I Googled images for 'Decor for long mantel with little space above', and came up with THIS

Not many have the shorter space above as you do, but you might get some ideas from some of the photos here. You know what pieces you have on hand, and what you may want to buy to accent them. Even though some of these have more wall space than you do above, some of them have lower decor on theirs.

Also, if you show us more of the room, we might be able to suggest items, as we see your decorating style. The coral/orange accents sound great to me, as I love the color orange! :-)

Great comments! Here's a pic of another part of the space. The fireplace resides in the rear half of a front to back living room. The room is informally divided into 3 spaces - fireplace w/seating, TV area, kids' play area. Below is a pic of the TV area that sits next to the fireplace. As you can see the rug has many colors but I had the orange-ish pillows so that's the color that's being highlighted right now.

Your room is very pretty! Could you take a pic of the whole fireplace wall, from back farther than the one you posted?

I like the burnt orange accents. Maybe try a rectangular mirror, flanked with a pair of taller copper candlesticks (to tie in what I think is a copper tray on your table), on the side that allows for more height (right side if you're facing the mantel) and a pretty pottery bowl of flowers or greenery on the other side? Here is a mirror to consider, that will pull the grays from the stone nicely. Without knowing your exact measurements, I'm not sure sure if this actual mirror would work, but something like this could...

I was also thinking mirror, depending on what's reflected.

As an aside, I've looked at this rug, I think. How do you like it IRL?

Nosoccermom- I looked for large rugs on a budget FOREVER!! I finally landed on this one and think it was a good choice. It is not overly plush but it is plush enough. My main criteria was that it had to be dark or patterned to minimize the black dog hair from my lab, which inevitably makes a light rug look dirty and also hide occasional spills by my busy family. It serves those purposes very well. It doesn't feel like a very expensive rug but also not very cheap. Somewhere in the middle. It was very affordable for an 8'x11' rug. I hope that helps.

Thanks for the new photo. At first I was thinking something really simple and minimalist; I might do 3 framed pieces, arranged horizontally, of course, good sized, probably square, to mostly fill the space. I wanted to see the right side where the ceiling ends to see if maybe, two square pieces on the left and middle, then a tall piece on the right that goes above the place where the ceiling ends. It might work, or it might look really weird!

Then I saw these and thought maybe layering would be your best bet, to detract from the lack of height:

One thing that might help in the future would be to paint the wall and ceiling the same color so there isn't that distinct visual line marking where the space above the mantel ends.

I think I would try and make the mantle appear chunkier without decreasing visual vertical space. Have you considered adding corbel support to the outside edge of mantle? A faux application could simply be sconces butted up to the mantle. I think 2 large arrows horizontally placed above mantle different directions and one vertical pointing up at right outside edge of fireplace would bring your look together with that fabulous rug. I know you didn't ask, but I think the pictures above the couch would look better place side by side over the cubicle storage unit. Visually there are a lot of square shapes going on. Very cozy and inviting space.

Here is my solution for you

Bar brackets, counter top support brackets, Granite overhang support · More Info

Bar brackets, counter top support brackets, Granite overhang support · More Info