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I would like to know whether there is a term for interior design styles which decorate rooms with stuffed animals, animal skins and horns？ Country style seems related but does not seem to quite fit. Taxidermic style seems closer but apparently does not exist.

Example sentence: The dining room in this castle is decorated in a __________ style, horns covered the walls and all kinds of stuffed animals were placed around the table.

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    Just note that on its own, stuffed animal usually means the cutesy children's toy variety. Your context makes it clear, but more often people would say taxidermied animals or mounted animals.
    – cobaltduck
    Commented Mar 30, 2016 at 12:30
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    @cobaltduck Got to agree on the 'stuffed animals placed around the table' sounds like a teddy bears' tea party to me . . .not at all the image aimed at. Not sure about 'taxidermied' though - sounds too awkward.
    – peterG
    Commented Mar 30, 2016 at 14:21
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    This seems to have generated unsupported and unidiomatic opinion-based answers to an unprecedented degree.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 30, 2016 at 18:53
  • Lovely Room of Death ~ Ace Ventura
    – user167991
    Commented Mar 30, 2016 at 22:29
  • Serial killer shrine?
    – Davor
    Commented Mar 31, 2016 at 7:24

6 Answers 6

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Trophy room.

Or game room, though that has other connotations also.

Big game trophy room might be appropriate.

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  • +1,although the term is ambiguous since athletes and other competitive types have trophy rooms also. An image search for "trophy room" turned up more pictures of the mounted animal variety that the brass figurine on an ornate base kind. I think wildlife trophy room would capture it.
    – cobaltduck
    Commented Mar 30, 2016 at 12:35
  • I agree. But the ambiguity can be resolved with contextual setup.
    – jqning
    Commented Mar 30, 2016 at 12:40
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    'In the style of a trophy room?' What evidence is there that this is actually used?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 30, 2016 at 18:56
  • This is the correct answer for those old colonial-style mansions that used the the carcasses of wild beasts to decorate the room belonging to head of the household. A type of "den", a room where the men would leave their wives in the drawing/music room to chit-chat among themselves, while the men could smoke cigars, drink expensive port and exchange cricket and big game hunting stories. But nowadays?
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Mar 31, 2016 at 12:21
  • Nevertheless, here's a web page showing the horrific examples of trophy rooms wideopenspaces.com/11-impressive-trophy-rooms-world-slideshow
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Mar 31, 2016 at 12:21
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Hunting Lodge I think would be the closest. I would say: The dining room in this castle is decorated in the style of a hunting lodge, horns covered the walls and all kinds of stuffed animals were placed around the table

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Depends on the type of animals... @JJosaur's suggestion of "hunting lodge" is fine if the animals are your basic deer, fox, coyote, bear, pheasant, bobcat, etc., and your fabrics are leather and flannel check.

Skeletal remains of the heads of indigenous American fauna in a room with a bright palette, slip-covered furniture, rustic tables, (preferably fashioned from reclaimed wood) and Native American and Mexican details and accessories (throw in a cactus, or two) is "Southwestern Shabby-Chic".

Keep the skulls and cacti, change the palette to white and pale pastels, add a white leather sectional, a sheepskin rug, a large landscape painting with a "Marlboro Man" character in the distance, crystal chandeliers and cowboy decorations - you've got "Texas Millionaire".

Take the above, ditch the painting and the cowboy decorations, place an old rocking chair by a pot-bellied stove in the corner, throw a handmade quilt over the sofa, hang a flintlock rifle over the entertainment center, a stuffed jackrabbit and maybe a banjo... voila! : "Beverly Hillbillies".

If you've got lions and tigers and various heads with exotic tusks and horns, and you make use of palm trees and rattan furniture, the style is called: "Safari".

If you have exotic animals and plants with ornate Victorian furnishings in a dark palette, you've got your basic,"19th Century English Gentleman's Drawing Room."

If you mix Edwardian furniture, African and Asian animal corpses, knick-knacks from India and Chinoiserie - you'll have "British Importer".

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  • As MετάEd says, 'Answers should be based on facts, references, or specific expertise. Got any?' 'Safari Style' seems to be used for clothing, with not a stuffed animal in sight.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 30, 2016 at 18:59
  • @EdwinAshworth - "Got any?" Yeah. Admittedly, some of these terms are somewhat proprietary - having been coined by wholesale and retail dealers in household furnishings - but, 10+ years as a visual merchandiser, floral designer and interior decorator have demonstrated to me that the terms in question are readily understood by designers and clientele.
    – Oldbag
    Commented Mar 31, 2016 at 12:27
  • You need to include these caveats in your answer, as well as references. I know, for instance, that many people use 'commode' as a formal-register synonym of 'chest of drawers', but that most people would think of the portable toilet on hearing the term. And I'd add references in an 'answer' here, as befits a site for linguists.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Mar 31, 2016 at 15:03
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Rustic or Frontier Style would be an appropriate description. Of course not all the elements you mention have to be present to constitute this style.

The other kind of environments that typically displays this style of decorating are the old-fashioned gentleman's club, or colonial officers' mess. Both these types might celebrate sport hunting with animal-head trophies, although it might be a stretch to say that there was an official name for this style.

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    I'm not so sure; I can imagine a certain style of British room with various taxidermic trophies that is anything but "rustic" or "frontier-style." Perhaps what we need is more detail in the question.
    – Casey
    Commented Mar 30, 2016 at 17:32
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I'd coin a phrase and go with "Quatermain style" as in Allan Quatermain

The dining room in this castle is decorated in a Quatermain style, horns covered the walls and all kinds of stuffed animals were placed around the table.

It's not a word as far as I know, but its meaning is immediately apparent - but maybe that's because I just finished reading King Solomon's Mines

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"Safari-chic" is my vote for interior design style, based on your description. Click here for an image. Here is a book by the same title.

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    Answers should be based on facts, references, or specific expertise. Got any?
    – MetaEd
    Commented Mar 30, 2016 at 18:19
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    A Google Books search for "safari chic" yields quite a few instances where the term is used in the context of décor. For instance, the caption on page 144 of Indianapolis Monthly (December 2001) seems relevant. Please consider linking to one or more such examples in your answer.
    – Sven Yargs
    Commented Mar 30, 2016 at 21:22

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