Shore for the summer
The Fullams kept alive their family tradition of summers at the beach when they bought a North Wildwood condo at auction.
Deborah and Jim Fullam always loved trips to the Shore with their families. They owned a condo in Cape May in the early 1980s, and rented houses in Sea Isle City for a week or two each summer once they sold the Cape May home.
In 2008, when they heard about an auction for condominiums in The Pointe at Moore’s Inlet in North Wildwood, they drove down from Doylestown to check it out.
“When we walked into the Borgata for the auction, there must have been 3,000 people in the room,” recalled Jim, a consultant for Summerwood Corp. in Conshohocken. “We almost walked out.”
But, fortunately for the Fullams, most in the crowd were spectators, not bidders. The couple scored a unit in the new building, appreciating its close proximity to the beach and walkability to shopping and restaurants in Wildwood.
Then in 2015, they seized on an opportunity to move into a different unit in the same building with views of the ocean.
“When we first bought it we were busy with work, so this was our escape,” said Deborah, who retired in 2021 from her job in the pharmaceutical industry. “Now we spend a couple of months here in the summer.”
The two-story, four-bedroom, three-bathroom condo has plenty of room to share with their two children and six grandchildren between the ages of 1 and 11. The families live in Florida and Massachusetts, so their time together at the beach is especially meaningful.
From the home’s main living area, they can see the ocean through a full wall of sliding glass doors. Those views extend to the dining table.
Farther back sits the kitchen with white cabinets and dramatically contrasting black and gold granite countertops.
Deborah and Jim both enjoy cooking. When they renovated the kitchen in 2020, the couple added more counter space and extra drawers to make it more user-friendly. They installed a new backsplash, cabinets, and flooring, and bought a Samsung refrigerator.
The Fullams invite company almost every weekend, cooking one night and hitting restaurants in Cape May or other neighboring towns the other night. They enjoy the camaraderie of everyone pitching in to cook. Their son and his family, including three grandchildren, spend the month of July there.
“It’s wonderful getting to spend all of that devoted time together,” said Deborah. “Our 7-year-old grandson Jay calls this his happy place and the front bedroom his bedroom.”
That first-floor room includes a pair of beds with cheerful bedspreads for the little ones. The primary bedroom sits behind the living room, with a large doorway providing sweeping views of the ocean. One of the condo’s two guest bedrooms is also on this floor.
The second floor features a sitting area, a guest bedroom with its own balcony, and a bathroom. Deborah’s favorite artwork, sitting on the wall at the top of the stairs, is a print of sailboats by Jan Vermeer that she purchased at the Good Stuff Thrift Shop in Doylestown.
Deborah, who has a knack for interior design, spearheaded renovations over the winter 2024 into 2025, gutting two of the bathrooms, adding a new closet, and painting the 2,000-square-foot unit in pale shades of blue.
She took a couple of courses in staging and design, which gave her the confidence to tackle her bathrooms. A guest bathroom includes a gray-tiled shower with a black, white, and gray geometric pattern in the tile floor. The primary bathroom includes a white-tiled shower and a gray double vanity with chrome hardware.
The couple spend a lot of time on the front deck, looking out at the ocean and onto the beach. Jim sits on the tall lifeguard-style chair, taking in the views while Deborah sits on the rocking chair reading. It’s where they enjoy morning coffee or a pre-dinner cocktail with guests.
“Our grandchildren love to sit on the deck, sitting with me or reading books,” Deborah said.
They enjoy spending time on the beach and also take advantage of the condo’s swimming pool, especially when their grandchildren are visiting.
The couple take long walks on the beach, around Stone Harbor’s bird sanctuary, and around Cape May’s lighthouse. They often walk into Wildwood to grab a cup of coffee or check out the shops.
“I could walk on the beach forever,” said Jim.
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