Fine Finishes

Mad for Mantels While fireplace mantel maker Chesney’s keeps a stock of more than 300 restored antique stone and marble fireplaces and retains an archive of roughly 500 more antique designs, many clients seek out the firm for its contemporary mantel designs. Including modern, Art Deco, and minimalist styles, the Contemporary collection blends architectural form with functionality. Chesney’s not only offers antique and hand-carved contemporary and period reproduction mantels but also provides a custom mantel design service. Working in English bathstone, Portuguese limestone, Carrara, and statuary white marble, the firm can create mantels from client sketches, full drawings, or photos, but also can work with the client to develop a design. For custom design projects, clients receive full working drawings showing all carving details. Standard designs can be custom-sized to fit a project’s scale as well and for this service clients receive simple drawings that show the changes from standard sizes.

The London-based firm offers special finishes such as tea-staining as well as a range of other techniques to give marble an aged look. While Chesney’s does not provide installation services, it can recommend an installer. Stocked pieces may take up to eight weeks for delivery. For custom mantels, the firm estimates 16 to 20 weeks for delivery. Chesney’s. 866.840.0609. www.chesneys-usa.com.

Courtesy Chesney’s Carved Details From design and fabrication of stone and wood architectural elements to complete building services, Oxford, England-based Symm Group is versatile enough to provide the level of service and involvement required by the client.

Courtesy Symm Group The firm’s wood carving and joinery—which includes columns, paneling, library bookcases, complete paneled rooms, cabinetry, staircases, doors, moldings, and more—is typically done in European hardwoods such as walnut and English oak to minimize movement of the finished pieces. Symm specializes in historically accurate English design, drawing on nearly 200 years of experience to produce replicas of period pieces. In addition to joinery the firm also excels in finishing work. Restoring antique woodwork has given Symm’s craftsmen the expertise to reproduce aged and period finishes. Traditional natural beeswax finishes and high-luster French polishing, as well as gilding and bleaching are available. The craftsmen at Symm’s stone division, APS Masonry, also hand-carve nearly any structural or decorative element out of a variety of stones such as limestone, coral stone, or bathstone. Symm Group. 212.752.7945. www.symmgroup.com.