#porchliving

As we transition into Fall in the South we have cooler evenings and

 occasionally cooler days in September and October,

 but it can still be very warm during the day. 

 The 80's are not out of the norm in Atlanta.

 That makes dressing in blanket scarves and boots a bit tricky early on but it makes for absolutely perfect #porchliving.

((I have written about my porch addiction before)

I'm also addicted to Southern Living mag.

I recently ran across this article about Southern Living on Lonny called the

"Essentials of Southern Girl Style."

Got my attention.

I'm in total agreement from top to bottom, coming in with 9 out of 10

( with 4 being Monograms in general, in my case.)

No Mint Julep cups... yet!

And sitting right in the middle of the SL list was this picture below of a perfect porch

and the statement that we revere our porches.

 

5. Porch swings

"In the South, the porch is a sacred place, and there’s no better way to enjoy one than a well-designed porch swing.”

 

True Story SL!!

At our house we decided to take the porch swing a bit further and put a hanging bed on our porch several years ago.

I've had some questions about our porch bed (best napping spot in the South) so I'm going to show you how incredibly easy it is to have a hanging bed of your own.

So this is just a simple rectangular box framed to hold a mattress. Their are cross pieces on each end with large eye bolts in them. The bed is propped on buckets to make it easy to work. It's pretty solid and heavy. Our bottom board is removable. That's up to you.

In between the ceiling joists we have braces that are secured with screws.   

Then the eye bolts are screwed in to those.

Check the weight allowances for the eye screws and chain and be sure that everything will support the weight that it will hold. 

We went with heavy duty eyes and chain.  We reallllly overcompensated.

We use it all the time. It's the best napping spot in the land!

In the morning the sun shines in. In the Fall it makes it warm and cozy.

Here it is all freshly painted and ready to relax in. 

We have some old cushions that fit in the recessed frame and then we have an IKEA mattress topper on top of that. We used the IKEA topper because we had it from Mollie's many college moves. (Lots of previous posts on this topic!!)

We just rearranged this section of the porch,

moved the hanging bed (previous arrangement here), 

freshened up the paint

and added all of this great bamboo furniture that came from a local thrift store!

My husband sent the picture below and a text asking, "Do you want this?"

Am I breathing? 

And after my ridiculous "No" on the wicker couch a few weeks back I did not hesitate!! #yesplease

Such a score!!!

#nobambooleftbehind

And while you are relaxing on the swinging bead snoozing or reading a book you can hear the trickle of the mermaid fountain right outside the porch.

See it peeking through the ferns?

It's cool and shady in the afternoon.

In the Summer it's perfect with the fan circulating the breeze.

And if it's a little chilly on shady Fall evenings we have cozy blankets 

and there is a gas insert in the fireplace beside the hanging bed.

Yep, #porchliving is best!