Your trophy room will give you a great way to remember some of your finest hunting memories. After all, it will be filled with some of the greatest mementos and artifacts you have collected from the outdoors. Therefore, it should be designed in a way that celebrates the beauty of nature in all aspects, while also allowing you to revisit the thrill of your most memorable adventures.
Here are some considerations you should keep in mind when designing your ideal trophy room:
- Functionality: While it’s tempting to strive for a museum atmosphere in your trophy room, other people might wish to avoid that sort of stuffy feeling and create a room in which you can entertain family and friends while also showing off a collection. This means working in sitting areas, desks, poker tables, meeting tables, a television, a bar or anything else that can add some usability and fun to the room. Otherwise, you’ll find the room will be seldom used, which sort of defeats the purpose of having it at all.
- The size of the room: Smaller rooms can help you create a more intimate atmosphere, while larger rooms can make for a much more impressive scope. When trying to figure out which room you will put your collection in (or the size of an addition), consider the size of your current collection of art, memorabilia and taxidermy, and how much you are likely to add to that collection in the future. You should also not feel like you have to crowd items together, as the more they become congested, the less significant each piece will feel. Ideally you’d have a room with a wall height of 12 to 14 feet for the ultimate appreciation of each item.
- Materials: Rather than using standard drywall for your trophy room, consider some materials that have more elegance and permanence. Cover the wall studs with some durable ¾ inch plywood, then cover that plywood with sheetrock that is rated as being fire resistant. By using plywood, you can hang trophies anywhere you want in the room without having to worry about finding studs, and the sheetrock ads some protection against fires and is easy to repair if you move items around. Consider using neutral-color walls and flooring to let your decorations and taxidermy be your accent pieces.
- Access: If you’re building the room from scratch specifically to serve as a trophy room, make sure you design it so you have enough room to bring in larger trophies. Some items might necessitate double-door access, like moose heads and bear mounts.
- Electricity: Some items might require electrical access in the middle of the room. If you have furniture in the middle of the room as well, you’ll probably have end tables and lamps there, so it can be a good idea to place electrical outlets in the floor.
- Minimize sunlight: Sunlight will ruin taxidermy, so if you’re designing the space from scratch, minimize windows and skylights. Trophy rooms in existing spaces should have their windows treated with special films to minimize UV light penetration.
For more tips about trophy room design, contact Nature’s Design Taxidermy today!