Furnishing Friday: Living Room Mantel

A friend suggested that I share the story of our living room mantel for one Furnishing Friday, and I thought it would be fun to try to pull that together!  (Also, it gives me a chance to show off my understated Easter decor.  Forgive the little pink egg--she's had a lot of trouble staying upright.)

Item: Living Room Mantel
Who Purchased: J & JE
Year Purchased/Received: 2008  (Read the story of the weekend we found it here)
Location Purchased/Received: An Antique Affair, a Lexington antique show. 
Description:  The mantel stands 51 inches tall, and the top piece is five feet across.  The paint is almost entirely chipped off of the top piece of the mantel, as well as the bottoms of the support pieces.  The center opening is 37 inches high and 31 inches across.  The mantel is solid wood, though I am afraid I don't know what type, and we believe it was built in the 1800's.
Markings: None.
How it came to the MP: I shared the story of buying the mantel, as well as why I wanted one, here.  I think it's worth pointing out that we've layered the mantel with other pieces (pictured on the blog for the first time here--apparently I never got around to writing a post-- and here) so well that folks who enter our house for the first time (and subsequent times until we let them in on the secret) truly believe we have a fireplace.  This is really more than I could have hoped for!  When we bought the mantel, I had a pristine white mantel in the picture in my head and intended to clean this one up quite a bit.  Entropy being what it is around the MP, it remained chippy and over time I grew to like it this way.  Our burlap table runner and canvas drop cloth curtains are a result of the evolution of style kicked off by the chippy mantel.  What I love about the mantel is that if I do ever want to redo it, the lines are fabulous and it will make a lovely mantel either way.