I think it's unique and would embrace it. Paint or replace the screen to a black one. You could do a piece of art the size of the firebox with tall candlesticks or topiaries on the ends of the mantle. You could do horizontal art that is the width from the 1st step on each side and the height of the firebox.

The first thing that I would do is to paint the wall behind it a vibrant colour to make this jewel be the show piece of the room , next I would suggest using only 3 pieces leaving the steps empty use metal or crystal . A pair of these perhaps!

Let us try to paint this wall as Geneviève suggested.

It looks better with accent wall. More drama :-)))

Can you post a photo of the whole wall.

Here is picture of entire wall.

I've got a couple of thoughts but would you mind sharing more photos of the entire space otherwise we may not be giving the best ideas for you to consider since we don't know what else is going on in the space.

More photos

More photos

More photos

Are you done decorating the rest of the room?

No- it’s my son’s house. Open to ideas for the whole room

Usually I would recommend the mantle decorating last as that is driven by the style of the room determined by the furnishings.

How will this room be used? TV watching? Just entertaining, etc? So of what is in the room, is all of it being kept? And what would he like to add to it? I see a mix of quite a few styles. Does he have any vision for it?

Sorry! but no candles for this one, unless you want to have an altar in your living room .

following, very interesting mantel

Nancy, love the character of the fireplace ! I would leave the “step-ups” unadorned and focus attention on trying to carry the vertical line of the narrowest center part upward toward the ceiling . The simplest way would be to ( when you are ready to select art after the rest of the room has been decorated , as Ted says ) use a tall vertical piece of art , not wider than that center part to simulate a FP that continues upward . — Something a bit more structural and more dimensional would be to fir out just that narrow section up to the ceiling , drywall it , and then panel it or clad it with brick veneer painted white. —- If just using art, it would be interesting to paint the wood trim black ( to emphasize the stepped up shape even further ) and then use the same size black framing on your art piece . —- sending some inspiration pics. ( disregard the wood beam mantels - or not ? ). -

Much like celerygirl’s art, but not resting directly on the mantel ( which probably just appears that way because of photoshop ) - you get the idea... but here is a visual -

Nancy, depending upon the view it would reflect, you could also just use a fabulous and interesting mirror over the FP. I would suggest a dark metal frame. There are some beautiful Art Deco mirrors out there , but many might be too ornate or not “manly :) “ enough for your son. ( BTW, what a great mom to be helping out your son with his home this way ! )

Some more -

Maybe consider adding to the brick to level the mantle out.