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Chestnut Wood
This is an example of a custom designed fire surround using chestnut wood to suit existing chestnut furniture.
Limestone surround
A design and creation of a limestone surround with installation to suit our customer's design.
Limestone with Cast Iron Insert
This job involved making a limestone surround to a similar style of one seen in a brochure. We created a tailored size to suit the cast iron insert.
Limestone custom design
Creation of a limestone surround to a similar style of one seen in a brochure. We tailor sized this to fit the existing chimney breast.
Oak with carvings
A creation of a fireplace surround in oak with wood carving. Our customer requested a finished fire opening created with cut roofing tiles and riven black slate hearth and slips. All design was tailormade to our customer's specifications following a consultation.
Pippy Oak
A tailormade oak surround to fit in a kitchen room. The oak was pippy oak chosen to match the existing cabinets.
An external building restoration project. The inner piece was selected specifically because it had a large opening that could be used for cooking purposes.
Hole in wall fire
An example of a Hole in wall fire. This customer required a modern, eyecatching, minimalistic fire with a limestone framing and including a remote control gas fire with artificial pebbles.
Rechelle Surround
Our customer selected a polished cast iron insert with old tiles and a polished cast iron surround which we supplied and installed. We also fitted a traditional tiled hearth.
Sussex Stone
This fireplace was purchased from Rotherfield Place. The fireplace had been fitted in an extension wing in 1897 which had been formed by Lord Lindsey Hawk (the initials of which can be seen engraved on the top left hand side of the fireplace). The reason we were able to obtain these fireplaces from this listed building was because the current owner was replacing the fireplaces with earlier edition fireplaces from 15th Century. The fire was shown to a customer within in the local area, for whom we had fitted a number of fireplaces in their home.
The eyecatching design interested them and we prepared new foundations around the immediate area of the fireplace to hold the weight of the stone fireplace. The room that this fireplace was fitted in was of large proportions as it was originally used as a large dining hall for a private school. This fireplace therefore, gave an excellent finishing feature to this room setting.
Oak flooring
This 14inch wide solid oak flooring was selected for a large kitchen room that had a concrete floor base. As the boards were so wide, they needed to be drilled and screwed to solid timber joists to prevent them from warping. We counter sunk the screws then covered them with oak plugs within the holes. Due to flooring levels we had to cut channels within the concrete and fix the timber joists into this and fix the flooring on top thus allowing for circulation under the boards. The hard wax oil finish was ideal for the traffic experienced within kitchens, as additional layers can be applied without the need for sanding. Each board was individually hand bevelled on its edges so as to highlight the width of each board.
Marble Restoration
This fireplace which we are awaiting instructions on. It is fitted within a hotel. As the statutory marble fire is heavily stained it will require specialist cleaning and detailed, careful repair work of fractures from ourselves. Each of the small hairline fractures in the carved centre panel of the fireplace need to be repaired taking special care to ensure they do not enlarge further and result in the collapse of the middle panel.
Marble Fire Restoration
This fireplace had extensive damage to the marble arched area. Keeping the fireplace legs in their original position, all the internal material was removed thus creating a large square shaped opening. A matt black tiled hearth was then laid, on which the insert would sit. The marble surround had to be stripped of the existing paint and then treated with a marble poltice to remove existing stains and bring the marble back to its original splendour. Next, an appropriate marble of the same colour and vein patterning was selected, for use as the centre panel and leg slips.Finally, a reproduction insert chosen by the customer was fitted, along with the marble pieces which formed the surround.
Stone Fire Restoration*
This Sussex limestone fire surround was removed from a mansion home in East Sussex that belonged to Lord Lindsay Hawk. The fire surround dated back to 1897 which was around the time that Lord Lindsay Hawk had an extension wing added to the home. The fireplace was purchased from us to be fitted in an extremely large dining room of a home which had previously been used as a school and later as a residence for troops during the war period. Having purchased many other fires from us for their home, the owners requested that we make a recommendation for a fireplace that complemented the room. We carried out the full installation of this fireplace which has brought them much satisfaction.
Crowborough
Customer had an existing art deco style surround and insert which they wanted to change for a more traditional look. We therefore had to remove the tiles and the wooden arch within the centre and select timber that would match the existing side columns and shelf in order to create the new centre panel. We then had to colour match it to the existing timber and install a cast iron tiled insert and a slate hearth along with a gas fire.
Ferndale
The customer had a badly damaged painted carrara marble surround with old brown tiles that had been fitted in the 1930’s. We therefore had to remove the damaged arched marble centre panel along with the brown tiled inner piece and to hand strip the marble surround. We then colour and grain matched the marble from our reserves of original marble, and installed a reproduction cast iron insert chosen by our customer. We installed replacement marble inner slips and the centre panel and fitted a black tiled hearth. This fireplace chimney shaft needed relining as it had suffered deterioration and was not suitable for use. We carried out the needed flue work.
Frant
Tall wooden surround restoration which was originally painted white . This fireplace had suffered fire damage to the underside of the opening, due to being badly fitted. The fireplace was removed and hand stripped at our workshop.The burnt areas were cut back large enough to fit slate slips around the opening and the damaged wood was replaced using matching timber. The slate slips not only gave an attractive look to the fire, but along with the concrete lintel we installed, they provided a fireproof barrier to the surround. The internal brick area was then cleaned and a slate hearth was fitted. The surround was then waxed and installed, along with the fire grate we had restored. This tall painted pine surround had suffered fire damage from having been poorly and badly fitted. We removed it and took it back to our workshop to hand strip it back to bare timber after which we cut away the areas that had been charcoaled by the fire. We colour matched the timber to the existing surround and replaced all the damaged areas. We then made the opening size larger on the surround in order to fit slate slips behind the surround. This would allow us to make a fire place barrier between the fire basket and the wooden surround. A concrete lintel was also fitted above the fire opening and the slate centre piece was then fitted in front of it to produce a fireproof barrier to the underside of the wooden surround. The brickwork was then cleaned within the opening and the cast iron back panel and fire basket were also restored. A slate hearth was also fitted. The wooden surround was waxed finished.
Groombridge
A living room – The existing fireplace was arranged with many different building materials and therefore looked too busy. The customer wanted to achieve a more classic and tasteful look. We therefore removed the tiled inner area so as to achieve a large opening. We then rendered the brickwork and fitted the slate hearth and slate inner slips and cleaned the stains and dirt from the marble fire surround. There was a lot of building works being carried out at the house and during the works, one of the pendant shapes from the centre of the fireplace was lost. We re-carved and fitted this shape. The surround was then polished and a fire basket was supplied by us.
Groombridge no 2
This is a listed building and so the alteration choices were limited. We therefore sandblasted the brickwork to remove the soot staining and repaired the break in the cast iron back panel. We then cleaned it and re-polished it. We applied a stone sealer to the brickwork to prevent any future staining.
Inglenook
This fireplace was in a 300 year old house. The previous owners had carried out some alterations to it by building new brick columns down the side and centre. We removed the brick work and supported the oak beam. We rebuilt the side column using bricks from the same type and time period. We then sandblasted the brickwork to remove any dirt and paint and removed the mortar joints in preparation for repointing. Damaged and crumbling bricks were removed and replaced. We then fitted a black stone hearth and repointed the brickwork in a lime, mortar and sand mix so as to keep the pointing work consistant. The sand used was a sharp sand mix as the old mortar used always had small stones in it. This would match exactly the previous style.
London marble
This fireplace needed the paint removing from the cast iron insert and for the insert to be polished to a pewter finish. The existing bars were replaced with a more suitable style for the original time period of the fire. The marble surround was then cleaned to remove dirt and stains.
St Marks Road
This fireplace was existing within a large living room but had become discoloured and stained over the years and so we cleaned the dirt and stains from the stone surround and the red brickwork. We also cleaned the stone hearth and blackened the fire basket and the recess. We then applied stone and brick sealer to prevent further staining.
Window repairs
These windows had been restored throughout the years but unfortunately had not been restored correctly. Therefore water was getting behind the timbers and rotting the wood. We first had to remove the paint so as to see the areas that were rotten and had suffered water damage. We then cut away the rotten areas back to a solid sound base so as to be able to replace the areas with replacement timber. We used reclaimed pine which had a measure of pitch in it that would act as a natural water protection and on some of the lower sills we replaced it with solid oak. The timbers were then given several coats of wood preserver and primer undercoat and gloss. The surrounding brickwork to the windows was also sealed as one of the problems was that water was passing through the brickwork and soaking into the timber that was in direct contact with it.
Woodwork Repairs - High Rocks 1
This is a well known historical meeting point known as ‘High Rocks’ in Tunbridge Wells. It is listed down as a national monument and dates back to the Victorian age where it was frequently visited as a popular family destination. The entranceway to the 'Rocks' had fallen into disrepair and needed extensive restoration work to replace the rotten timbers. As the venue is now used as a popular wedding site, on the weekends many weddings often take place there. Therefore as the work was extensive we were unable to complete all the works within a short period of time. Our working hours had to be flexible and we also had to be careful about the access equipment we used for carrying out repairs. No permanent scaffolding could be used as the entrance way is often needed to appear in the wedding photographs. This also meant that we had to carry out the restoration work in stages and then repaint areas (in preparation for the weekend wedding), and that would, the following week, need stripping back and then wood repairs carrying out. The lower areas of timber near the ground were badly rotten and needed replacing. The spire had also rotten and the timbers which the tiles sat, even though this was visually disguised by the layers and layers of paint. The timbers underneath were terribly rotten therefore the tiles needed removing on both sides and the timbers replacing. The spire was hand carved by us so as to be the exact replica of the original Victorian design copied from an old postcard. The surrounding timbers that lead up to the spire needed replacing. Mortis and tenons were created to securely fix the post in place. We had to re-shape these pieces to match with the existing wood fretwork. Some of the wood details were hand stripped back to bare timber and were given several coats of exterior oil. The roof tiles were then reset back in place and the woodwork was painted with many coats so as to preserve it.
Woodwork Repairs - High Rocks 2
This is the High Rocks building where the wedding receptions take place, with a steam train that runs along the back. As you face the building, the top right spire had suffered bad deterioration and rot and therefore needed large sections of it replacing. Instead of replacing the whole column (as this would have required a large amount of disruption to the surrounding area), we cut away all the rotten wood, and fitted in a large block of Douglas Fir pine which we then shaped to match the other spires on the building. We then carved the same patterning in the posts and applied a wood stain and preserver to match the existing timberwork. We accessed the spire via a skylift to avoid having scaffolding blocking the building, which is used for wedding photos.
Contemporary, traditional, classic and modern fireplaces in all types of materials.
All members of our restoration team have years of experience in which types of timber and cuts are best for each application and have the skills needed in turning that piece into a finished masterpiece. 
Original Styles specialize within the restoration of all types of fireplace hearths. 
All our fitters are fully trained with each having a minimum of 15 years installation experience and are Hetas registered to ensure that the intallation is carried out safely and in compliance with local authority and government standards.