Giving New Life to a Vintage Porch Swing

My mother-in-law is the kindest, most giving person I have ever met…and tough as nails. As a single mom, she raised two spirited boys who grew up to be amazing husbands and fathers. For Christmas this year, we wanted to give her something really special and found the answer stored in our basement.

Nana’s uncle (a WWII Veteran) built this swing by hand at the age of 85 and he gifted it to her because she loved it so much. Our girls have precious memories of sitting with their Nana on this swing. We stored it for her when she moved into her new apartment and when I ran across it last year I decided to breathe new life into her vintage porch swing and gift it to her again.

Prepping The Porch Swing For A Makeover

This porch swing lived for years under the back deck of our old house. Even though it was somewhat covered by the deck above, it had still been exposed to the elements and was in pretty rough shape.

Before we could assess the damage, we had to get it cleaned up. We used a stiff brush to clean off the years of dirt, spiderwebs, and chipped paint. Next, we removed the old rusted hardware and Jason tightened each of the existing screws, adding additional ones where needed.

Repairing the Damaged Parts

I had fully expected to have to replace several of the slats, but the wood was in surprisingly good condition. We did go ahead and add two 1×3 boards across the bottom as extra supports, just to be extra cautious. Ideally we would have used pressure treated wood, but since Nana’s porch is covered, the swing will be out of the rain. So, we went with what we had on hand.

After making sure the swing was structurally sound, we sanded down the faded brown paint.

Making It Pretty

Then came the fun part. Paint! We opted for a bright white exterior paint. My Zibra Square paintbrush had the perfect angle for getting in between the slats, so I handled the detail work while Jason covered the larger areas.