Give your neighbors porch envy with this wicker chair DIY

A hanging swing is the sort of addition to a room or porch that everyone will gravitate toward. Few things are as idyllic for people as swaying gently while enjoying a good book or glass of wine. A swing certainly turns more heads than run-of-the-mill wicker furniture, but luckily, it’s easy to transform a wicker chair into a swing in as little as an afternoon. Best of all, this upscale DIY project makes excellent use of only a few materials and is unbelievably easy on the budget.

Tassels in four different colors simultaneously give the cut chair legs a more polished appearance and add a charming and unusual detail. Using the same yarn for the tassels and the hanging supports not only helps create a bit of design cohesion but gives you the most bang for your buck. Although hanging a swing from the ceiling isn’t tricky or expensive, it does require some special hardware that can anchor into a load-bearing support beam. Be sure to follow the instructions on the swing hook kit and select an area in the ceiling that can accommodate the weight.

- An old wicker chair
- Electric jigsaw
- Chalk spray paint, white
- 4 skeins of yarn, one in orange, blue, pink and purple
- Scissors
- Ruler
- 4 eye screws
- Electric screwdriver
- Drill bit
- 4 metal rings, 1 inch wide
- Swing hook kit

1. Turn an old wicker chair on its side. Use the electric jigsaw to cut off the legs. Discard them. If there is a cross-shaped support beneath the seat of the chair, be sure to leave the support intact and cut off the legs below it.

2. Paint the chair with the white chalk spray paint. Let it dry.

3. To make a tassel, first cut a length of orange yarn measuring several feet long. Pull about 2 feet of the yarn through the eye of an eye screw. Tie a knot next to the screw.

4. Cut about 20 pieces of yarn measuring about 14 inches long each. Lay all of the pieces next to each other. Slide the eye screw under the pieces and tie a knot with the short end of the yarn attached to the screw. Tie a second knot and pull taut.

5. Pull up on the screw and gently pull down on the bottom of the tassel. Take the long end of the yarn attached to the screw and wrap it several times around the top until the ends of the tassel point down on their own. Tie a knot in the yarn and smooth down. Trim the ends of the tassel for a uniform look.

6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for the blue, pink and purple yarn until you have four tassels.

7. Use a drill bit to drill small holes in the bottom of the chair where you'd cut off the legs. Screw the orange tassel into the front right chair nub. Repeat with the blue tassel on the back right nub, the pink tassel on the back left nub and the purple tassel on the front left nub.

8. Measure the desired height between the top of the chair and the ceiling. Cut four lengths of orange yarn that are at least double that height. Thread the four pieces through a metal ring. Pull the ring to the center of the yarn.

9. Tie each piece of yarn around the left arm of the chair.

10. Repeat with blue yarn around the left side of the chair back, the pink yarn around the right side of the back and the purple yarn around the right arm.

11. Follow the package instructions for installing the swing hook kit into the ceiling. Hang the metal rings from the hook and enjoy.