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Our front porch was one of the many reasons we purchased our house. It had a large wrap-around porch that gave it curb appeal. While it was not original to the house…and was added by a flipper who did a reasonably shoddy job, we still love it! We have been slowly updating and fixing the different areas, and the front sitting area has had several rounds of updates. The most recent included building and hanging our own front porch swing.
Our Porch Furniture Run-Down
To begin with we had an old hand-me-down wicker set that was once in my family home. The set was over 20 years old, smelled of cigarettes, and wasn’t intended to be used outdoors. It lasted a few years longer than expected because of the covered roof, but we had to move on from that set eventually. Although, I am happy to say it still lives in our neighborhood as someone trash-picked it out of our front yard.
We then purchased a conversation set from Target. I loved the grayish hue of the wicker, and it is super comfortable. This set was a little too big for the space, so we moved the set to our back porch once we completed the second level.
I had been eyeing some porch swings and this one from Country Living Magazine a few years ago caught my eye. A few DIYers used old crib mattresses for the bottom cushion. We still had the mattress from our daughter’s crib that was not being used anymore. I needed to do this!
Researching our Swing Options
I first looked for some inexpensive options to get the instant gratification of buying and using it. You could buy a complete bed swing set or just the frame. Some of the best choices I found were:
Unfortuantley, most of these would not fit our crib mattress exactly, so I knew we had to try and make it. Additionally, I knew Rory would NOT be happy with buying a wood furniture piece, so I put it on my Christmas wish list. I sent him the post above and waited for the magic to happen.
How He Built the Swing
Here is my new swing pictured with Gus and Trudy testing out the mattress comfort level on Christmas Day. Below is what Rory used to build the swing:
- 3-8ft 2×4/Southern Yellow Pine
- 1-8ft 2×6/Southern Yellow Pine
- Outdoor Tightbond Glue/1-1/4 exterior screws
- Finished size: 55″x281/2″
Fortunatley, we have access to a wood shop so we have machinery to help make furniture. The wood was ripped down to sizes to assemble the base and top rail. Rory used mortis and tennen joinery for the majority of the assembly. He used the exterior wood screws to secure the slats on the base of the swing. If you want specific details you can request those in the comments here or on social media.
The Mattress Cover
While we had a base cushion on hand with our Ikea crib mattress, it would need to have a cover that was water-resistant, if not waterproof. Even though our porch is covered intended to hang the swing does get some wetness whenever there is wind and rain.
Through an Etsy search, I came across this cover from PatioLane. It is the Sunbrella Daybed Cover, and you can choose your own size and fabric. They come in three fabric grades with tons of great color options. We went with the Canvas Natural color.
I will say, I was nervous about the dirt and weather but it has been 2 years and this cover has held up great! I just washed it during our outdoor spring cleaning extravaganza in a load with Borax and vinegar and it came out looking like new!
Putting it All Together
What we used to hang the bed:
Had we known several years ago we’d start sharing all of the projects we would have done a better job of taking pictures and showing the process, so we apologize for our hindsight revelation. However, by the time we were ready to hang the swing our favorite DIY bloggers Young House Love posted their tutorial. It included a video on how to tie the best knots to keep the swing safely secured. Their post has wonderfully detailed pictures, and a video linked here.
The Eye Screws
First, we measured the distance of the eye screws to insert into our porch ceiling rafters. This was a little tricky because the rafters of the aforementioned porch were slightly off and not uniform in spacing. The picture here shows the view from the swing looking up at the eye hooks.
We hung the eye hooks just outside the width of the swing. They still look to be lined up with the 4 corners of the swing.
Next, we threaded the eye screws into the bottom corners of the swing. We screwed them into the center of the platform, roughly 2 inches from the front/back of the swing’s bottom platform.
The Rope for our Swing
Following this, we added the rope. This is where I was most concerned because I didn’t want the swing to end up crooked! We cut the rope into four equal lengths to start. We taped the cut end with shipping tape to make sure it would go through the eye holes.
After this, we tied the knot as noted in the videos we watched then pulled it through the bottom eye hooks, until the knot touched the hook. In the meantime, we draped the slack drape over the bed until we were ready to tie it to the upper eye hooks.
As recommended, we placed the bed platform on buckets to hold it up while I tied the rope. I was in charge of the tying duties in case Rory needed to hold the swing up. Not to go without mention was that I was pretty confident with my knot-tying skills. I had developed some macrame skills over a Covid furlough period from work, but I digress.
The top of the rope was looped through the hook as instructed through the video, then I tied it with the knot that was chosen because it will actually tighten when the swing is sat on and extra force is placed on the rope.
This picture shows the top rope tied through the eye screw. Notice the tape which we left on that was helpful to get the cut end knotted. Had we not done this, it may have been impossible to tie those knots!
To make things difficult, our swing is attached to a slanted ceiling that is higher on one side making the rope longer on the right of the swing. We had to measure the difference in height from the right to the left side to make sure the ropes were the correct size. Once it was tied, it was pretty easy to adjust the knots at the top to tighten or let out a little more rope and we were able to get it even.
The Finishing Touches
There you have it! Our swing was ready for action. A few notes on finishes. It is currently painted with exterior paint in a light shade of gray, with a whitewash to look like the swing from the Country Living post. Eventually it may receive an upgrade this summer with either a white or black paint job. Stay tuned for that.
Here is a look at the finished space and the details of our decor.
Thanks for checking out how we made our front porch swing! Check out some of our other DIY projects and where we shopped the items in this post.
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