How to Make a DIY Indoor Swing

We love our DIY indoor swing and have had one in our home for the last three years. We recently changed the layout of our living room and are now able to hang two swings and thought we would share how!

Three years ago for Christmas, Greg and I built our youngest a swing. She wasn't much for toys so a swing inside the house was just the right gift.

If it were just her at I at home she was attached to me at the hip. Don't get me wrong, she learned plenty of other skills like vacuuming, folding laundry and cooking.

If you have a child like this you know indoor play can be difficult. This was why we chose to build swings in the living room.

How do you make an indoor swing?

To make an indoor swing you will need only a few supplies that can all be found at your local hardware store; lumber for the seat, screw eye-ring, carabiner, and some rope.

Apart from the supplies, all you will need is a place in your to hang the swing. For this you will need to locate the ceiling joists, a stud finder will come in handy for this step.

Material List

• 2x12 pine for the seat
• 5/16' x 3 ¼" Screw Eye With Ring
• 3 ½" x ⅜" Carabiner
• ½" x 100ft Twisted Cotton Rope

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How to build a swing seat

1. Cut a 2x12 pine board down to 21 inches
2. Drill four ½ holes, measuring 1 ½ inches in from each corner
3. Sand pine board and holes, round corners
4. Seal with a clear coat, we used this one

How do you hang an indoor swing from the ceiling?

1. Locate studs, using a stud finder
2. Measure and mark for screws, in our case it was 18 inches apart*
3. Pre-drill hole, using a smaller bit than the size of your screw (we used ¼ inch drill bit)
4. Attach screw eye with ring to ceiling studs
5. We added an additional carabiner, allowing us to remove the swing without disassembling it

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*swings are 63" away from the wall with a distance of 10.5" between the two swings

How much weight can a ceiling hook hold?

All ceiling hooks are rated for different weight loads. The bolts we suggest to use for this swing are 5/16' x 3 ¼" Screw Eye With Ring which can hold a load of 130 lbs each.

We have had adults weighing just under 200lbs use our swings and they work great!

How to install indoor swing

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1. For an 8ft ceiling, cut 16ft rope lengths per side (in our case we cut 4, 16ft lengths)
2. Find the middle of the 16ft section and loop it through the carabiner
3. Next, feed the two ends through the loop and back down to the ground, creating a knot (as seen in photos above)

*Tip use painter tape, before and after each cut on the rope, preventing the rope from fraying

Attaching the Swing Seat

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1. Feed the rope down through the top of the swing seat, toward the ground
2. Tie a loose knot at each end
3. Level your swing seat as best as possible
4. Tighten knots when the seat is level

How do I make an indoor swing more sturdy?

To make an indoor swing more sturdy you need to prevent the seat from rocking too much. Right now the swing has four ropes falling from the ceiling, we want to combine the ropes to only be two.

1. Unravel the remaining rope under the seat, below the knot
2. Use 1ft section of leftover rope, unravel and use to tie swing handles together (see below)

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Tying both ropes together will prevent the swing from rocking too much back a fourth. This also makes it easier for little kids to sit on the swing and not fall off.

Some things we changed from our first indoor swing

Switched from nylon rope to cotton, we love the cotton 100% better.

We added carabiners for easy removal. The girls also have a climbing ladder, the carabiners allow us to swap the swing out for a climbing ladder at any point. It is also nice to have the option to remove them altogether when crawling cousins are over.

The placement this time is not pushed off into a corner, but instead is used to mimic actual seating. And can, therefore, be used as additional conversational seating for adults as well.

The swings are way more stylish this time around, adding style to the room instead of looking like a child's playroom.

Are indoor swings safe?

Some may argue that it's unsafe to have swings indoors, and I will let you ultimately be the judge of that for your own family.

Here in this house, we haven't had any swing accidents come from our kids or any friends that come over. We have had our own kids or cousins fall off once or twice when using the swings more for acrobatics stunts.

Over all the swings have brought imagination, excitement, relaxation and an added bonus of extra seating.

Some things that you can do to make having indoor swing more safe are:

• make sure the swings are placed a safe distance away from each other
• make sure the swings are a safe distance away from walls and furniture (* 63" away from the wall *10.5" between the two swings)
• be sure to use the proper bolts for the weight limit of your family
• tie strong knots

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