Leather Seat

We have a rock wall in our living room that spans 15 feet wide. It's home to our fire place and a mantel that is in need of some rescuing. 

As you can see we are in the works of dressing it up a little. (Ignore the pallet shelf on top that is finished now but wasn't in the picture. Updated post to follow with that soon!) While taking a break from the bedroom re-do I made that cute little bench. 

About two years ago I was working at a furniture store and we had leather fabric samples that were discontinued. There was a pretty big stack just waiting to be thrown away. Knowing someday I would find a purpose to up-cycle them, I kept them stowed away in my craft closet. I sewed the swatches together and then stuffed a pad inside. That made up the seat. For the back I had a little more trouble. I had sewed the leather pieces together and mounted them in a framed board and it just didn't look or feel right. I kept it up pondering for about a week on how I was going to make it fit. Yesterday, I had the hubby cut me a board the length of the seat. We took the fabric and stretched it around the board stapled and stuffed it. Mounted it above the seat and this is what we have.

 I love it so much more now that it looks like it fits. Its comfortable to sit at and filled in the big opening we had beside the fireplace.  

What do you all think? Any suggestions to fill in all this mantel space?

~Keli~