Stone’s Odyssey: Crafting a Limestone Mantle with Ancient Surfaces

In the heart of a bustling home, where stories are shared, and memories are made, the fireplace often stands as a silent witness. But what if the mantle could talk? What tales would it tell? Let’s journey through the creation and installation of a limestone mantle, a masterpiece crafted by the artisans at Ancient Surfaces.

Ancient surfaces
Antique limestone fireplace
stone mantle
Antique custom carved limestone mantle
Haut-relief carving

Deep within the earth, in age-old quarries, our story begins. Here, limestone has rested for eons, holding within it tales of ancient seas and long-forgotten landscapes. The artisans of Ancient Surfaces, with their trained eyes, select the perfect slab, seeing potential where others see mere rock.

In the skilled hands of these craftsmen, the limestone begins its transformation. Every chisel mark, every curve carved, is done with precision and passion. The design is not just about aesthetics; it’s about honoring the stone’s legacy. As the days pass, what was once a rugged slab starts to take the shape of a mantle, ready to become the centerpiece of a home.

Ancient surfaces
Antique limestone fireplace
stone mantle
Antique limestone mantle
Haut-relief carving
Limestone wall cladding
Antique millennium planks

With the mantle crafted to perfection, it’s time for its final destination: the fireplace of a loving home. The team from Ancient Surfaces ensures that the installation is seamless. As the mantle is set in place, it’s not just stone meeting brick; it’s history meeting the present. The space, with its new limestone mantle, is now not just a source of warmth but also a testament to timeless craftsmanship.

Every time a fire crackles in the hearth, and shadows dance on the antique limestone mantle, remember the journey it has undertaken. From the depths of a quarry to the heart of a home, this mantle by Ancient Surfaces is more than just stone; it’s a story, a legacy, and a piece of art.

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Call us at: 212-461-0245 // 212-913-9588

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Embracing the Past: The Chronicles of Limestone Mantles

In a time when the world was younger, when the conveniences of modern life were yet to be conceived, the art of home-making was steeped in tradition and craftsmanship. The heart of this tradition was the mantle, not the sleek, minimalist designs we see today, but limestone mantles, sculpted by skilled hands and imbued with centuries of history.

These mantles, crafted from the bones of the earth itself, were more than just decorative elements. They were the hearth around which the tapestry of daily life was spun, a tapestry that was as much about the warmth of family as it was about the comfort of home.

In the grand manors of the Middle Ages, these limestone mantles were the backdrop for intimate family gatherings, intellectual exchanges, and even the quiet moments of solitude. Home was not just a place, but an experience, a time to connect, to share, to engage.

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Ornamental
Architectural Salvage
Period Features
Restoration
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Elegant
Classic Design
Intricate Detailing
Timeless Appeal
Custom Carved
Hand-Carved
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Limestone Mantle

Fast forward to today, and these limestone mantles have found a new role in our modern world. They serve as a bridge to the past, a touch of history in our contemporary homes. Amidst the hustle and bustle of our fast-paced lives, they offer a sanctuary, a place to slow down, to reflect, to connect with a simpler time.

Historical Significance
French Limestone
English Country Style
Renaissance
Georgian
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Handcrafted
Weathered Finish
Luxury
Antique
Limestone
Mantles
Living Room
Fireplace
Hearth
Carved Stone
Vintage
Ornamental
Architectural Salvage
Period Features
Restoration
Traditional
Elegant
Classic Design
Intricate Detailing
Timeless Appeal
Custom Carved
Hand-Carved
Chiseled from Stone
Limestone Mantle
Amber Interiors

Imagine, if you will, sitting by the warm glow of a fire, the limestone mantle above radiating a comforting heat. As you close your eyes, you can almost hear the echoes of the past, the murmur of ancient conversations, the laughter, the shared wisdom. You’re not just sitting by a fire; you’re stepping into a narrative, a narrative that spans centuries.

Even in the great outdoors, these limestone mantles by Ancient Surfaces hold their own. They stand, weathered but resilient, against the backdrop of nature. Whether under the open sky or nestled in a garden, they offer a unique experience, a chance to commune with nature while basking in history.

Every scratch, every mark, every weathered edge on these mantles is a testament to their journey through time. They bear the imprint of countless fires, the residue of myriad stories, the memory of endless hours of warmth and companionship.

So, as you design or renovate your home, consider the chronicles of the limestone mantle. It’s not just about adding a unique piece to your space; it’s about adding a chapter to a story, a story that you become a part of every time you sit by the fire.

To the limestone mantles, the vessels of history, the hearths of timeless rituals, and the sanctuaries in our modern world, we pay homage. We gather around them, live with them, and in doing so, we become a part of their story, a story that is as enduring as the limestone itself.

As we conclude this journey through time, we at Ancient Surfaces invite you to explore the world of limestone mantles. Each mantle has a story to tell, a story that is waiting to be a part of your home, your life.

To the centuries-old limestone mantles, the silent narrators of history, the timeless hearths of life’s warmth, and the sanctuaries in our modern world, we salute you.

Come visit our interactive digital online catalog

Call us at: 212-461-0245 // 212-913-9588

Sales@AncientSurfaces.com

30 Inspiring Cottage Ideas in Stone

Cottage are usually well known in several countries European nations and are a homier version of a farmhouse is such a thing was even possible in the first place!

An exhaustive number of Cottage comes in various locations in France, Italy and even Eastern Europe and Russia. A cottage is frequently as spacious or small as you desire but typically is under 1,500 sqft. Cottage provide a house abroad experience if you ever decided to build one on a spacious multi-acreage parcel of land.

The preferred cottage style is one you imagine out of natural ecological material such as wood or stone, with some contemporary furniture pieces thrown into the interior design. Whether a Montana style mountain fishing lodge or a warm Mexican hacienda adobe, all cottage share some basic common element focusing on simplicity and wabi-sabi.

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Chahaignes - Chateau de la Jaille (10) (w)

If your house is reminiscent of an outdated European villa, you wouldn’t wish to choose something like concrete Decking that is more appropriate for a modern soho gallery setting.

Cottage furniture is normally envisioned with a washed off light painted and finding the proper furniture can be well worth the effort.

Stone and wood dominates the interiors of Cottages and the ideal flooring for a cottage is a big sized antique limestone flooring pavers coupled with ancient reclaimed stone fireplace the end up working off of each other in making the cottage even more lived-in and homie.

-Kelso Dining Chairs-Kelso Lounge Chairs-Kelso Square Folding Dining Tablein the terrace of aCountry House in Sonoma;Designer: The Wiseman GroupLandscape: Marta Fry

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Deck your fireplace during Christmas

A fireplace is often a focal point already, but when holidays come, it takes on added significance —with Santa coming down the chimney and all. Encircle your Christmas stockings with mantel decorations to suit the holiday spirit. Once your fireplace is cheerful, it’s time to light a fire, sit back with a glass of wine and soak up that heart-warming feeling of the holidays at home.
A fireplace is always on display, but this time of year it’s especially under the spot lights, with friends and family warming up in front of a roaring fire or huddling in the living room for an evening of games or movies. The stone mantel, which usually is an added value actor throughout the year, lands a starring role around the holidays, with beautiful, stockings and string lights draped across it.
Here’s few of Ancient surfaces mantel fireplaces decorated in a very stunning way to add Christmas spirit into the room

92035061_o — A mostly white color palette with pottery, tea lights and snowflakes contrasts dark foliage and garlands. Looks beautifully matched with the Christmas tree. Gives feeling of warmth.

sedona 003 — The stone fireplace shown in here follows a Romanesque Revival or, more specifically, Romanesque style. Located in the home’s formal living room, it has a very robust and masculine look.

sedona 101 — A French Provence Antique Limestone Fireplace adorned by Garlands, flanked by stockings and decorated with Mistletoe, Red Roses and Christmas shrubbery.

P1250441 — Natural greenery, wreaths, candles, silver, gold and white … white bee lights covers this beautifully cared mantel stone fireplace that sets a truly Christmas spirit for this room.

c2fa8f4f1e8c31782350a1e97d7b4af0 — Very simple and clean fireplace, very warm yellow lights are dispersed around the fireplace and on the stove along with reindeer and a tiny Christmas tree to create a special mood and get into the Christmas holiday feeling.

DSC_0388-b — A traditional Southern Italian Fireplace with a Baroque Puglia Style Christmas Decoration focused on Angelic Cherub decoration and Sicilian ceramic in the Majolica Melograno style

DSC_0417-c — An Authentic French Pyrénée mountains Fireplace carved in the style known locally as the “Cheminee Montagnard Des Pyrénées” finished with a minimalist natural garlands, wine flasks, organic homemade Bees wax candles and an antique Candelabrum.

Come visit our interactive digital online catalog

Call us at: 212-461-0245 // 212-913-9588

Sales@AncientSurfaces.com

Simple vs. Classical Beauties. which fireplaces will you choose?

They say nothing lasts forever, but we all know that one can own a few items that may last for generations to come. No, we’re not talking about a girl’s best friend to quote Marline Monroe. Even though our stones can’t be worn on your wrists or fingers, they still can be a crowd pleaser none the less. Installing an antique limestone fireplace in your family room can be the one design element that everyone in your family agrees with and is comforted by especially when it starts raining or snowing outside.

Pedigree (History and Provenance) of the fireplace aside, what design elements one should consider when selecting a fireplace that may last you a lifetime in some cases?

You always need to keep in mind that your fireplace selection will have to be a permanent fixture in your home and is supposed to live through any design change your room or home will be going through in the future. What would you rather go for? A well carved fireplace or a simply hand carved one? Let’s consider the positive aspects of both choices and see how they may pertain to your taste buds.

Fully carved stone mantles:

When considering a fully hand carved limestone fireplace close your eyes and think of a complex and rich multi-layered ‘Taurasi’ wine blend from ‘Campania’ that’s been well aged in oak barrels.

What nuances would your eyes savor? Can you envision tasting the Southern Italian Baroque acanthus leaves free flowing on this mantle corbeled sides or the rich and velvety pallet of the sprawling and spiraling vined foliage that can grace the front face of your unique fireplace?

Can you imagine the glowing heat radiating from inside the stone built firebox of such a captivating mantle? The reflected shadow of the flame dancing on the medieval carved limestone coupled with the intoxicating sound on the flickering burning wood becoming one with the melody of slowly decanted bottle of Barolo from Piedmont…

If you picture yourself in that frame, allow yourself to be captured by an antique well carved limestone fireplace that’s been salvaged from centuries old Renaissance or Baroque castles by Ancient Surfaces.

A fully carved fireplace of that era will define the look of your entire room and anchor your whole house with an authentic design persona.

Simple carved Fireplace:

Simply carved fireplaces allow visual evenhandedness between styles, finish patina and shade of the room and the stone of the fireplace. In a simple fireplace the design focus shifts from the carving to the actual antique limestone itself as it becomes the predominant design feature of the mantel instead of its minimal carved elements.

When it’s simple it goes with everything else right? Well yes that is true, but one has to be careful that going with everything doesn’t turn into a disappearing act where the mantle itself totally blends with its environment in the same way a window frame blends with the wall.

Simple architectural fireplaces when realized symmetrically and when created and carved under the golden ratio and the golden mean will carry more of a creative punch than most of its other ornately carved counterparts. Minimalism when portrayed in well-defined and harmonic ratios, guarantees you a powerful visual output and a soothing organic feel that will satisfy your design vision for that space.

With a simple yet elegant antique hand carved fireplace you’ll be looking more at the architecture, structure and patina of the fireplace and how its various component simply integrate together with your space.

As a wise man once said: “the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.” William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347)

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Antique stone fireplace elements as seen in our architectural catalog

Antique Limestone Fireplace Circa 14th century

This Online catalog selection featuring some of our captivating antique limestone fireplaces were taken from our own printed fireplace catalog from 2011 to 2016.

One of a kind antique limestone fireplace hundreds of years old reclaimed and restored by hand, shipped from Spain to a French castle in the Dordogne region close to the Limousine national forest.

A captivating antique Limestone Fireplace that features an over mantle or a ‘trumeaux’ as its called in French.

A lovely antique stone fireplace with an etched Cross motif on its midsection. This Cross is known as the Maltese Cross.

A finely carved crest of two lions flanking a Medici vase is the main characteristic of this antique 15th century fireplace.

A beige limestone antique fireplace dating back to the 17th century. This lovely stone mantle was restored to its formed glory by the capable hands of our professional artisans who had to change and beef up its top shelf and extend its legs.

This antique Italian beige limestone fireplace was supplied, restored and installed for this charming private Italian Villa. Over the years, the list of our clientele has grown into the thousands and reads like a Forbes 500 list.

Both our clients and competitors admire the rarity and uniqueness of our one of a kind Antique Fireplace Mantles that we salvage and carefully (and sometime painstakingly) restore back to their original splendor without defacing the time honored patina that those pieces have acquired during their temporal journey since their hand carving centuries ago.

We are trying to move with the times by making our entire Yard stocks becoming digitally available for online viewing.

This massive undertaking required tens of thousands of man hours worth of documentation, data entry, archiving and classifications.

We’ll be keeping everyone updated on this herculean undertaking as the months or even maybe years role by!

To learn more about those fascinating and unique architectural gems as well as their hand carved exact replicas feel free to please contact us through our website at Ancient Surfaces.

Reclamation Images

Call us at: 212-461-0245 // 212-913-9588

Sales@AncientSurfaces.com

Come visit our interactive digital online catalog

Call us at: 212-461-0245 // 212-913-9588

Sales@AncientSurfaces.com

7 Simple yet Elegant Antique Stone Fireplaces

A simple fireplace hand carved in natural stone installed with herringbone brick inlay into the firebox.

This simple limestone carved fireplace is Tuscan in design installed with a thick stone hearth ad terracotta bricks. Running bond brick are inlay inside the firebox.

A simple French fireplace hand carved in natural stone installed with herringbone firebox bricks. — A simple French fireplace hand carved in natural stone installed with horizontal and vertical running bond firebox bricks.

Another Italian inspired simple fireplace hand carved in natural stone installed with a benched raised stone hearth. — Another Italian inspired simple fireplace hand carved in natural stone installed with an inserted, benched, raised stone hearth.

A simple Tudor fireplace hand carved in natural stone installed with herringbone bricks lining the insides of this gas burning firebox. — A simple Tudor fireplace hand carved in natural stone installed with herringbone bricks, lining the insides of this gas burning firebox.

This Italian countryside fireplace was hand carved out of hard limestone installed with an interesting herringbone firebox and running bond brick lines. — This Italian countryside fireplace was hand carved out of limestone & installed with an interesting crisscross herringbone pattern.

The Mariana Fireplace — A unique hand carved limestone fireplace coupled with its own custom seating bench. Ideal for outdoor settings, and family rooms. The middle Floral is an old European symbol of the Virgin Mary, is carved and mounted on a the middle keystone.

We still consider ourselves apprentices who are in constantly pursuit of perfecting our craft by learning more and more about our past and how to better merge it with our present contemporary setting because once you stop learning about your roots and origins you stop caring about your future projection and stop growing as a company or as individuals.

To learn more please visit our Website at: http://www.ancientsurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html

or call our sales office at: 212-461-0245

Terminology of antique fireplace mantels. In her majesty’s English.

Terminology of antique fireplaces commonly used in the English language
Antique fireplaces have always been the essence of the English period interior. The popularity of antique fireplaces may have been due to our famously unpredictable weather, but that does not mean they are all English. Indeed, continental antique fireplaces are among the most popular, with the fabulous Baroque and Rococo products of France and Italy among the most sought-after. No wonder why those styles and school of carving have found their way into to family of English fireplace mantles. The fireplace in the English language took up various terms that basically meant the same thing. We would like to examine those terms closed and while at it show you some very unique British fireplaces in the process.

Antique Reclaimed Victorian style Marble Mantle from Portugal

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Antique fire surrounds
Antique fire surrounds make an excellent focal point for the interior designer. Many period homes lost their interiors completely during the centrally-heated second half of the twentieth century, when so many antique fire surrounds were removed from their original homes. Carefully chosen antique fire surrounds will provide that creative spark to bring character back into a ruthlessly modernized interior.

The word surround depicts the skirting material generally stone since stone was noncombustible and a bad heat conductor so someone touching the surround wouldn’t suffer from 3ed degree burns!

Antique reclaimed medieval fireplace mantle from Ireland

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An antique reclaimed Tudor Gothic fireplace mantle by Ancient Surfaces

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Antique Reclaimed Fireplace Mantle in an Old English Manor by Ancient Surfaces — Antique Reclaimed Fireplace Mantle in an Old English Manor

Antique mantels/mantles
Antique mantels are the elegant suits our forebears chose to clothe their otherwise utilitarian fireplaces in. The term “mantel” is a variation of the word “mantle”, meaning cloak or coat, and it is true that the best antique mantels lend style to a room just as a well-cut bespoke suit adds style to a man. Funny enough the term bespoke that originated in the 17th century originated in tailory and fond its direct secondary use in mantel making. Today the terms ‘mantel’ and ‘mantle’ are totally interchangeable and receive about equal Google fits amongst people searching for fireplaces.

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Antique Reclaimed English Mantel Tudor style

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Chimney-pieces/Chimneypieces
Chimneypieces are the heart of the home. Well-used chimneypieces become part of the family. Early in the evening as its flames are first kindled its flames leap high and it blazes brightly, accompanying the chatter and conviviality of a pleasant evening in. As the evening strolls on the jumping flames become lazier, receding into a radiant glow, while the entire chimneypiece becomes hot to the touch. As the last person creeps up the stairs to bed, the final embers glimmer in the hearth and the warmth of the chimneypiece is spread around the whole house.

Antique reclaimed English Mantel 'The Study'

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Reclaimed English Gothic Revival stone fireplace mantle

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Antique reclaimed stone fireplace mantle from Malta with an English influence

Antique mantelpieces
Antique mantelpieces are somewhere for showing. Clocks, photographs, ornaments, how many people display their most precious memories on an antique mantelpiece? Everyone who has one!Antique mantelpieces are somewhere for inspiring. We’ve all read in front of the fire, occasionally glancing up to revolve our thoughts in the changing shapes and shadows of the flames. The depression of dark Winter nights is transfigured into nostalgic reflections by the glowing optimism of the open fire.

Antique reclaimed marble mantle English Victorian in style

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Antique reclaimed English fireplace mantle carved out of stone

Two Tudor antique reclaimed mantel tops sitting in our salvage yard

Reclaimed fireplaces & Original fireplaces
We specialize in the salvage, restoration and supply of reclaimed fireplaces. Why settle for new fireplaces when you can get reclaimed fireplaces? Bring character and history into your home with our reclaimed fireplaces. These original mantles can reinvigorate almost any room, while also providing light and warmth. Reclaimed fireplaces are restored by us to the highest standard, with an unprecedented level of care taken over every part of the restoration of these original fireplaces. We work in conjunction with many privately and publicly preserved estates. We are also a member of many Guilds.