What to Expect When Your Order Arrives (And Why It Comes in Two Parcels)

Your order arrives within 10–14 days, doorstep to doorstep. It will almost certainly come as two separate parcels, on different days: the tops in one, the steel legs in the other. That isn't a mistake and nothing has gone missing — it's simply how the order travels. If your table top lands on a Tuesday and there's no sign of the legs, give it a couple of days. They're on their way.

Below is exactly what to expect, in the order it happens.

Why your order comes in two parcels

Two parcels because there are two starting points.

I make and wax the tops here in the Sussex workshop. The steel legs come from a separate supplier — we don't make those ourselves, and they're sent out from their place, not mine. Both leave inside the same 10–14 day window, but they're travelling on different vans from different postcodes, so they rarely land on the same doorstep on the same morning.

We could hold everything back and send it all as one consignment, but that would mean your finished table sitting in the workshop waiting on a box of legs — adding days to your wait for no real benefit. So we send each part as soon as it's ready.

If you've also ordered homeware — a rug, some placemats, a candle — those are pieces we curate and buy in rather than make, so they ship from somewhere else again. Same window, possibly a third delivery.

What actually turns up at the door

Everything comes by tracked courier, to your doorstep.

Parcel one (or two) — the tops. If you've ordered a table and a bench together, both tops travel together in the same consignment. The screws travel with the tops, so don't be surprised to find a bag of fixings and no legs to put them in yet.

The tops are packed properly, because a waxed pine surface will not forgive a rough journey. Each one gets a thick layer of protective cardboard across the top and the bottom, then cardboard corner and edge protection where knocks actually happen, then the whole thing is wrapped in thick bubble wrap and taped tightly. It takes a while to pack and a minute or two to unwrap. In the time we've been sending tables out this way, we've not yet had one arrive damaged — but if yours ever does, tell us within 48 hours and we'll deal with it (that's covered under our Lifetime Guarantee).

Parcel two (or one) — the legs. The steel legs for your table and your bench travel together in their own parcel. They're heavier and smaller than you might expect.

Either parcel can arrive first. There's no fixed running order and neither one is a sign of a problem.

The one thing worth doing: when the legs arrive, put them somewhere sensible and don't move them. A box of steel legs looks like packaging, and more than one customer has come close to losing theirs in a pile of flattened cardboard. Same goes for the bag of screws that comes with the tops.

"Where's my order?" — how tracking works with us

Honestly? We don't send out tracking numbers at the moment. You'll get a thank-you email when you order with the 10–14 day estimate, and then the parcels arrive.

What you get instead is us. Message us any time and we'll find out where your order is — Holly or I will normally come back to you within the hour during the working day. There's no ticket system and no call centre; it's the two of us. If you'd rather ask than wonder, please ask. You can get in touch here.

If one parcel has arrived and the other hasn't

Wait a few days. Almost every time, that's the whole answer — the second parcel is simply a day or two behind the first, and it turns up.

If it's been longer than that and you're still holding half an order, message us. We'll chase it and sort it out — you won't need to chase the courier yourself.

Fitting the legs

Once you have both parcels, you're about ten minutes from a finished table.

Every top leaves the workshop with the holes already drilled in the right places, and the screws you need are in the box. You attach the legs with a screwdriver or a drill on a low setting — no glue, no dowels, no fixings to buy. One person can manage it, though a second pair of hands makes turning a longer top over easier.

A few things worth knowing before you start:

• Work on a soft surface. Lay the bubble wrap or a blanket down and turn the top face-down onto it. Waxed pine is a soft finish on a softwood — it will mark on a hard floor, and that's an avoidable one.

• Start every screw by hand before you drive it home, and don't overtighten. Snug is enough.

• Stand it up and check it sits level before you load it with everything you own.

And the honest bit: on very rare occasions a pilot hole hasn't lined up as it should, or a supplied screw has been shorter than it needed to be. If something doesn't line up, or a screw doesn't feel like it's biting properly, stop and message us rather than forcing it or heading to the hardware shop. It's our mistake to fix, and we'll fix it quickly. Forcing a screw into a top you've waited a fortnight for is the one outcome we'd really like to avoid.

If something isn't right

Tell us. Within 48 hours if anything has been damaged in transit, and whenever you notice it for anything else. Photographs help enormously — they let us see the problem straight away instead of asking you twenty questions.

Our Lifetime Guarantee covers manufacturing and craftsmanship faults for as long as you own the piece, alongside your statutory rights. It doesn't cover accidental damage or ordinary wear — but a wax finish is repairable in a way a lacquered one isn't, so a lot of marks that would be permanent on a factory table can simply be waxed back out on ours. That's a subject for another post.

The short version

1. You'll get a thank-you email with a 10–14 day estimate.

2. Two parcels arrive on the same or different days by tracked courier. Tops together, legs together.

3. The screws come with the tops.

4. Keep the legs somewhere safe.

5. Ten minutes with a screwdriver and you're done.

6. Anything at all — message us. We answer.

Thank you for buying something we made rather than something a machine stamped out. It genuinely matters to us.

— Richard & Holly South Downs Creations, Sussex

 

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Still deciding? Have a look at our dining table collection and our matching benches. Full delivery details are on our delivery information page.