The new trophy office / trophy room construction begins in earnest tomorrow morning.

We've completed demolition and the framers arrive tomorrow to do their thing.

The plan is to convert 1500 feet of 100 year old commercial space adjacent to my law offices into a new private office for me with an included conference area, media center, lounge, and library. Other than three load bearing columns, the entire space will be open with no interior walls.

The space measures 30x50 with 13 foot ceilings. We've demoed down to masonry walls and will come back with 2x4 studs covered with 3/4" plywood from floor to ceiling. Speaking of the ceiling, it will be copper with walnut beams. We will install a walnut wainscot and trim as well as some walnut floor-to-ceiling panels to feature my favorite trophies. Drywall will cover the areas that are not walnut. The floors will be hardwood. Lots of can lights and spots. Hundreds of yards of voice and data cables.

It will be "fun" and I cannot wait to get it completed. My taxidermist is ready to get it done too. He has full mount tahr and whitetail ready for delivery as well as shoulder mount red stag and whitetail. He says leopard, buff, eland, and waterbuck will be ready in 60 days or less, so they need a home, FAST.

I'll post some pics from time to time.

I am absolutely NOT jealous of your new facility.

Absolutely NOT!

Good on you!

Rich
DRSS

Hope you plan to keep this thread full of on-going pics of the job being done. Will be fun to watch it come together.

Congratulations Will.... I know it will be stellar. I will have to get by a have a first hand look at it sometime.
Andy

Will, congrats on what sounds like will be a great office/trophy room. I am curious, since this is an office, how well does a bunch of taxidermy go over with your clients?

quote:

Originally posted by Sevens:
Will, congrats on what sounds like will be a great office/trophy room. I am curious, since this is an office, how well does a bunch of taxidermy go over with your clients?

I'm in rural, Northeast Alabama where hunting and the outdoors are a rite of passage for most boys and many girls. Against that backdrop, most of our clients really appreciate the trophies and comment on how beautiful they are. Currently, we have 50 or so mounts in the back half of our "old" office. These mounts will be moving down the hall with me when the renovation is done. While most people appreciate the animals, our big conference room is adjacent to our main entry and is taxidermy free. As a result, most folks are not innundated with dead things from the moment they walk in.

Safari-lawyer

You are going to love it. I have a office stuffed with 3 kinds of bears, muskox, 1 eland with a Lord Derby on the way. Many more and don't forget the birds. I have 13 Sea Ducks on the way to fill in the gaps. For those who live at work its the only time to see our trophys. God I need a government job or at least a union job.

Advice--- NO WINDOWS or very few with internal and aftermarket UV filters. I have UV free bulbs. Kx-2000/3M The box says www.bulbrite.com

Enjoy it!

SG

Will, I'm right behind you. I am finishing up the plans for submission this week. I built one 3 years ago, but it's already been maxed out. This one will be 16'x28' with 14' ceilings, so it might last me a while.

Will,

Congrats!

I'm looking forward in seeing the progress!

COOL..good on you

Roland

You will like the way the copper ceiling looks. Congrats on the new facility.

Will,

Sounds great, I cannot wait to see pics. But are you sure it's big enough?

Great idea on the plywood lining. We did that on mine, easy to put that bolt anywhere you want, rather than look for a stud.

And yes, it will cost over your budget.

Have fun!

Will,

Judging by the beautiful job you did on your new study in your home, I'd say we're all in for a treat when you post your photos of this trophy room upon completion. Can't wait!

Glen

Well, we are two weeks in and things are coming along. We've done the electrical, voice, TV, and data wiring, framed up the 14' studs, applied plywood, and completed the rough HVAC work. Here are some pics of our progress.

Here we are pre-demo:


As well as post demo:


Here is a shot of the new studs going in:


And covering the whole joint with 3/4 plywood:



Beams, support columns, etc.


Completed plywood install:




New can lights and duct work:


More to come . . .

Will,

That's going to be a sweet room!

Looking good, can't wait to see the finished product with some mounts in there!

Chris

It will be SWEET! Can't wait to see it finished. That's only 5 hours away, I might have to cruise down and check it out sometime...

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Will, I'm right behind you. I am finishing up the plans for submission this week. I built one 3 years ago, but it's already been maxed out. This one will be 16'x28' with 14' ceilings, so it might last me a while.

Half my TR has 14 foot ceilings. Perfect height. Allows you to put in windows but have big animals above them. Big stuff is stunning. Our living room has 20 foot ceilings; I can honestly say that is too high to mount anything. In fact, it is too for anything period.

Looking good Will !!!
...Glad you didn't keep the baby blue and pink columns !
Andy

This must be the door for clients who don't pay.

quote:

Originally posted by Clem:


This must be the door for clients who don't pay.

That's where we will break through and connect the old office to the new office.

That looks really nice. When I had my office in Palo Alto, California you should have seen the double takes I got when folks came in and saw a cape buffalo hulking over my desk.

The new facade of the building is almost done, sheetrock is done, HVAC is done, electrical is basically done, and the walnut started going up this week. Things are coming together and I'm still hopeful that we'll be done before Xmas.

Here are some pics of the walnut going up.

New pics added.

This is going to be really nice.

Really nice! That walnut can't be cheap.

I'm sure that at the end will be a very nice office

Nice! Can't wait to see how it turns out...

It's coming along quite nicely!

Wow! Great looking!

The end is near. Just a few more days until me and the mounts move it. Still not sure how I feel about putting anchors into that precious walnut, but I think I'll be up to it when the time comes.

Here's a teaser . . .

Everything looks good so far. And congratulations to Auburn this year! ROLL TIDE (however)!

Looks awesome, cant wait to see it when its done!

Peter

That looks fantastic!

Looking awesome, Will!

Can't wait to see some dead stuff in there, that's going to be fantastic!

Chris

No new pics in a month now? Surely things have progressed? Show new pics please.....

Very nice job I like the layout very much.

Will, your room looks great and I think the dimensions are just right. One thing that I wish I had done was the floor to ceiling plywood. It would have simplified things. That is a smart idea.

Rick

Still a ways to go with hanging, but here's where I am so far. The "wall of deer" is done and I've started on the African stuff. Still some full mounts to roll in over the next few weeks.

Will,

Looking GREAT! I love the dark walnut wood...

It was great seeing you in Reno. Charlotte and I actually just got home tonight after being held over for 2 days with a cancelled flight on Sunday morning. At least the airline paid for our room... Have a great African safari this year... DAN

Will,

Man, it really looks great - what you did with the floor and ceiling is unbelievable. The woodwork, rugs, furniture and your trophies are all impeccable. Please keep posting photos when you add more things. Thanks again for all you did for me in Reno - you are a prince of a man.

Glen

Looking good Will !

I'll have to get back over there sometime and have another look.

Andy