I’m calling this my All-Access, Behind-the-Scene pass for my ten-month “Chair-a’s Tour” and we are on chair #2. If you missed it last month, chair #1 was Lover. You can check out that post here. 

With Halloween around the corner—and me wanting to take on a good challenge—I chose Taylor’s Reputation album. Even though she recorded this album a few years back as a result of all the unfair gossip and backlash against her, I had never listened to it…I had a lot to learn and some research to do. Here’s what I found out…

Taylor picked snakes as the symbol for Reputation because she had been called one by those who were either her enemies or those who didn’t understand her. So, she embraced that imagery for this album along with other dark, goth-like undertones. Good can come from bad. That is what this album is all about…processing all the feelings when people call you names, ruin your reputation, and turn against you.

I knew the fabric had to be snakes.  The question was…where would I find something like that? House of Hackney had my answer with their cut velvet called Anaconda. I chose the deep teal color because Taylor wore that color on our Reputation tour.

The next question was which chair should I pick? I knew it had to have a gothic feel, so I selected this chair below from my garage stash of antique chairs. It was perfect for the vibe of Reputation.

The paint was the tricky part. I felt that a flat black wasn’t going to do it for this chair. So I did a layering effect starting with a primer and then a turquoise metallic paint.

I layered over a turquoise glitter followed by a black.

The real icing on the chair was the gold glitter topcoat. The layering just makes the chair extra special!

When I was finally satisfied with the look, I turned to the upholstery.

I worked really hard to get the right scenes of these snakes centered on the chair in various places.

I tried to make each area different with the snake scenes.

 

The ornately Victorian carved chair and dark, glittery paint reflect the darker vibes expressed in this album.This was a real challenge for me. I’ve never designed such a dark chair filled with mystery.  It was fun to do! Watch out world, Chair Whimsy has gone gothic!

Here’s a link to all the paint supplies I used on my Like to Know It shop.

You can make your own Taylor Swift Reputation Inspired Chair too with my free guide. Click here to get it!

Head on over to my YouTube Channel to see this creation with videos of the process. Click here!

Until next month…I’ve got 8 more chairs to go! Which one should I do next?