Fireplace Mantle

Decorating a mantle has always been intimidating to me--I feel all this pressure to make it look like a really amazing focal point and I'm not very good at it. At our last house we had a beautiful fireplace that I always thought about decorating, but I never did too much with it. So in our new house, I thought and thought about what to do with the mantle.
I wanted to paint it white, but that didn't seem to go with the rest of the room. After a couple suggestions of black, I decided to take the risk. I love the way it turned out. So here's my first before and after house project.