hanging out: hammock edition

it's amazing how a blog quickly becomes like a good friend; therefore, if you don't stay in touch, the distance grows and you become anxious about the catch up period.

i feel like i haven't been all that great lately about staying connected. being out of town for a whole week for work in texas really threw me off. i am just now coming back around.

anyways, i wanted to share a recent outdoor project that j and i finished. we'd been talking about this project for months so it felt great to get it scratched off the to-do list.

we decided to finally put up some posts for our awesome hammock that we bought in tulum, mexico a few summers ago! since we didn't want our hammock to get covered in mildew, bird droppings, or damaged from the rain, we knew we wanted posts that would make it easy to bring the hammock in and out.


first, we determined that we needed the following items to complete this project:
- 4x6 posts (x2) - you need at least 4x4's but we figured 4x6's would be more sturdy. also make sure they are pre-treated wood posts to avoid rot
- 2 eye bolts
- 2 snap hooks
- 2 bags of quick dry cement (50 lb bag per post) and water to mix
- wood stain
- shovel

to get started, we first had to determine where to dig the holes. most websites suggested posts that are a foot longer apart than the length of our hammock. since our hammock is 12 feet long, we put the posts 13 feet apart and then started digging. it is recommended to dig your holes at least 24 inches deep.




once our holes were dug, we put in the posts and i held it level while j put in and mixed the cement and water. although it "dries" in 30 minutes, it suggests letting it set for 4 hours. most sites suggested giving the hammock posts a week to fully set before use.


after the initial 30 minutes, we put on the first coat of stain on each post. after the 4 hours was up, it was time for the eye bolts. we estimated how high we wanted the hammock and then drilled out the holes for the eye bolts. then we snapped on the snap hooks for the hammock. we also added a separate ceiling hook to hang a lantern on.




lastly, we put the final coat of stain on and once it was dry, we refilled the holes with the dirt and packed the holes tightly. that's it! we were done and have a beautiful hammock area. now we just can't wait to landscape and for the mosquitos* to go away so we can actually enjoy it!


we have 2 other projects that we've finished in the last 2 weekends! i can't wait to share them! stay tuned!

*you may notice the citronella candles in the pictures. we got devoured! we used probably a whole bottle of "off" too. we MUST find a better alternative! any suggestions?