Is your Trophy Room a Study or a Den? Is it a room that you use? Is it a Library? Or is it your Living Room?

Im in the process of setting up a dedicated Trophy Room. In the past I used a spare bed room for a couple mounts. Now that my Trophies fro Afrika have arrived, I want a dedicated room; but I also want to "use" the room, so I enjoy the memories of the hunt.

Im thinking Id like to set it up as a Library for relaxing and reading but No TV (well perhaps a DVD player for videos of the hunt); but not as a TV room.

Im picturing a couple leather Tall back Reading chairs, perhaps a small wine rack, and my book shelves stocked with Hemingway, Rouark, and Capstick, etc.

On a side note Ive also decided to add a small tag or plaque to each mount with info on the species, location, date of the hunt and maybe what rifle I used.

My "trophy room" is my Man Cave. I dunno what else to call it. It used to be a fairly large car-port that was enclosed and incorporated into the house.

It's the one room in the house where all my mounts, trophies, hunt memorabilia and firearms are displayed/stored. I do my computer work there, watch some television on the wall-mounted flat screen and entertain guests.

We have a living room, but it rarely gets used as I and my friends are either sitting on the front porch, enjoying the sounds of nature, some good conversation, a smoke and a sip or two of adult beverage, or we're in the Man Cave, where we're doing pretty much the same thing, less the smoking....

Great question.

My personal progression has been; I started in an un-used, upstairs bedroom. Next, I had a detached garage in my backyard that was air conditioned. It was 30 x 40, it was adequate for about 8 years.

My wife and I decided to change homes and I bought a new one in a community that I could put a larger detached room in the back.

Two years ago this December, we completed a 40 x 50, two story building. I finally have enough space for the foreseeable future.

I refuse to stop hunting. Also, I won't stop mounting my trophies. I personally feel they are as much a part of the hunt, as the hunt itself.

So, to answer your question, it is more of an escape for me. Coffee on Sunday morning, Fox news or perhaps a Nascar race. My son loves to play some billiards with me as well. I also tend to go out there to write.

I think you tend to take your "space" for granted if it is part of the house, makes it too easy to just walk in and walk out. I need to go outside, un-lock and turn the alarm off to go in.

Steve

I used mine to store ammo, optics, camera equipment and books. The room can be and is almost always locked.


It can become a office in 15 minutes if I move in my all in one computer. Used to be a home office.

I think down the road I will replace the waterbuck in the office. Its too damn big and at eye level.

Ceiling matter at least to me and African animals are big. A buff on pedestal would take up a lot of space.

My goal on getting back stuff from Botswana would be to put a fair amount of Europeans mounts out by my pool.

Mike

I have a great wife so our den, about 25 x 25 two story. Love it. My office too

It's a trophy room first and a house second only the bathroom is without a mount and it has a carved giraffe.

Same here, vestiges of dead animals are all over the house. Tastefully done of course.

Mine is a part of the house, but tucked away on the first level a bit. It's 30' by 40', with 12' ceilings. It has a big screen TV, (like Steve A, go there for NASCAR, football, FOX News etc.), wet bar that doesn't get much use as I don't drink, sofa, two easy chairs, free standing stove, and the mounts and artifacts of course.

I usually spend at least some time in this room most every day, reading, watching the tube, or just relaxing with a coffee. I am located at 8,400 feet, two miles off the tar road, in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico, so by stepping out of the trophy room on to the deck, have an absolute breathtaking view of mountains in all directions. I like it !!

Larry Sellers

quote:

Originally posted by hvrhunter:
It's a trophy room first and a house second only the bathroom is without a mount and it has a carved giraffe.

This would be my home also except the master bath has a life size bobcat. Sadie and I are on the same page as far as hunting goes and our house is decorated almost entirely with mounts and memorabilia from our travels. I'm a lucky guy.

Mark

Mine is my home office at the end of a long hallway. Just before my TR is a entryway into the garage and laundry room. I have an elk mounted there, but otherwise everything except a warthog skull is in the TR. Our living room has a baby grand and some art, and hanging heads in there just isn't my cup of tea. An animal head next to a kid's sixth grade school pic always looked kind of dumb to me.

Unless I am traveling, I work out of my house (as does Ms AZW) so my TR is my office. I have three sofas in it, two of which are parallel with each other and perpendicular to the TR fireplace. After I wake up each day I dry fire one of my rifles, then sit on one of the sofas and read the Wall St. Journal while I have CNBC on the TV and drink a few cups of coffee. Normally in the summer on Saturdays I sit in there and read Barrons but once it cools off I read by the pool.

I notice some guys build TRs with no windows. I have never regretted mine; I also have French doors that open the patio that wraps around our pool; makes a nice view.

I also have a reloading room off to the side of my TR; it was built from scratch to be a loading room and has everything I need.

I am getting a bit concerned that my TR is getting a bit crowded. We looked at a second house in the mountains a while ago with a goal of having another TR. The real estate agent showed us a 2000 sq foot house that was filled to brim with trophies. They were everywhere including the bedroom and bathrooms. I thought it was ridiculous. I also thought the same when I saw Ralph and Vicki Cianciarulo's house - there was hardly a spot that didn't have some kind of animal head on it.

If you can't afford a dedicated TR, a basement is a great place, esp in a house that is a split level. The wall might not be high, but you will have plenty of space.

As for adding on to the house, as a real estate investor I have looked at plenty of houses and have never seen an add-on that didn't look like that - an add on. But who knows? Maybe there was a good one I never noticed.

Mine is a den, a bar a gun room and a place to hide!


.

Living room/dining room/hallway
I stay out of bedroom and bathrooms and I'm single
When friends come over, we can relax in living room, have a drink and bullshit under the canopy of the dead heads while smoking some good Cuban baccy
What a life...

quote:

Originally posted by boarkiller:
Living room/dining room/hallway
I stay out of bedroom and bathrooms and I'm single
When friends come over, we can relax in living room, have a drink and bullshit under the canopy of the dead heads while smoking some good Cuban baccy
What a life...

boarkiller,what an interesting fellow you are! The trophy room should be a special room.A very comfortable room.A very inviting room.A very attractive room.A very practical room.A private room.

Many people shake heads when they meet me first time.
You are right about purpose of trophy rooms, growing up in Eastern Europe, trophy room is usually living room where everyone gathers.
My wife liked it that way and she was from NYC. Go figure.
In the end, each to their own.
Honestly I love this whole AR forum, too bad too many people take all these opinions too personally.
It's just life...

Most of mine are in the living room. It has a ceiling that runs from nine feet on one side to sixteen feet on the other, foot print about 17x20, so it really is an ideal layout. I just wish I had thought to have 3/4 plywood nailed to the studs before the drywall went on. I also have some scattered around in other rooms of the house, with the kids in their own rooms (just deer skulls at this point.) None in the master bedroom; my wife is a very tolerant person but I don't feel I should push it.

Just about every Halloween someone (usually the parents taking their little ones around)comes to the door and asks if those are gazelles on the wall. I invite them in, name each one and tell where they came from and enjoy their reactions. I have never had a truly hostile reaction from anyone visiting.

I have a separate 18x36 building out behind the house that's my TR and a tv spot, scrapbook working area and my loading bench and gun safes in at one end where the ceiling was lowered so my furnace could be put in the attic there. Its a multi use building for me and I'm in it for some time almost evey night and on the weekends. When it was built I thought it was huge, but alas, after several Africa trips and other places it sorta filled up, I too wish I had know about the plywood trick on the walls during contruction, but no, so hanging mounts these days can be a challenge to find a stud behind the sheetrock and not overcrowd things in any one spot. Mounts get moved as needed when new stuff arrives. That being said, I also have some mounts including most of my game birds in the house, we have a large two story front foyer that works great for my eland and one of my kudu mounts (have 2 of these). A tolerant wife also is a big help as others have said. Always a work in progress and will do things different based on these experiences when and if I ever move. Stop hunting and get things mounted, doubt that will happen as long as I can walk and support this hunting habit.

No room in the house so my office is my Trophy room.

About 80% of my books are in three bookcases in there. I rotate them into the house for a week or so at a time.
All of my firearms, other than a 12 gauge and the Glock 40S&W are in there as well.

Some reloading equipment and the fattest, most overstuffed leather LazyBoy recliner you have ever seen.

And, the original purpose, a place to hang all of my African and other trophies and hang the hides.

Rich

i had built onto the house a game room about 8-900 sq.ft. about35 years ago. now i don't really use it at all because its so full that i can't even walk from one end to the other

I have a ground floor gun room with my safe and reloading bench set up. All four walls have mounts of some kind hung on them and it has a TV and a recliner in it.

Wifezilla calls it the room of death.

i have the greatest wife of all. nearly very room in our house has something from one of my hunts. but the front living room is the main trophy room . my office is my second room where i have lot of pictures and some trophies. the kids when they where living at home use to call the front living room THE ROOM OF DEATH just to get a rise out of their friends. like i said my wife is the best she is very understanding about the animal heads in the house and i love her dearly for it.

My wife told me I could have one of everything in the house, that changed when I built my shop, now my one elk, two mule deer, three white tails, hooded merganser, walleye and turkey are hanging on the walls around the shop amongst the lathe, mill, and other 'stuff'.

My room is a separate room in the house. It not only has trophies but paintings, bronzes, art displays, photos and trip memorabilia. I do have display shelves, used for a multitude of items including books. I also have a large TV in the room and feel nothing but comfort sitting amongst my treasures as I watch something on TV.
I'm also selective in allowing events there, but I have hosted numerous fundraiser for Senators and Governors. The displays and the room are a real draw. It's a large room and we've had over 150 people for some events.
Most of all my room is my memories, where I honor what mother nature has given to me.

We have bought a retirement house with land on a mountain in Virgina. The basement is finished with one huge room, an office, and a bath. All have 9 foot ceilings. The "great room" is a trophy room and man-cave/television room with seating and wood stove. Still working on setting everything up but so far, it's close to perfect for me. Looking forward to retiring there and spending more time hunting and less time in the office.

Most of my mounts are in my workshop, where I have 12 foot tall walls. I have 8 heads in the house and that's about maxed out. Our plan is to add on a 24x48 room with 12 foot walls and an open beamed ceiling next year. That will give me plenty of room for what I have already and for future hunts the rest of my life.

Eddie

About 25 years ago I built a 30x35 addition to my house. It has 9' sidewalls and a 14' open beam ceiling. It overlooks the Gallatin valley and town, and I have views of 3 mountain ranges. My only regret is that because of the great views, I put too many windows in it. Especially after a number of trips to Africa, my trophy wall space filled up too fast. I've expanded into the living room, and I now have plans to enlarge it.

My trophy room also has a large screen TV, a wet bar, a pool table, a large sectional couch, and a very comfortable lazy boy recliner.

Being single and not much of a party animal, my TR doesn't get a lot of use, but I almost daily enjoy the view, my memories, and my morning coffee there.