You NEED A Hanging Chair in Your Life

I never thought I would say this, but you NEED a hanging chair in your life. Yes, an indoor swing. I don't care if you don't have kids. I'll never not have an indoor hanging chair in my life again. They're that wonderful. In this post, I'm going to show you how to hang a swinging chair and share my favorite hanging chairs with you.

When I was giving Lucy's room a big girl makeover (check that out here), I wanted to include a fun chair since she no longer had a rocking chair. I thought it would be fun to do a hanging chair. I knew the kids would love having a swing inside; what I didn't know is how much my husband and I would love the chair.

It is so soothing to swing, especially when you can be in air conditioning. In fact, you can see Lucy napping in her chair. I found myself drinking my morning coffee in her room in the swing and sipping an evening glass of wine in her room, too. We loved it so much that we got a little jealous that the swing was only in Lucy's room. After all, how was I going to get my swinging fix while Lucy was sleeping?

I decided to relocate the swing to the playroom. The reasoning I gave the kids was that we had more room to actually swing in the playroom. The real reason: Mama should be able to swing whenever she wants. It's so easy to hang one of these things that you can do it in about 10 minutes. I have a saved story on my Instagram called "Hanging Chair Tutorial" if you prefer to see a video.

Materials:

-Hanging chair with rope

-Drill with a couple bits (more on that in a minute)

-Eyebolt screw

-Carabiner

-Any screwdriver

-Safety pin

If your ceiling is anything like mine, it has too much texture for a stud finder to be effective. Obviously this swing will be holding a lot of weight, so it's really important it's mounted into a joist in the ceiling. That's where the safety pin comes in. Straighten it out and poke it into the ceiling where you want the swing to hang. If it goes in easily with no resistance, then it's just drywall, and you can't hang the swing there. Move over a few inches and try again. Keep dong this until you encounter resistance, which means you've hit a solid wooden joist. The great thing about the safety pin is that the holes are too small to be noticeable. (I poked over 10 holes into our ceiling, and you can't see a single one.)

Once you find the joist, it's time to pre-drill a hole for your eyebolt screw. Make sure you get materials (rope, eyebolt screw, and carabiner) that can support a lot of weight (I chose materials that could support up to 300 lbs.). Choose a bit that's just a tiny bit smaller in diameter than your eyebolt screw (see above picture). For my screw, that was a 1/4" bit, but because I don't have the upper body strength of my husband and my bits are a little dull, I started with a 1/8" drill bit and then worked up to the 1/4" bit.

Once you've pre-drilled your hole, you can insert the eyebolt screw. It's easy to turn at first; once you get to the joist, you'll have difficulty turning it with just your hand. That's where the screwdriver comes in. Insert the screwdriver through the eyebolt, and you can use that leverage to screw the eyebolt screw all the way into the joist (until the threads no longer show). Now just clip your carabiner onto the eyebolt. (Note: I can't help you much with the rope because I kept messing up the knots. I finally asked my husband to do square knots for me so he took care of that part. Essentially, your rope is attached to the swing on one end and the carabiner on the other end.)

Now, hop into your swing and test it out. Feel free to test it out for a while with a glass (or two) of wine . You earned it, and your kids have to wait their turn. I promise you'll love it, and it'll be the favorite spot to sit in the whole house (Lucy is swinging as I type this).

Here are a few swings I found at different price points and styles: