flight.

Paula, who is originally from Spennymoor, was happy to live in such a beautiful location close to her own friends and family, and from the outset, they felt that Almoners Barn was somewhere special.

“It was built in the 1960s and it was quite dated, but we could see the potential,” says Paula. “We ripped everything out and used the layout of the house as the base. We’ve changed everything.”

The couple were attracted to the property’s modern style and spacious rooms but wanted to put their own stamp on it, bringing it right up to date with contemporary furniture and colour schemes and a relaxed, lived-in feel.

They felt the exterior wasn’t right, so stripped off the outer brickwork and replaced it, and indoors, created a semi open-plan layout that suited their lifestyle. Having studied interior design in Birmingham, Paula couldn’t wait to use her knowledge.

“It was great – I had all these wallpaper swatches from college and I thought ‘I’ve got to use these’,” she says. “Brian Yates is my favourite wallpaper designer. His products are quite expensive but there’s nothing like them.They’ve got textures and beads in them and things like that. People who have viewed the house have said we’ve got great taste and it’s lovely to hear that.”

Paula loves colour, and has introduced a signature tone in every room, but was mindful of not overdoing it. “We haven’t gone over the top with anything,” she says. “We’ve done things to our own taste, but I don’t think people would say ‘I really don’t like that’.”

While Paula’s domain is “curtains and cushions”, her husband has ensured that Almoners Barn boasts all the latest technology, including touch-screen handsets to control the music system, television and DVD player, and speakers throughout the house. Paula was dubious about having a TV in the ensuite bathroom to the master bedroom, but has been won over.

“At the time I thought he was being abit ridiculous but when we move, I will make sure we have one in the new house,” she says.

If Paula had to choose her favourite room, it would be the kitchen.

“I love it because it’s where most people congregate,”

she says. “A lot of people don’t use the dining room if it’s separate, so we made a double-sized doorway without any doors leading from the kitchen and it’s amazing how much we use it.”

Since their return to the region, the Parnabys have been keen to make up for lost time, so often entertain friends and family. They have found the house to be good for socialising, especially as guests can circulate freely from room to room, and there is certainly enough space to accommodate them. Paula feels there is a balance to be struck between having generous-sized rooms and a sense of intimacy.

“Everyone says they’re big rooms, but they still feel homely,” she says. “All the bedrooms are a really good size because we felt that we would rather have fewer, bigger rooms. We only wanted the rooms that we were actually going to use.

“We made two bedrooms and a bathroom in the loft and created a lot of storage wherever we could – basically fitted wardrobes and built-in cupboards, things like that. When you’ve got a five or six-bedroom house and a family with children moves in, that’s what they want.”

Now that Almoners Barn has been completed to their satisfaction, the couple feel it’s time to move on. Paula admits that they have been “bitten by the bug” of house renovation and can’t wait to begin their next project. “We just want to do it again,” she says. “Ideally, we would love to get some land and build our own house but obviously, that’s easier said than done. We may have to move a bit further out or buy an older property and do the same again or knock it down and start again.”

She may be upbeat about the prospect of moving on but Paula admits it won’t be without sadness. “The last two times we’ve moved I’ve got a bit tearful,” she says. “I know it’s just bricks and mortar but when you live somewhere, you get attached to it – you just can’t help it.”