Taxidermy Wall Background
 

I have posted on a paint forum with no response probably because they are all PETA people. So, I thought I would ask hunters... I am painting part of a wall in our garage for a background for animal mounts. The full wall is about 40' long, and 12' high. The top of the wall has plywood boards mounted along the full length of wall. So these are standard plywood width (~4'?) from the ceiling down. They are also mounted maybe 4" out from the garage's concrete wall. These boards have been primed and painted over with neutral light tan base (sherwin William's sandbar) which I have also painted the rest of the garage walls. I feel like the mounting boards need a more interesting finish background for the animal mounts. I had first envisioned a camo background, but couldn't get it to look right in any of my samples. I have now very lightly sponge painted gray glaze (sherwin William's illusive green), then went back with a darker tan (sherwin William's moth wing) glaze and plastic sheets to do faux leather finish. I think my sample looks pretty good, though I could also rag on some darker brown or gray glaze at the end to highlight leather crackles more and maybe offset even more from the rest of the wall. I don't want the room to be too dark but do want some contrast.
We have a full cougar on rock ledge, a couple big moose, a euro mount moose, deer, sheep, bear rug (new, not sure how to hang), and more. We use the garage a lot as kid play space, and use it as our main entry so I would like it to look nicer and less utilitarian. I kind of enjoy painting and consider this an art project.

ALL that to ask if you think a faux leather painted wall is a good background for animal mounts?

All of my walls where I have mounts are painted some version of a light tan or white. The lighter colors tend to allow the mounts to be the "pop" color and decoration instead of drowning it out color-wise, at least IMHO. There's not really a wrong or right answer, just what you and your hubby prefer. Here's a link with some mounts, some of which are on different colored walls so you can get more of an idea what you prefer.

https://www.google.com/search?client...&bih=916&dpr=1

I use light colored walls also. Since the OP has painted plywood for walls, you could always paint 1 sheet of plywood in a test color to see how well it would look behind a shoulder mount if you're still undecided.

I can't upload a photo to this site or take one from my phone. Not sure why.
it's not very dark, still in light tan category with some gray mottling. I guess it was more the texture I was wondering about. I dont want it to look silly.

ugh, I cant post URLs either unless I have 10 posts. So google faux leather paint wall and look and images and that is the pattern/texture I'm getting.

I did that google search and there's a video link with a small picture of a light tan that looks pretty good. When you get past the 10-post requirement, post some pics for us.

Honestly I like the look of wood grain behind taxidermy mounts/rugs.... We had a wall that was just T1-11 rough sawn real wood. It is a little more cleaning than painted walls, but looks great with mounts on it!

IMO mounts show better on light colored walls. I painted 3 of the walls in my trophy room a light grey. The 4th wall is paneled in cedar strips in a herringbone pattern. I think my mounts show very well on these walls.
Running out of space in my trophy room, I am filling the white walls in my living room. The mounts show up well on the white also. I am planning on remodeling my living room, and have not thought much about what color I will paint the walls.

Barn Wood/Pallet Wood
 

I recently used pallet wood to display my mounts. Once the pallet wood has some age to it, there are so many natural colors so with or without the mounts it looks great. It looks somewhat like old barn wood, but much cheaper. I was fortunate enough to get a few skids of the pallet wood for free and all the nails were already cut off. If you choose to break down the pallets yourself, it will be a lot of work so check with some local pallet shops and see if you can get some scraps. It doesn't take much wood to cover the size wall that you are talking about. Just a suggestion.