Porch Swing Makeover

This originally appeared when I guest posted over at Tatertots & Jello last week....I'm reposting it here today in case you missed it...

Today I'd like to share one of our most recent projects ~ our porch swing makeover!!

Built in 1961 and not kept in the best condition, our home has been a bit of a fixer-upper, porch swing included!  Here's what we started with when we first moved in....



Fast forward 3 1/2 years, and my little guy has changed quite a bit, but unfortunately the porch swing had not!  Since we were already in the process of repainting our shutters (which were also the country blue color), it made sense to give our porch swing a makeover too!

List of materials needed:  one old porch swing, sandpaper, paint (we used Valspar Lincoln Cottage Black), paint sprayer (optional....but we have a Graco SprayStation), stencils for lettering, white acrylic paint - I used DecoArt Americana's White Wash).

The first step was to take it down, clean it, sand it, and clean it some more. 

I knew I wanted to cutesy it up a bit by stenciling on a phrase, so we removed two of the slats to be replaced later.  Then it was time to paint!  I had chosen the color "Lincoln Cottage Black" by Valspar.  We used our paint sprayer for a few coats and a foam brush to fix any runs and get all the other nooks and crannies that were hard to reach with the spray.

My handy hubby cut down the new board to fit, and once it was painted, measured out my chipboard letters for me!  What a great guy ~ he handles any project that involves my arch enemy:  measuring.  My tendency is to just eyeball everything, so if it actually needs to look good, he measures it all out.  I first traced around the letters with a pencil, then over the pencil with white paint, and then filled each letter in.  I lost count of how many coats it took, but I think it was around seven, so a little time consuming, but not difficult.  (Of course, those of you lucky ducks with a Silhouette could crank that baby out in vinyl in no time!!)

Once the wording was completely dry, and the new board was attached, we could hang the swing back up in it's rightful place on the front porch.  I whipped up some pillows ~ I use the term "whipped up" very lightly...actually my sewing machine and I were at odds for a few hours, but she finally relented, and we are now back on speaking terms.  Anyway, I plan on eventually painting the front door red, so I used a fun outdoor fabric with some red accents and some red burlap for the pillows.  Since the pillows will be outside, I left the plastic packaging on the pillow forms to protect them from getting wet!  Smart thinking, right?  Well, they make a funny sound when you lean on them, but at least they look good!  Plus, I made the envelope type closure, so I can easily take out the pillow form if I change my mind.

*One quick note ~ I do plan on adding a coat of clear poly over the letters to protect them a little from the elements.  Although if I don't get around to it, we could always just say we were going for the distressed look. :)

So, there you have it, our porch swing makeover ~ I can't wait until all this rain stops so I can go relax on the swing with a nice tall glass of iced coffee in hand!

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