A Lady's Mantel

We don't have a fireplace in our house, but have always intended on putting one in, not a working one but just a pretend one, with a mantel. Me being me, I wanted to buy an old one and see about fixing it up. Rod being Rod, he wanted to build one with my dad's tools. We're doing neither, because we found a TREASURE!

Right now, I'm sitting in my living room, with big band music on the satellite, an empty wineglass to my left and my kitty to my right, and dust absolutely everywhere. The front of the house is pretty much torn off as we install new windows. The dust will have to stay until we're done, I'm afraid. It's been interesting, to say the least. Lots of huge, old rough-hewn beams supporting the house, which we've had to remove and replace as we place our windows and doors in. While taking down part of the ceiling on the enclosed porch, not only did Rod find the old clapboards of the house (which look like they were painted grey), he also found the old molding from on top of the old door, fully intact and still attached to the house. We managed to get it out, and I think it's absolutely gorgeous. Very heavy, so we're wondering what kind of wood it is. It's also painted in greys and blues...I'm going to try stripping it and seeing how the wood is and then guess what? We have our fireplace mantel! Here's a picture of it on its side:

I swear, the picture doesn't do it justice. It's a great find, I promise! I'll post pictures of its progress in the weeks to come.