See How Easily You Can Beat the Stifling Summer Heat

by Jesse Akre

Imagine sitting back on a sunny afternoon swaying back and forth on a porch swing, watching the day go by. It used to be porch swings were just something you saw on the front of an old southern home, with someone's grandfather swaying back and forth, a pipe hanging out of the side of his mouth. Someone finally saw fit to return this piece of Americana to the limelight. Porch swings are making a comeback.

If you're ready to add a little motion to your front porch, there are a few things to know and keep in mind before you start selecting porch swings.

Before you begin the shopping process you need to take a closer look at the porch you are going to be putting the swing on. Pull out the tape measure and make measurements of the porch area. How much space do you have between the house and the railing around your porch. You need to know this measurement in case you want to set your porch swings in a way to face the front lawn. If you are going to put your porch swings sideways, looking across the porch, you still need to keep those measurements to make sure the swings are not too wide to fit in this space.

Next, how are you going to hang it? Does you porch have at least an 8-foot clearance from the floor to ceiling beams? You are going to need that much space to be able to hang the swing. You also need to find a nice strong beam to hold the weight of the swing and those that will be sitting on it. If you have the room for your swing to be put up this way, you may want to buy the hanging kit the same time you buy the swing, so you know they will match. If you don't have the clearance for this kind of porch swing, you may have to settle for fully enclosed porch swing sets that have their own frame and swing mechanism.

Now you can start the fun part of shopping, looking for stylish porch swings that will not only be fun to swing on, but look great. Remember your house architecture when you are making this decision. While there are a lot of great looking swings out there, if you put one that looks completely different from your house on the porch, it is going to seem awkward and stand out as not quite looking right. You want to choose a porch swing that will add to the look of your porch, not detract from it.

Finally, unless you are a handyman, you want to read what it will really take to put your swing in place before you buy. Some of them take a lot of assembly and know-how to assemble and install. If you end up with one of those you may get too frustrated to ever hang it or end up having to pay more to call in a professional.