Porch Swing Makeover with DIY Patio Garden Hacks

This post may contain affiliate links, sponsored content and products received at no cost.

6:00 AM

Porch Swing Makeover with DIY Patio Garden Hacks!

Today I am sharing some of our fun DIY projects in the yard! 5 of them, plus all the tips and tricks I can think of. This is the perfect time of year to spruce up the outdoors and add that much needed oasis to your home.

We bought our house 4.5 years ago and love it. It's changed a lot since day one...but nothing more than our yard. We get lots of attention from our yard...

Most of our yard is rock. The front is xeriscape with drought resistant plants. There's lots of mulch, logs, and clover. We have a few grow boxes and grapevines growing on the fence.

We have a private road next to our house, which gets a surprising amount of car and foot traffic...so we basically have 3 front yards, instead of a super private backyard. It's got pros and cons about it...but it's our life--and I love it.

Our covered patio is where we live outside during the nice days of the year. We eat meals outside daily. We entertain, meet neighbors walking by, grill and relax out here too. It's our lovely oasis.

DIY Project #1: Porch Swing Makeover

We got this porch swing frame, that a friend asked us to take to the dump. What use could it be without cushions or a place to sit? My husband and I ran to the store and bought some nylon rope to match...I think about 40-60 feet.

Then wrapped and weaved the rope around the frame for the perfect porch swing! It's airy and breezy and super comfortable! Similar to a hammock, it's fun to lay on and let the water misters cool you down on a hot Summer day.

After a neighbor saw our rope wrapped swing they asked if we wanted their swing frame. Of course we said yes! This time we used some broken expanding hoses and wove them around the frame.

Then in and out through each strip my husband wove in some webbing.

We have a huge roll of webbing we found at a surplus type store. We hardly used any of this roll to weave into our swing!

It's a little laborious to weave the end of the webbing through the chair, pull out slack and pull it through...but it was a fun midnight project we did together.

And ta-da! It's the perfect companion swing to our rope swing. They both face each other on the patio and make a great conversation area.

DIY Project #2: Bamboo Trellis

We've got a giant log table, with log chairs for eating or playing card games. The full greenery around the patio makes it feel like a magic garden with a little more privacy than before.

All 4 sides of the patio were open, and we'd have people walk into our yard and ask us what we were doing. So we knew we needed some privacy. (I'm like, "hey dummy, this is our yard--get out!"--okay, not really...but I thought it, in my mind.)

We grow bamboo in the front yard and cut it back every year, saving the sticks. We fashioned the bamboo together to make sort of an Asian inspired trellis. We just tie them with twine everywhere they intersect, then support the sides with 2x4's.

Then on the street side, we have rows of giant Sunflowers growing. They strengthen the trellis, add thick green fullage, and in a couple months we'll have stunning yellow sunflowers taller than our patio roof.

Last year, a pumpkin plant found its way near the trellis and we wrapped it up the bamboo too. Plus, it makes the perfect photo backdrop!

DIY Project #3: Yard Decorations

We got a bunch of colorful yard art...which my husband doesn't love but he lets me have...as long as it has a place. We drilled some holes in the top of a log and stuck them in...but they weren't quite right.

So we cut the stems to varying lengths...

And they look much better! This gives them a home, so they don't get blown around or picked out of the garden by passing children.

I also love sparkly pinwheels! We stuck this one into a dowel.

To help it have stability in the loose garden box soil.

This keeps kids from pulling it out or the wind from blowing it over.

And no one can even tell!

DIY Project #4: Espalier Peach Tree

My husband wanted to espalier a peach tree so bad! Espalier is a fruit tree or ornamental shrub whose branches are trained to grow flat against a wall, supported on a lattice or a framework of stakes.

We used the same bamboo method, supported with 2x4's to espalier this peach tree. There is one on the other side of this buiding as well.

DIY Project #5: Log Table

This giant log table is one of my favorite parts of the patio. We acquired all sorts of tree trunks after a big storm a few years ago. My husband used his chainsaw to shape the center log for the table and the chairs. Last year we built the table top for the log table. We had to redo our garage roof, so we ended up with lots of rotted or burned 2x4's.

We borrowed our neighbors planer and planed all the 2x4's. We glued them and screwed them together to make a big, heavy square. We used a pencil and a string...pinned the string to the center of the square and drew a big circle with the pencil. Then used the chainsaw to cut the round circle.

After sanding and cleaning the top surface, I rubbed the top with clear wax to make it easy to clean off and keep it looking its best.

That's basically the tips and tricks I have for you! We use S-Hooks forged by my son to hang up our hanging baskets. We installed 4 water misters under the patio that cool things down on hot days.

More Oasis Garden Tips:

We have a forest of logs of different heights for climbing on, they are deep set in the ground and secured to each other with forged metal and screws...it's incredibly solid. We've run a drip system for our plants for easy watering.

We have a rain barrel pond, filled with 30 comet goldfish. The fish eat any mosquitos larvae, plus the fish food we feed them, they poop in the water and then we fill our watering can with the water to water our plants. It's a fun little eco system.

Most of our plants are in raised grow boxes or big planters and pots. We contacted a local nursery and asked if we could get some plastic pots...they gave us as many as we wanted for free.

We add nitrogen to the soil by planting white clover all around the yard too. Which has resulted in lots of 4-leaf clovers of massive size--and a happy--and very lucky boy!