First, find the pallet. Quality is highly variable. I posted on facebook that I was looking for a pallet, and got a surprising number of viable responses. More people in my network have access to pallets than I ever realized. You don't need a perfect pallet, but it shouldn't be highly warped or water damaged. I grabbed a few of the best ones in case I needed spare parts, or in case of mess-ups. (Note: Mess-ups are just learning opportunities with bad PR. Don't let them get you down.) Also, enlist the help of a friend. Pallets are heavy!
Once it was home, I cut about a third off. I easily accomplished this with a cheap, hand-help saw. Where I chose to cut wasn't based on fancy measurements, but more on stability of the final product. There are boards that are clearly meant for support. I kept those. Depending on the size of your swinging area, you could choose to have a sort of swinging pallet bed. Mine is cut wide, but not bed wide. The width has resulted in comfort even without having a back. I could have tried to fashion a back with the leftover pallet from the cut, but I like this one better backless.
In the Weekly Wanderings pallet, they took boards off a spare pallet and cut them to size to fill the gaps between the boards on the pallet turned swing. I tried to get the boards off the spare pallets and would have broken the boards before ever successfully removing them. I had a spare panelling type board from a diy picture framing adventure, so I cut it to size and affixed it to my pallet via wood screws. I have been trying to use what I already have, but if you wanted to do this and didn't have a board, they are only $10 or so at the Home Depot.
Sand it!! And sand it good. Butt splinters will ruin any swinging experience, and pallets are splintery. I used a mouse sander. Some people don't care for mouse sanders, but I personally love mine. I also painted it with some thick exterior kilz, which also helped to smooth it all out.
For about $22, I bought chain from the hardware store, which conveniently lists how much weight it supports right on the package. I figured to be safe, about 1000 pounds. New Orleans has really good food, and it won't always be skinny people swinging on this thing. The chains supported about 900 lbs each. Also got 4 big, thick screw things with the loop on the end. (I realize that is not that helpful, and one of my blogging goals will be to develop a better hardware vocabulary.) I do know they were 5/16 in width and I purchased the appropriate drill bit. Drilled four holes in the sides of the pallets, all dead center in terms of height, all about 2 1/2 inches in from the edge. Bolted or lug nutted them in. Again, sorry for the hardware vocabulary, or lack thereof. Six quick links, all capable of supporting about 900 lbs attached the chain to the hardware on the swing and to the existing hardware on the porch. All said and done, the hardware came to about $30.
The cushions I made from clearance outdoor fabric. JoAnne's was selling it at $5 per yard. I used about 4 yards total. 3 yards to cover the foam cushions, which were $12 a piece. One yard for the bolster, which is stuffed with damaged sheets given to me by a friend. Too nice to throw away, not nice enough to donate. Anyway, the cushions ran me about $45. I would give you the sewing instructions, but I don't really know what I'm doing in terms of sewing. I can sew a straight line, and take the approach that even if I can't see the whole staircase, I just start climbing and let the next step reveal itself to me when its time. (It's not an exact quote, but the concept of that quote comes from MLK, Jr. Wanted to give credit where credit is due.)
I had priced a number of porch swings and they run from about $180 on up. Mine was a steal at $75, and I am super proud of the finished project. Not counting the cushions, the swing was easily completed in a Saturday afternoon. What a wonderful weekend project.
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