Trophy Room/Home Office in Mississippi

[ryno111]

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Another idea to consider to give you more space for full body mounts is to wall off a room inside your trophy room and cap it with a shelf. I put my office in the corner with French doors and the shelf above holds some of my sheep. It also gave me more wall space inside the office for some smaller mounts and my gun safe.

That's a great idea...looks amazing.

 

[Rare Breed]

One more thought, I no more get shoulder mounts that stick out into a room. I now get wall pedistal mounts that extend more along the wall which makes them much less intrusive

 

[RESERVE RANCH]

To y’all that have built dedicated trophy rooms, what do you feel the sweet spot is for the height of the side walls? I’m thinking 12 feet.
The tallest mounts I will probably ever have will be kudu or gemsbok, but they would go on one of the end walls that are vaulted ( not sure that is the correct term )
My current room was just a closed in garage with vaulted ceilings, converted when we built the house but at that time I only had a few whitetail a blacktail and a ton of waterfowl so only had dreams of Africa at the time.

This depends on the width of the room but I went with 16' as you can still appreciate the detail of most mounts. This allows you to put the kudu, eland, gemsbok, etc up high and smaller shoulder mounts below.

John Ed

 

[Beck]

Here is what it looks like with 13’ walls, track lighting, clear cedar ceiling and simple vinyl wall covering in light gray which highlights the animals well. And it’s all supported by 3/4” plywood on 2x6 studs.

View attachment 769459

I feel like this room might need a Bongo.

 

[Huntforever]

I live to see more pictures of trophy rooms!!!

Also what size rooms is best ?

 

[ryno111]

I live to see more pictures of trophy rooms!!!

Also what size rooms is best ?

I don't think it matters...it will always be too small

I've seen some cool rooms that were nothing more than a small shed...and some cool rooms that were a giant warehouse. I think ceiling height makes a difference (go taller if you can). My original plans were to use a shipping container, but I ended up needing more space (for work).

 

[Bill Thom]

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!

Greetings- I am going thru a similar situation with my own trophy room/man cave. We are renovating and old barn 24 X 65 ft . 27 ft peak at the high point of the ceiling. I would suggest you go with 3/4 inch plywood over the 1/2. Also are you using sprayfoam insulation? if so that also add some heft and stability for bigger trophies etc. We all have different style preferences but would suggest you consider more neutral rustic wall treatment for the floor-8 ft line and go with wood. Reclaimed barn or bead board (wainscot?) would be very tasteful . Some go with a light coat of plaster over sheet rock for the remaining vertical section of wall to take you up to the eaves line. Inexpensive , easy. Lightly sanded and painted with off white matt or limewash gives a genuinely lux/rugged feel . Then trophies can be added or moved at will with quick easy cover up etc . Plus a shelf at the break point between wood and sheet rock is well suited to full mounts of mid sized game. Unfortunately I doont have pics but if there is too much open space above the panel line full skins of plains game (include face and tail) make excellent place holders. Gemsbok skins presented this way can be stunning. good luck with your project!

 

[Huntforever]

No Pictures?

 

[DLSJR]

Wow! What do you mean by vinyl wall covering? This looks great.

It’s simply wall paper that is a vinyl product rather than paper based. It’s a light gray color but comes in a range of colors/shades. I’m not sure what’s available now as we put that up nearly 39 years ago.

 

[ryno111]

Greetings- I am going thru a similar situation with my own trophy room/man cave. We are renovating and old barn 24 X 65 ft . 27 ft peak at the high point of the ceiling. I would suggest you go with 3/4 inch plywood over the 1/2. Also are you using sprayfoam insulation? if so that also add some heft and stability for bigger trophies etc. We all have different style preferences but would suggest you consider more neutral rustic wall treatment for the floor-8 ft line and go with wood. Reclaimed barn or bead board (wainscot?) would be very tasteful . Some go with a light coat of plaster over sheet rock for the remaining vertical section of wall to take you up to the eaves line. Inexpensive , easy. Lightly sanded and painted with off white matt or limewash gives a genuinely lux/rugged feel . Then trophies can be added or moved at will with quick easy cover up etc . Plus a shelf at the break point between wood and sheet rock is well suited to full mounts of mid sized game. Unfortunately I doont have pics but if there is too much open space above the panel line full skins of plains game (include face and tail) make excellent place holders. Gemsbok skins presented this way can be stunning. good luck with your project!

Excellent ideas. Thank you.

How do you think a sky blue plaster would look?

 

[coreydb]

Awesome layout!

 

[jpr9954]

It’s simply wall paper that is a vinyl product rather than paper based. It’s a light gray color but comes in a range of colors/shades. I’m not sure what’s available now as we put that up nearly 39 years ago.

I spent a summer after college working for a wall papering company. We hung a lot of vinyl wallpaper in for a hospital expansion. They liked it because it was longer lasting than paint and was easier to keep clean (and sterile).

 

[jpr9954]

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.

Since you will have an office in there, are you putting in any sort of a HVAC system? I imagine in Mississippi it could get quite hot even if it was well insulated.

 

[Rare Breed]

Since you will have an office in there, are you putting in any sort of a HVAC system? I imagine in Mississippi it could get quite hot even if it was well insulated.

No question about it. I was lucky given it was easy to hook in my main HVAC system

 

[ryno111]

Since you will have an office in there, are you putting in any sort of a HVAC system? I imagine in Mississippi it could get quite hot even if it was well insulated.

The HVAC guy is about to get started. 2 x 3 ton units. And since I was concerned about the high ceilings, I was able to catch a 12' Big Ass Fan on sale. It definitely gets hot down here!

 

[ryno111]

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?

Siding pics.

 

[Rare Breed]

I live to see more pictures of trophy rooms!!!

Also what size rooms is best ?

Thats like asking how many rifles do you have...of course the correct answer is not enough!!!!

 

[C.W. Richter]

'Builder of my shop (40x60x24) made the rear 20'x40' an insulated, climate-controlled combined music, reloading/gunsmithing and trophy room (w/ big double barn doors that open into the main shop if I ever wanted to use it for a party/picnic pavilion in bad weather, etc.). I could hunt out of it as a senior citizen (but we are considering a widow's watch or gun turret or oceanside home style roof peak deck w/ staircase or dumbwaiter for that (as I could look over huge areas of 2 farms with pet rifles)! He used OSB being covered by not drywall but nice, smooth light decorative plastic sheeting (and all screws go into studs). I just started moving and hanging animals from home and (at my 85 y/o Mother's request lol) from a restored farmhouse as well. Dad's old 32 ft ladder sways like hell when you climb it!!! (I'll use the front end loader with forklift cage/help for the big stuff. That's how we trim branches in the vicinity of stands.) *One thing the builder did that made perfect sense...the OSB had blue lines on 16 in centers, so he left just a bit exposed top and bottom (which will eventually be covered by trim). Snap a chalkline (if the OSB is covered) and start screwing! I like to put animals at a height that signifies the elevation it prefers (goats/sheep on top, etc.) with the big centerpiece animals in the center of a cluster of animals from teh same region. Stagering animals in different rows looks very good on walls with sloping roof peaks. At home I have the African wall, NA, Euro, etc. but one (or 2 spread out) wall of the shop room will handle the 4 walls I have covered at home plus 2 at the farmhouse. I'll likely keep some prized ones in my new house living room and office. Very Nice Job on yours so far! Mine probably won't be complete until year end as I take a couple-few animals with me everytime I go there...Occasionally they ride shotgun and/or back seat with seatbelts on (it gets some strange looks on the highway!)

 

[Rare Breed]

Seriously unless you are building a trophy room the rest of us are converting a room. In my case my walls and ceilings were finite. I was able to add my 3/4 plywood then lights. From there it was stepping back and thinking through my current taxi versus pictures and any future of both before I put the first animal up

 

[Huntforever]

'Builder of my shop (40x60x24) made the rear 20'x40' an insulated, climate-controlled combined music, reloading/gunsmithing and trophy room (w/ big double barn doors that open into the main shop if I ever wanted to use it for a party/picnic pavilion in bad weather, etc.). I could hunt out of it as a senior citizen (but we are considering a widow's watch or gun turret or oceanside home style roof peak deck w/ staircase or dumbwaiter for that (as I could look over huge areas of 2 farms with pet rifles)! He used OSB being covered by not drywall but nice, smooth light decorative plastic sheeting (and all screws go into studs). I just started moving and hanging animals from home and (at my 85 y/o Mother's request lol) from a restored farmhouse as well. Dad's old 32 ft ladder sways like hell when you climb it!!! (I'll use the front end loader with forklift cage/help for the big stuff. That's how we trim branches in the vicinity of stands.) *One thing the builder did that made perfect sense...the OSB had blue lines on 16 in centers, so he left just a bit exposed top and bottom (which will eventually be covered by trim). Snap a chalkline (if the OSB is covered) and start screwing! I like to put animals at a height that signifies the elevation it prefers (goats/sheep on top, etc.) with the big centerpiece animals in the center of a cluster of animals from teh same region. Stagering animals in different rows looks very good on walls with sloping roof peaks. At home I have the African wall, NA, Euro, etc. but one (or 2 spread out) wall of the shop room will handle the 4 walls I have covered at home plus 2 at the farmhouse. I'll likely keep some prized ones in my new house living room and office. Very Nice Job on yours so far! Mine probably won't be complete until year end as I take a couple-few animals with me everytime I go there...Occasionally they ride shotgun and/or back seat with seatbelts on (it gets some strange looks on the highway!)

Pictures?