Trophy Room/Home Office in Mississippi

Hi Everyone,

I've been on the forum looking at trophy room pics for years...and I'm finally getting started on my own. I have more questions than I imagined, so I thought I would ask the collective wisdom of the group.

The backstory: I need space to work from home, shop space, plus a little room to park a fifth wheel. My wife couldn't quite "see" it, so I had someone online sketch some 3D plans (attached). My main office/trophy room space is 32 feet wide by 60 feet long. I'll have a small loft at one end, so high ceilings (18.5 feet to the side walls, 23.5 feet to the peak inside).

I'd love any feedback. Since it's a pole barn, I'll have 8x8 inch posts every 12 feet (12' centers). I'll leave these partially exposed to create "bays" about 12 feet wide. I'm thinking to have custom "photo" wallpaper printed to run between the bays (up to 8 feet high). Above the wallpaper, maybe wood panels, sheetrock, or tongue-and-groove. I'd like to have a "band" of space from 10' to 16' for shoulder mounts etc... Long-term, I'd love to add some faux landscaping at the end opposite my desk for life-size taxidermy.

The most important thing I did was put 1/2 inch plywood through my entire trophy room then sheet rock. Now I can hang anything anywhere with great ease and sureness. I have some heavy mounts like Kudu and Buffalo

I got tired of having to locate wall studs

I concur with @Rare Breed I put plywood under the sheet rock also based on advice from several members. With the height you have you will be able to mount most anything in a shoulder mount. Like say a Elephant in the center and radiate out from there. (Although on a ele shoulder mount you might want to also hit a stud behind the shoot rock and plywood.

Add climate controlled storage room and then double that. If you reload, have them build a solid bench with storage shelves and plenty of electrical plugs.

Following with interest as I am working my way up to something similar, just taking a few years. Some nuggets I have tucked away over time:
- 3/4" plywood on the walls so you can hang anything, anywhere (as has been mentioned already)
- Lighting is everything. Most dont like natural light directly on mounts but it looks like you wont have that. Windows lower if you do have them. Track lighting, led's, rope lighting, etc. but think it out. This is the single biggest thing that will make a difference
- Will you need a space to hang pics? Many have multiple hunting pics in addition to mounts.
- Try to have some space for future mounts, most never have enough room for growth
- Personally, I would consider if you will also have any guns to display, a bar area, or any other man cave type space.

Post some pics please as you progress! Cheers!

Thanks everyone!

A few questions, if you don't mind:

1. Would you use 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch plywood? How much does it matter?

2. I have the walls up (framed) and the siding is going up. I found metal
siding that looks like wood (looks great so far). They should be finished with it this coming week.

3. Immediate need...the electrician is running power to future lights. He'll be here this week to finish. From everything I've read, people are saying to have a row of spotlights about 3 feet from the walls for spotlighting and another row about 5 feet out for fill/wash. Here's my problem; if a shoulder mount is at the 14 foot high mark, and my rafters are on 24 inch centers, I can put the lights at 2, 4, 6, 8, etc... feet from the wall. And if you account for ceiling slope plus the metal rafters, a light at 4 feet out would be about 21 feet high. At 2 or 4 feet out, it's just shining the top of the head (of the mount). I just moved a ladder/lift around...and I'm thinking I need to move spotlights out to 8 feet away from the wall with wash lights on a track at 10 feet out. But at that distance, do I end up with too much light washing the entire wall? Does this make sense?

Thanks again!

Throwback said:

Following with interest as I am working my way up to something similar, just taking a few years. Some nuggets I have tucked away over time:
- 3/4" plywood on the walls so you can hang anything, anywhere (as has been mentioned already)
- Lighting is everything. Most dont like natural light directly on mounts but it looks like you wont have that. Windows lower if you do have them. Track lighting, led's, rope lighting, etc. but think it out. This is the single biggest thing that will make a difference
- Will you need a space to hang pics? Many have multiple hunting pics in addition to mounts.
- Try to have some space for future mounts, most never have enough room for growth
- Personally, I would consider if you will also have any guns to display, a bar area, or any other man cave type space.

Post some pics please as you progress! Cheers!

Click to expand...

Exactly what I've heard...lighting makes or breaks it!

Tex .416 said:

Add climate controlled storage room and then double that. If you reload, have them build a solid bench with storage shelves and plenty of electrical plugs.

Click to expand...

Great idea...I'm not reloading yet, but it's on my list.

ryno111 said:

Thanks everyone!

A few questions, if you don't mind:

1. Would you use 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch plywood? How much does it matter?

2. I have the walls up (framed) and the siding is going up. I found metal
siding that looks like wood (looks great so far). They should be finished with it this coming week.

3. Immediate need...the electrician is running power to future lights. He'll be here this week to finish. From everything I've read, people are saying to have a row of spotlights about 3 feet from the walls for spotlighting and another row about 5 feet out for fill/wash. Here's my problem; if a shoulder mount is at the 14 foot high mark, and my rafters are on 24 inch centers, I can put the lights at 2, 4, 6, 8, etc... feet from the wall. And if you account for ceiling slope plus the metal rafters, a light at 4 feet out would be about 21 feet high. At 2 or 4 feet out, it's just shining the top of the head (of the mount). I just moved a ladder/lift around...and I'm thinking I need to move spotlights out to 8 feet away from the wall with wash lights on a track at 10 feet out. But at that distance, do I end up with too much light washing the entire wall? Does this make sense?

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

I had 3/4” plywood installed, kind of a big difference between 1/2” and 3/4” plywood.

You want 3/4" plywood, and not OSB.
1/2" in my opinion is structurally too thin to hold a screw that is bearing weight.

In places you know you're going to hang something heavy, put a 2x6 blocker on face between the studs.

I used 3/4 plywood behind my drywall. It’s way more expensive than OSB, but worth every penny. I trust it for stuff up to deer/wildebeest size. Kudu, eland, elk, and anything bigger still goes in a stud. I had a lag bolt break on me once and drop an eland mount to the floor. Use the biggest one that the hangar will fit over. Use quality hardware. Lots of fasteners now are made from junk steel. Some of my larger mounts are now around 10-12 feet up. Falling from that height could hurt someone. It would certainly destroy the mount. Depending on where you live, earthquakes are also something to keep in mind.

Give some thought to the background wall color and texture. It’s tempting to do something fancy, but you want the mounts to stand out, not blend in.

I thought about installing track lighting and spots, but just went with recessed can lights. It seems to work well enough. The ceilings are so high, adjusting and servicing the lights all the time wasn’t something I thought was practical.

The size seems perfect. It’s a little hard to plan as everything in life is a moving target, and what you don’t spend on the building can translate into more hunts. My winter heating bill went up quite a bit, even though I keep it in the low 50s when we’re not out there.

Rare Breed said:

The most important thing I did was put 1/2 inch plywood through my entire trophy room then sheet rock. Now I can hang anything anywhere with great ease and sureness. I have some heavy mounts like Kudu and Buffalo

Click to expand...

What he said! Very nice design and plenty of room. I need to add on myself.

ryno111 said:

Thanks everyone!

A few questions, if you don't mind:

1. Would you use 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch plywood? How much does it matter?

2. I have the walls up (framed) and the siding is going up. I found metal
siding that looks like wood (looks great so far). They should be finished with it this coming week.

3. Immediate need...the electrician is running power to future lights. He'll be here this week to finish. From everything I've read, people are saying to have a row of spotlights about 3 feet from the walls for spotlighting and another row about 5 feet out for fill/wash. Here's my problem; if a shoulder mount is at the 14 foot high mark, and my rafters are on 24 inch centers, I can put the lights at 2, 4, 6, 8, etc... feet from the wall. And if you account for ceiling slope plus the metal rafters, a light at 4 feet out would be about 21 feet high. At 2 or 4 feet out, it's just shining the top of the head (of the mount). I just moved a ladder/lift around...and I'm thinking I need to move spotlights out to 8 feet away from the wall with wash lights on a track at 10 feet out. But at that distance, do I end up with too much light washing the entire wall? Does this make sense?

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

Wow! Going to be spectacular when complete. Really like the siding. I wish I had considered that when I sided my camp.

Spray foam insulation is a must. I had 80+ people in my trophy room recently on a 94 degree day and the room held at 74 degrees.

John Ed

Andrew62 said:

I had 3/4” plywood installed, kind of a big difference between 1/2” and 3/4” plywood.

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Andrew makes a fair point. I talked to my builder of my trophy room yesterday and he told me he used 3/4 inch plywood in my room not 1/2. my bad!

Following closely, sooner or later I’m going to have to do something similar.
I hadn’t really thought of a pole barn.
Curious question, how and what are your plans for the ceilings.
Any close ups of the siding?

I chose to put 3 Africa lights drop down from the ceiling plus do not forget about having a bar in the room

I used 5/8” plywood, split the difference. I have hung everything including Cape buffalo and a life size crocodile with no issues.

John Ed

AZDAVE said:

I concur with @Rare Breed I put plywood under the sheet rock also based on advice from several members. With the height you have you will be able to mount most anything in a shoulder mount. Like say a Elephant in the center and radiate out from there. (Although on a ele shoulder mount you might want to also hit a stud behind the shoot rock and plywood.

Click to expand...

Thank you

Fixfire said:

Wow! Going to be spectacular when complete. Really like the siding. I wish I had considered that when I sided my camp.

Click to expand...

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