I am a new owner of a historical building on Main Street in Cobleskill, NY.  This property had been remodeled many times over the years and now needed a complete renovation, and the aging aluminum storefront needed replacing.  My plan for the property was to open a new bar and restaurant.  With only a general idea of what I needed for a layout and some pictures of the building when it was first built, I went to see Denis at Meara Woodworking.  Denis, being the preservationist that he is, proposed re-producing the original historical storefront and entry and building the bar and back bar to emulate the same time period.  I did agree this would work for my new business and in some way be good for the neighborhood.  Denis designed and built everything at his local shop, and with the help of another skilled craftsman, John Brophy, they installed it.  Hardly a day passes without someone commenting on the quality of his work. Quality craftsmanship like this certainly speaks for itself.  I have seen his other work and it does seem he can turn his hand to anything made of wood, so when people ask, I highly recommend his shop.

John Nolan

Owner

My wife and I purchased and reconstructed a 19th century brownstone in downtown Albany two years ago. The building had been abandoned for years and much of the amazing woodwork that was once a shining symbol of the times had either rotted, warped, or was impossible to restore. We had contacted several specialist and all the quotes except Denis' were unreasonable. But it wasn't just the quote that attracted us to work with Denis. He explained the process he would use in layman's terms and answered all of our questions. We decided to work with him to restore our front doors. After taking the doors, Denis called us to meet with him and explain they were beyond repair, the doors had rotted to the point where he couldn't restore them. Denis is such a stand up guy that he brought the doors with him and showed us before coming up with a solution. Denis customized a replicate of our original doors and incorporated salvageable pieces into the new doors. After a few weeks, he called us again and presented the most amazing custom doors we could imagine. He was able to keep the brass numbers and door handles, replicate the molding, and polish the brass. I highly recommend working with him, because I surely will soon.

Jonathan Jones