All Farmhouses Need a Porch Swing
So, as usual, I hunted for a good deal locally. Because why buy something new when you can spend tons of time and money fixing up something used? After looking off an on, I came across a super cute yellow swing.
And brought her home. Once again, I probably should have checked it out a little closer, but I was committed now. So after much procrastination…and rain…I got to work!
Strip all the things!
Per pinterest, I bought this highly toxic (omg it burns when it accidentally splatters on your skin) paint stripper and set to work on a nice, sunny day. According to the instructions, you simply spray this on the paint, wait a bit, and then it just comes off super easy with a scraper.
Liars!!! That paint was caked on…and under the yellow was another layer of white. It was NOT just magically falling off. Boo. I gave this method a go for a few weekends and the result was this:
At this point I was really starting to doubt my abilities and lose faith. And one of the arms was completely rotted through (they totally didn’t disclose that in the listing). I thought that it might be better just to burn the damn thing and buy a new one. Jim wouldn’t notice, right? Sigh.
Take 2
I went and bought a handheld sander and the highest grit sandpaper that I could find. I told myself that if this didn’t work, we’d burn it.
And…it was MAGIC!!! I love sanding things. Paint stripper is stupid. Sanding is the bestest. Sand all the things!!! It was looking soooo much better even after the first sanding.
Then we had to deal with the arm. Enter Jim! He helped me with the cutting and nailing, but we made an arm that was close enough to the original completely out of scrap wood we had laying around…sans rotten wood.
We ended up taking the rest of the bench apart since we had to replace the rusted hardware anyways and so I could get in the nooks and crannies with the sander. (Clarifying disclaimer: when I say “we” Jim helped me with power tool thingers…the rest was me, myself, and I)
After sanding as much as I could, I decided that this would have to be painted and I couldn’t stain it. There was just too many imperfections in the wood for stain. Which was fine. Then I had to decide on a color. In hindsight, I should have probably primed the thing first…but ain;t nobody got time for that!
So I dove right into the yummy midnight blue.
After quite a few coats and like 8 cans later (I kept buying out the local hardware store), I was calling it done and we were able to put her back together again. Then I sealed it with a couple of coats of a weather poly spray. Look at how nice that new arm fits!
Tada!
We had to make another trip to the hardware store (this was probably the 10th for this project…but who’s counting) to get longer chains to hang her up! Our porch ceiling is ginormous! But let’s talk about these awesome pillows…there’s a local gal who makes and sells these. I’m so in love!
But then I had to make my own pillows that I don’t mind if they get weathered. All the pillows, please!!!
Now to get my swing on!
