DIY Fabric Covered Antler Mount

Happy Monday! I hope you’re all enjoying a beautiful fall day wherever you are! The weekend went by way to fast, but I’m happy to say I was able to carve out a little bit of time for a fun DIY project. 

I’ve been looking for a pair of antlers for awhile now but they can be fairly pricey, so I just haven’t been able to justify the purchase. While at Round Top, Texas a couple of weeks ago, I found antlers galore! I’d like to like they all died of natural causes, though something tells me they most likely didn’t. Most of them still cost more than I wanted to pay, but then I happened upon a man that had a truckload of them and was willing to negotiate on price. Needless to say, I finally got my antlers! They weren’t mounted, and looked rather “rustic” (and not in a good way), so when I returned home, into the closet they went until I had the time to mount them and add some fabric. 

I know antlers are still a fairly hot trend, so some of you may have the same issue that I did and want an easy solution to the “too rustic” problem. I found an inexpensive piece of unfinished wood to mount my antlers onto, along with some fun plaid fabric to cover up the not-so-pretty piece of skull. Obviously, these are not fancy, expensive trophy pieces, so inexpensive materials work fine for this particular project. Here’s what else you’ll need for this project:

Supplies

Antlers

Piece of unfinished wood to mount antlers onto (I found mine at Joanne’s)

Wood stain in your choice of color (I used Rustoleum’s Dark Walnut)

Pillow stuffing (you only need a small bit)

1/4 yard fabric in your choice of color/pattern (you’ll have lots left)

Plain white copy paper

Marker

Scissors

Hammer

Upholstery tacks

Picture hanger

A couple of long screws to mount your antlers to your board

Directions

1. Gather your supplies

2. Stain your wood piece and allow to dry. Once dry, install picture mounting hardware

3. Screw your antlers to the wood piece using 2 inch wood screws (my antlers already had holes screwed through the skull part, so I just used those holes but if your’s doesn’t have holes already, pre-drill first, then install using screws).

4. Make a template for your fabric using copy paper and a marker. I made mine roughly 1 inch smaller in diameter than my wood piece. I made sure to add 1/4″  to the desired finished size so that I could fold my fabric under (see pic) so the unfinished hem wouldn’t show. I also wanted to make sure the fabric covered the skull part completely and there was still enough fabric to nail to the wood piece. I realize that your antlers will be sized and shaped slightly different than mine, so you may have to play around a bit until you find what will work for you (it took me two tries to get this right)! Trace the template onto the fabric.

5. Fold the edges of your fabric under 1/4″, and press with an iron to keep folds in place.

6. Lay the fabric on top of your antler and “rough fit” it around your antlers. Now use a few upholstery tacks and secure fabric in place at the top. Make sure you space your tacks evenly.

7. Lift up your fabric and add a little bit of pillow stuffing, then replace fabric. You’ll have to play around with the stuffing to find the amount that adds padding, but doesn’t stretch the fabric too much.

8. Begin tacking the rest of the fabric down. Tip: Only hammer the tacks in 1/2 way, in case you need to make adjustments. It’s much easier to pull the tacks out this way. We’ll hammer everything in at the end. Make sure that you do one tack on each side, then move down a space and repeat. This will help keep the fabric even and the tacks evenly spaced (see pic).

Add stuffing as you work your way to the bottom. Once you place that final tack and are happy with the over-all look and placement of the tacks, go ahead and hammer the tacks all the way in. 

That’s it! Your antlers are ready to hang!

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love these antlers now! And the great thing is, if I ever tire of the fabric, I can easily change it out.

What do you think of my fabric covered antler mount? Is this something you would ever try? I’d love to hear your thoughts about this project – you can connect with me here: 

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Until next time,

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