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.
If your house is reminiscent of an outdated European villa, you wouldn’t wish to choose something like concrete Decking that is more appropriate for a modern soho gallery setting.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
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
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.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.A French Provence Antique Limestone Fireplace adorned by Garlands, flanked by stockings and decorated with Mistletoe, Red Roses and Christmas shrubbery.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.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.A traditional Southern Italian Fireplace with a Baroque Puglia Style Christmas Decoration focused on Angelic Cherub decoration and Sicilian ceramic in the Majolica Melograno styleAn 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.
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)
Salvaging isn’t only a happening kinda think that started in the last few years with the rise of the global green conscience… It’s a bit early than that.
Well OK let’s go WAY back here… Back to 3500 B.C. or 5500 years ago to the first recorded human battle: “The Battle for Hamoukar” story has it that an early city army in what is known today as modern-day Iraq invaded the city of Hamoukar in modern-day Syria and took it over. Researchers tell us that clay pots, massive mills and grinding wares from one culture were used by the conquerors far after they’ve won the battle. Evidence shows that cooking utensils from the conquered city kept on being used for at least a few more generations! In essence early reclamation was inseparable from conquest and keeping the spoils of war. Visit our website at: http://www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Reenactment in utilization of ancient cooking tools and techniques. Similar cooking tools were salvaged by humans and reused from one culture to the next.
Today reclamation and salvaging have undoubtedly become part of our human psyche and daily lives, developing into the skillful art of re-purposing a once neglected and discarded item into a functional and lively ‘ object d’art ‘ of intense beauty and a colorful past. Visit our main website at: http://www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
A 200 years old ruined stone farmhouse in the American Midwest
Even though the basic building materials have always been the same: stone, cooked earth and lumber, the items salvaged from two rundown farmhouses in provenance for example could differ vastly in salvaged content. Age and village being the same, style, level of craftsmanship, size, attention to details, color and current condition play major roles in determining the items final public appeal and therefore cost of an old fireplace from another. For more information visit our website at: http://www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Salvaged Twice! one as a fireplace the second as an entryway.
For the reclaimer the fireplaces or what is normally left of them are the “Pièce de résistance ” in an old home. On average only one in five reclaimed structures offers unique original fireplace mantles that are significant enough to be refurbished and restored back to their former glory. This entryway to a private Italian villa shown in the picture above, was once a vibrant fireplace mantle of another structure that was demolished a couple of hundred years ago. Reclamation is no different from coal mining you just never know when you might find a hidden diamond! For more information visit our website at: http://www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Another Architectural gem nestled between overgrown shrubs in Europe
It’s more like a diamond in the rough really. It takes time, skills and passion in locating all the missing pieces and finding out how they all fit into this massive jigsaw puzzles called antique fireplaces. If you like to see more of our reclaimed mantels please visit our website at: http://www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Ancient Reclaimed Medieval Walk-in MantelAn Antique Stone Fireplace with 3 Layers of Paint, Missing its Top Shelf. Image taken prior to reclamation.
More time then often all the original pieces of a fireplace are not all found so a substitution of a few pieces are deemed necessary to complete the transition from the mount of broken terracotta floors, stone walls and piles of foliage and dirt into a fireplace in a lucky client’s living room! For more information about our reclaimed antique fireplaces please visit our website at: www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
A French Antique fireplace mantel getting reclaimed with the help of a hydraulic crane. Step-2-
Eventually everything in this ruined farmhouse gets saved and reused from the old wood beams, the stone walls, the ancient furniture and the limestone floors all get a second chance in other people home. For more information about our reclaimed antique fireplaces please visit our website at: www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
A French Antique fireplace mantel getting reclaimed with the help of a hydraulic crane. Step-3-
In a way the memory of this farmhouse, its walls, floors and fireplace will live on for centuries to come giving a new meaning to the term reincarnation. Please visit our website at: www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Installed ancient fireplace mantle in a French Provence style home
A similar fireplace from the same age and provenance as the reclaimed fireplace above shown installed in a French provincial style home. For more information please visit our site at: www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Covered with layers of moss, barnacles and traces of ancient paint every single stone piece is a gem by itself reveling interesting clues of what life looked like just a few hundred years back in farmhouses across the south of Europe and on the Mediterranean coast. To learn more please visit our site at: http://www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
This Antique fireplace mantle was showcased in a Malibu house half way across the world from where it was originally reclaimed and restored from. For more information about our reclaimed antique fireplaces please visit our website at: www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
Architectural Digest Magazine April 2011. An antique reclaimed fireplace mantel in Malibu, CA
This beauty feels right in home with its surroundings in sunny Malibu, California. For more information about our reclaimed antique fireplaces please visit our website at: www.AncientSurfaces.com/Antique-Fireplaces.html
The Antique Mantle prior to installation as featured in AD 2011 April Edition
To in involved in this reclamation process is nothing short of a spiritual experience were one painstakingly rediscovers the lost and narrow path to redemption and enlightenment trough hard labor, vision and determination.
Antique Fireplace Prior to Reclamation in an Old Italian Mansion
We do get asked a good question that we feel the need to address: Why not restore the structures and preserve this history within them for generations to come? And the simple answer to that question is that its impossible to restore every single structure ever built until the last century!
Cinque Terre May 26th 2011- A new meaning for people living on top of each other.
Both private and public owners around the world are constantly facing that same dilemma, to make the tough choice between what to restore and what not. As demand for the existing land slowly overtakes the preservation needs of earlier structures, (built-in the last few hundred years) the unfortunate choice becomes more obvious as a triage approach becomes necessary. The bright side to this story is that nothing gets wasted nowadays.
Antique Fireplace Mantle Prior to Reclamation
The image of a wrecking ball destroying great-grandpa’s cottage is a thing of the past. Thanks to the public awareness of multiple millions of professional and armature reclaimers alike, more people from around the world have developed a passion in reusing and restoring every single old fragment that gets demolished: from this old nails to that old wallpaper!
A stunning antique fireplace in an ancient farmhouse in Europe
There are interesting stories to each reclaimed mantle because they usually capture the essence of the ancient structures they once came from.
Antique fireplace mantle in a french villa in Avignon Circa 1610 A.D.
Even when the fireplace origins are unknown it could still shed a bit of light about its lineage.
Reclaimed Mantle Near the Town of Avignon
By knowing what to look for and paying attention to every minute detail within the mantles one can start understanding the hidden markers.
Reclaimed Mantle Maltese Stars
Just like in humans were the eyes could be the window to the soul, as they say, the mantle midsection could carry a ton of information on who the mantle owners were and what they held dear to their harts.
Ancient Limestone Lintel of an Antique Fireplace Mantle with a French Coat-of-Arms
From a scribbled date or a capitalized initials, to a carved cote-of-arms or an angle cut of a keystone may be found and maybe indicative to the origins of each piece.
Reclaimed Mantles in situ in an Old coastal Italian private villa
The general rule of thumb is that the more unique and individual an antique mantle was, the more pivotal the villa or mansion it must have been in.
Ancient Fireplace Reclaimed from Spain installed in a castle in California Circa 1650
Notably, as time went on, the stone fireplace mantle became a defining marker of nobility and a Status symbols in all European countries and kingdoms with no exception.
Reclaimed Mantle Villa Benata
It became so much so ‘the’ status symbol that it was were many European families chose to carve their Heraldic arms and last names on, which in itself was the most important socioeconomic marker of the 13th century and still is in some ways.
Ancient Norman era fireplace mantle with a threatening coat of arms
Antique Fireplaces 
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