'We added classic elegance to our modern home'

Anna and Ryan Askwith have transformed a previously rented property into a refined oasis of calm, taking inspiration from understated New England style

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Having started off in a flat, Ryan and Anna Askwith have worked their way up to a five-bedroom detached home via a terraced townhouse – all on the same modern estate in Gateshead. ‘We’d walked along this street many times and thought this was our dream home, but it had always been rented out,’ says Anna. ‘However, when it came back on the rental market, we asked the estate agency if the owner would consider selling. They said no at first, but the next time it was up for rent they said yes.’

Ryan, from South Shields, and Anna, from Poland, first met each other in Germany on a twinned-town school exchange trip, 20 years ago. ‘This was pre-social media and I was only 16, but we wrote to each other and kept in touch,’ says Anna. ‘Three years after that first meeting I visited on an open ticket and never returned home!’

COME ON IN....

WE ARE Anna Askwith, 37, a specific learning difficulties coordinator, my husband Ryan, 36, a civil servant, and our rescue pup, Loui.

OUR HOME IS A detached, five-bedroom house in Gateshead, built-in 2003. We moved here in November 2019.

OUR BEST BARGAIN Using IKEA Pax wardrobes saved us a lot of money and we were able to achieve custom-fit dressing rooms for a fraction of the price of built-ins.