Two things you should understand before we get into this little Game of Thrones Iron Throne DIY tutorial:

• I love cheap crafts – dollar store supplies and reused stuff from around the house all.day.
• I love theme parties – and any good theme party should have one semi-elaborate photo opp area!

Need a little backstory on this project? Medieval Plans for Spring Celebrations | Game of Thrones Recipes | A Very Medieval Birthday

Though we don’t always throw big birthday parties for our kids, when we do, I like to come up with one photo opportunity area. Partially because I love looking at the pictures from the parties afterwards, and partially for the extra punch it gives to the parties for setting the theme.  But mostly because creating something crafty with my hands is my love language to myself. The creation aspect is all for me, folks. I’m very greedy like that.

There are some amazing DIY and much more elaborate Iron Throne DIYs out there – the Instructables one is my favorite and one I looked at a lot while trying to make my own. This one is also great for any existing chair in the house. Below is my tongue-in-cheek version of our Iron Throne DIY tutorial.

Step One: Make Your Throne

This part of the DIY is clearly optional. (But serves to show how far I’ll take a theme for theme’s sake.)

We decided to remove a large tree next to our house when we first moved in last summer. The conversation went a little something like this:

“So – instead of just leaving the stump – can you turn it into a chair?”

“Um…no one has ever asked us that before. We can try? Spray paint the shape  you want on to the tree before we come over.”

The kids (I say kids, they were probably all college students/early 20s) were SO EXCITED to cut this tree down. They all took turns taking selfies on it before they left. They even added the little diamond window themselves. Just goes to show it never hurts to ask!

Step Two: Think Ahead and Gather Supplies

Everyone that watches Game of Thrones knew the final season was airing in April 2019 since back in 2017. So it was technically not that crazy of me to buy up all the swords at the dollar store last Halloween. My only minor regret is that I ended up with a lot of curved pirate swords and fewer straight medieval swords. But the ornateness on the curved plastic handles ended up looking better than the foam simple handles soo…you win some, you lose some? You can’t be nitpicky when you are creating something this big for about $20 in an afternoon.

Step Three: Assemble!

I hoarded cardboard boxes for months. I ended up with a narrow and wide box that slipped onto the back of the tree chair snuggly, and a longer box that I cut up for the front arms of chair.

I used a box cutter and simply eyeballed the shapes. This part will obviously be different for everyone.

Dry fit! Dry fit! Dry fit! Before every cut or before I attached anything, I walked back and forth from the family room to the stump chair to make sure things were looking the way I wanted. I trimmed the cardboard to fit to the stump – which was obviously uneven from side to side.

I used a drill with a tiny drill bit to make holes and floral wire to attach the swords. The wire also served to keep the shape of the corners of some of the boxes once I started cutting them up and they stared losing their shape.

Remember as you are putting this together – most of your photos will include someone actually sitting on the chair. Don’t think to hard about how the inside of the seat will look. Be forgiving to yourself – you made this for $20 and in 2-3 hours. People will be impressed no matter what.

Step Four: Paint and Paint and Paint Some More

I had an old can of “hammered metal” silver that was almost empty, so I did a base coat of matte black as I was afraid I would run of out of silver before I could cover everything. I gave everything several thin coats. The combination of the black and silver ended up giving it some great depth of color – it was unintentional but ended up working out in my favor!

Step Five: Don your Cos-Play and Enjoy!

Unfortunately, it rained the day of our son’s party. A few friends came over yesterday for the Game of Thrones Series Finale and we had some fun taking photos. I really need to work on my mean Danaerys face! My younger son was a natural up here – and my husband basically nailed it. Did you watch? What did you think? I think I’m still in shock and I can’t decide how I feel about everything…