The Safari Room is a great idea when you're decorating on a budget! First decide what animal to feature in your room, setting the theme for your entire room. We chose the elephant and started by mounting a large stuffed elephant head on a piece of wood (our version of a taxidermist and a lot less expensive). If you don't have a large stuffed animal in the attic, visit the thrift shops, church rummage sales, and garage sales. You'll find one for a song someplace.

To mount the head, cut the fur 3 inches longer than you want the final mounted head to be (usually in the neck area near where the body begins).

Cut a 1/2" to 3/4" piece of plywood into the shape of the neck of the animal at the mounting point. Place this cut plywood inside the fabric (skin) compressing the stuffing to keep the animal tight. Wrap the fabric fur around the back of the plywood and staple it to the plywood…pulling tight with each staple.

Next decide if you want your animal head to look like it is mounted on the wall or on a plaque? If you want no plaque showing then you can drill a 1/4" hole in the upper back of your plywood and hang the animal directly on the wall on a heavy duty hook or screw put into a stud. If you want it to look like it is mounted on a plaque then make a plaque that is 3-4 inches larger than the neck area of your animal. Finish your plaque with stain/varnish or paint before connecting to animal. Then mount the head on the plaque by screwing from the back of your plaque into the neck plywood. Hang the plaque on the wall securely as you would any heavy picture.

The other touches in your animal kingdom are limited only by your imagination!

by areaguides.com / ubuild.com

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