A mantel can be ornate or simple.
A mantel frames a fireplace, anchoring it and creating a focal point in the room. The mantel can act as a piece of art on its own or a display area for your most precious object d'art. The decor of the room should set the tone for the mantel style. An ornate mantel would look overly fussy in a spare, modern room, while a slate mantel may feel too heavy in a room full of Victoriana. Does this Spark an idea?
Rustic
Frontiersmen used whatever materials they had on hand when building their cabins and fireplaces with mantels. Often those mantels would be built from split logs, sheets of shale or bricks made on site. Today, these materials are a rustic reminder of earlier times, and they fit well into a country, folk art or log cabin home decor. Logs, shale and bricks are long-lasting and rarely need sealants to preserve them.
Victorian
Victorian mantels were often mass-produced by wood mills that could reproduce details such as ornate swags of flowers, ribbons and scrollwork rendered to look like hand carving. Mass production made these mantels more affordable for middle-class homes, and they often boasted ornate side scrollwork and multi-tiered overmantel shelves for display of the home's treasures. Victorian mantels were fairly easy to remove, and because they were mass-produced, are plentiful in architectural salvage yards.
Arts and Crafts
Arts and Crafts mantels have much less ornamentation than their Victorian counterparts. Their sides tend to have clean lines widening outward at the feet, resembling the exterior pillars of an Arts and Crafts house. Cove molding supports the mantel from beneath. Original Arts and Crafts mantels often had a large overmantel that contained a long mirror that reflected the clear finishes used to showcase the wood grain.
Antique
French Louis XV mantels were often a combination of wood and sculpted and painted plaster of Paris as was common in the 18th century. Ornate friezes of flowers and trailing vines and leaves were applied to the the center and sides of the mantel to adorn the carved arches and curves. These ornate elements of the mantel were often reflected in the carvings on the room's opulent ceilings and furniture.
Modern
Modern fireplace design calls for a simple, unadorned mantel with clean lines. Contemporary room decor may take advantage of the space a modern mantel affords by encasing speakers built into the front side of the mantel. The top of the mantel could then support state of the art technology such as a flat screen TV or an MP3 player. The modern mantel can also be left bare for a spare, clean effect.
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