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Deer Antlers for Christmas

December 16, 2015

HometoCottage.com Deer Antlers for Christmas

I’ve been loving decorating with deer themed things this Christmas, so I thought how perfect to actually use real deer antlers for a Christmas decoration too! Nope, hunters we are not, so we didn’t come by these antlers that way… But they are real, and here’s how I did get them and what I did to embellish them…

I actually found the mounted deer rack at a garage type barn sale!

Here’s what it looked like when I first bought it:

HometoCottage.com mounted deer rack before

The antlers themselves are gorgeous though, darkened with age, (at least that’s what someone told me. Someone else told me they are mule deer antlers… didn’t know that on my own either…) But the fake wood backer board is not lovely nor was the red velvet.

On a trip to JoAnn Fabrics, I found a larger board, to add an additional layer to the deer antler mount, and these 3 fabrics:

HometoCottage.com fabric choices

Then it was time to put on my taxidermist hat… first time in my life for wearing that hat, that’s for sure! A few times, as I was taking the original antler mount apart, I did fight a little of the gross-out feelings when the cover was off and I was faced with this:

HometoCottage.com deer antlers mounted

Ewwww… the skull part of the deer wasn’t as lovely as the antlers that’s for sure.

Well, back to the pretty things…

I dug through one of my bins of extra trims and tassels and found a few options that looked great with the fabrics.

HometoCottage.com adding trim to backer board

So, once the original backer board was covered with the red paisley fabric, I added double layers of trim to that edge. After all, this is meant to be a Christmas decoration, so I felt totally comfortable in using heavy embellishments and patterns on it, and felt that it was totally in keeping with the Christmas ornament(ation) idea.

The houndstooth check fabric is for the small head covering part of the antlers.

HometoCottage.com covering head cover

It was a little tricky using the hot melt glue for this Styrofoam covering piece, I think the glue would have melted the styrofoam really easily… (there’s probably a better glue choice out there, but it wouldn’t have been fun to have to hold it in place as it dried either, so I’m not sure how they do it? Maybe some sort of spray adhesive or contact cement?)

Once the pieces were all covered, it was time to reassemble.

But…

There were huge gaps on each side of the head covering showing part of the skull bone… Aha, that must have been why the red velvet was so folded and bunched around the antlers.

HometoCottage.com adding trim to cover large gaps

So I added more check under the styrofoam, gluing directly onto the skull, but, as you can see on the right antler of this picture where I haven’t added the trim around it, that didn’t look great either, because of the seams and patterns of the check not matching and how it needed to be folded… just really unprofessional looking. But I fortunately had just enough trim leftover from when I trimmed the edge of the red paisley board to fill in around the antlers and it looked pretty good.

After dry fitting the trim, and seeing it would work, I finally put hot glue around the back edge of the skull covering styrafoam form thing and glued it to the face of the backer board, covering the deer skull, well most of it. This foam covering isn’t to hold the antlers up or anything, so just a bit of hot glue is all it needed to hold it in place.

The trim around the antlers got more hot glue, and careful bending around the curve of the antler bases, but they fit and sure looked a lot prettier than without it.

To connect that last larger board to the red paisley board, I screwed together the two boards from the back…

HometoCottage.com drill back for screws to attach back to next layer back

Being sure to make pilot holes with the drill first, into both layers of wood.

Now it was time to mount the whole thing to the wall.

The rack with the 2 backer boards is fairly heavy, so it needed to be a sturdy mounting system, and I didn’t want it to gap away from the wall much. I found these Command temporary hooks (available here at The Home Depot) which I’ve used on the french doors of our former house, outside, and they really worked well. So I thought I’d try them for this. (They are rated for different weight capacity, so be sure to get the right ones for your project)

HometoCottage.com mounting details

The hook sticks out quite a way from the wall, so I knew I’d need to use a D-Ring mounted on the top back of the antlers backer board.

That meant the Command hooks would be totally exposed on top of the antlers, all of the large white plastic hook would show a bit too well against our dark brown walls.

Since this is a Christmas decoration, I easily opted for ribbon to cover the hook up:

HometoCottage.com covering hook with bow details

Florist bows are quite easy to make, click here to review the detailed instructions I drew out, showing you how to make a florist bow. (In that post, I show you the triple wreaths on our front door) For this deer antlers for Christmas hanging, I used the same plaid ribbon that I used on the front porch for the deer themed tree, the triple wreaths on the door, and the Victorian hanging lanterns…

So, here’s the finished project of the deer antlers for Christmas:

HometoCottage.com deer antlers for Christmas all done with bow

The trim around the gap by the antler base turned out to be an asset, if the check fabric covering the styrofoam would have covered it properly I wouldn’t have thought to have done it, so I’m glad it was a problem to be solved…

I have the Christmas antlers hung in the living room of our 100 year old house, which is the first room you enter from the front porch, so they are a focal point upon entering the house…

And they get noticed. It is maybe a kind of unique Christmas decoration. But I like unique.

I did joke with my 10 year old granddaughter, (who firmly doesn’t believe in Santa anymore, so don’t worry) that maybe I should put a tag under the deer antlers on the bottom board, you know how they do with trophy racks? Only this one could say something like: “‘Dasher’ R.I.P. Hit an airplane on Christmas eve“.  I’m only joking!! Of course I wouldn’t do that! Or would I?? Sick Grandma, really, really sick!

HometoCottage.com deer antlers for christmas whole corner view

Here’s the whole corner of the front stairway where the antlers are hung for Christmas.

It’s a Christmas collage with deer antlers and the tin angels and original nativity on the built in bench, but I think it somehow does all work together!

Here are some more Christmas decorating ideas:

Vintage WWII Christmas Ornaments
Vintage WWII Christmas Ornaments
Vintage Christmas on Display
Vintage Christmas on Display
Vintage Christmas Tree Reflectors sdtips.com
Vintage Christmas Tree Reflectors sdtips.com
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vintage candolier diorama
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Kitchen Cabinet Door Wreaths
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DIY Barnwood Porch Banner SimpleDecoratingTips.com
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Vintage Clock Diorama
Christmas Collection 2019
Christmas Collection 2019
Rustic Creche
Rustic Creche
Christmas 2018 nativity with house
Christmas 2018 nativity with house
Unique Christmas Tree Stand
Unique Christmas Tree Stand
DIY Swags... sort of
DIY Swags... sort of
Deer Themed Christmas Decorating Ideas
Deer Themed Christmas Decorating Ideas
How to Create Let it Snow Artwork
How to Create Let it Snow Artwork
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Quick and Easy DIY Alpine Garland
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DIY Christmas Stockings
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Make your own Natural Potpourri (1)
DIY a vintage basket lid Felt Nativity
DIY a vintage basket lid Felt Nativity
DIY Hanging Lanterns Greenery
DIY Hanging Lanterns Greenery
DIY Winter Porch Arrangement
DIY Winter Porch Arrangement
Deer Themed Winter Wonderland
Deer Themed Winter Wonderland
DIY Antler Candleholders
DIY Antler Candleholders
Displaying an Outdoor Nativity
Displaying an Outdoor Nativity
Rustic Deer Themed Christmas Tree
Rustic Deer Themed Christmas Tree
Christmas Nativity Collection
Christmas Nativity Collection
Deer Antlers for Christmas
Deer Antlers for Christmas
Christmas diarama
Christmas diarama
Christmas chalkboard 2014
Christmas chalkboard 2014
Yikes Where do you put all those bins full of decorations after Christmas
Yikes Where do you put all those bins full of decorations after Christmas
How to Make a Florist Bow for a Merry Christmas Welcome Wreath
How to Make a Florist Bow for a Merry Christmas Welcome Wreath
Hanging Christmas Lanterns
Hanging Christmas Lanterns
using pallet wood for outdoor nativity
using pallet wood for outdoor nativity
Step-by-Step to build this centerpiece
Step-by-Step to build this centerpiece
Christmas-Cones-for-Chairs
Christmas-Cones-for-Chairs
christmas felt applique pillows
christmas felt applique pillows
DIY Guilded Twig Ornament Tree
DIY Guilded Twig Ornament Tree

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please feel free to follow and share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook, Pinterest, Flipboard, Bloglovin, YouTube and now Instagram!  I appreciate you reading along.

This post is being linked up at the other following sites: Posed Perfection, Oh My Heartsie Girl, From My Front Porch to Yours, A Cozy Little House, My Thrift Store Addiction, The Charm of Home, Too Much Time on My Hands, French Country Cottage, Design, Dining and Diapers ,Chic on a Shoestring, Funky Junk Interiors, It’s Overflowing, DIY Showoff, I Should Be Mopping the Floor, Between Naps on the Porch, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, StoneGable, Yesterday on Tuesday, A Stroll Thru Life, Home Stories A to Z, Tip Junkie, Cozy Little House, Kammy’s Korner, Savvy Southern Style, The DIY Dreamer

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. At Rivercrest Cottage says

    December 29, 2015 at 7:40 pm

    The antlers are spectacular. Now everyone will be on the lookout for antlers.

    Reply
  2. Sherry says

    December 21, 2015 at 11:34 pm

    So cute!! Merry Christmas! Thanks for sharing at Home Sweet Home!

    Reply
  3. Cecilia MyThriftStoreAddiction says

    December 19, 2015 at 11:58 am

    What a great transformation, Liz ~ thank you so much for sharing @Vintage Charm! Merry Christmas!

    Reply
  4. AnnMarie says

    December 17, 2015 at 11:02 am

    Very unique decoration! I love your choice of fabrics and trims. It looks great on the brown wall which is such a pretty color.

    Reply
  5. Oh My Heartsie Girl Weekly Linkup says

    December 17, 2015 at 8:27 am

    Your antlers work perfectly in the little nook!
    Happy Holidays
    Karren

    Reply
  6. Donnamae says

    December 16, 2015 at 4:12 pm

    I’m normally not a fan of antlers, but I have to say….you did a great job with those! I really like that you added the extra backer board…looks much more impressive. Really looks great Liz! 😉

    Reply

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