The dream’s becoming a reality

For the first time since we embarked on Project Delamere, it feels like it is going to be a house that we really will live in. It’s not just the physical structure but also the daily deliveries from DPD and ParcelForce bringing bathroom furniture, floor tiles, wall cladding and door handles, light fittings and – oh yes – the long-planned kitchen! I started planning the kitchen way back before we had even broken ground and, bless the team at Howdens in Penzance, they have shown the patience of many saints as we (aka “I”) changed units, doors, worktops and handles – and even moved the entire room from one part of the house to another half way through!

But now it’s all on site, ready for Rob’s team to start installing next week. The newly tiled floor is ready and to date, all the trades have turned up and delivered as needed, so – fingers crossed – we may even make the final deadline of 25 March!

One of the things I didn’t anticipate was the level of nervousness I would feel as we progress towards the end. While everything was on paper or a website it wasn’t hard to feel confident about our choices. We have ordered and then returned many sets of door handles and lights – mainly because we could with all the luxury of months to go! But now time is no longer our friend – the electrician arrives on 28th February to start on the final fix and we are still 4 lights short of an illuminated kitchen! Aaagh!!

Given how much we are buying over the Internet – due to a lack of stores down here and the vast array of choice online – there’s always the potential for that beautiful vintage piece to turn out to be a cheap looking replica. With each delivery, I get more and more anxious that something we now need urgently will turn out to be awful. But so far, so good and two gorgeous porcelain washbasins from Morocco now await installation, Best of all is the new front door which will undoubtedly have the neighbours talking! Bless the long suffering Clive for indulging me and my love of strong colours !

The final indulgence is a salvaged marine door for one of the storage cupboards off the lounge. Inspired by the thought of our upstairs room being the “bridge” of our coastal home, it seemed a great idea to try and source an old teak yacht door that would complement the sense of adventure! However, as we quickly found out, it was probably going to be cheaper to buy a yacht first than get a decent door that would actually fit. But then up popped the Trinity Marine salvage yard near Exeter and, hey presto, we now have a marine door, complete with porthole, salvaged from the Royal Mail Ship, Windsor Castle. She was the largest passenger and cargo mail ship operated by the Union-Castle Line on their ‘Cape Mail’ service to the ports of South Africa. She made a total of 124 round voyages, carrying around 270,000 passengers over 1.6 million nautical miles. Apparently she never missed a scheduled sailing – so maybe the new door will bring us in on time too!

Mind you. I’m not sure Rob was as excited as us when we got it on site. The door has been cut off the angle so the new frame and plastered wall he had just finished had to be rejigged to accommodate something that is, basically, wonky! Ah well, you’ve got to love a bit of character!!

14th February 2022