Say Goodbye To The Eyesore Of Garden Hose Clutter With A Charming DIY Solution

Even the best landscaping can look like a mess if there is a long, tangled hose strewn about in the yard. Watering may be necessary to keep your lawn and plants healthy, but a messy hose situation is not. Plus, leaving your garden hose in a knot on the ground can shorten the life of your hose and make it less efficient. With this in mind, you it's a good idea to start exploring some popular hose storage options. There are hooks, but you would have to mount them on your exterior wall, potentially damaging it. You can opt for a reel or plastic container, but these are often not very aesthetically pleasing and may disrupt the look of your yard. For a storage solution that doesn't stand out as a big piece of plastic, you can DIY your own hose container out of wood that is easy to use and will blend into your landscaping.

This hose storage box includes a removable lid to better protect the inside and hide your hose even more while maintaining a simple, minimalist look. Another benefit of this DIY is the simple construction. The whole thing can be constructed using measuring tape, 1-inch by 3-inch and 1-inch by 2-inch planks, wood glue, screws and a drill, clamps, and a miter saw. Then, you'll need sandpaper in a medium grit, such as 120, and a fine grit, between 150 and 220, along with paint or stain and a brush. By using basic tools and only a few materials, you can make this project on a budget, too.

Once you have your materials, you can determine the dimensions you want for your box. Carefully roll up your hose in the manner you will store it inside the box. Ideally, this will be the best way to coil your garden hose to keep it free of tangles, but any method of figure-eights or looping you can easily perform will work. Then, lay the hose on the ground and use your measuring tape to find the width and height of the coiled hose. Add a couple of inches to each measurement so that the hose will not be cramped, and then use these numbers for the height and width of the box. As a comparison point, boxes that are 17 inches wide and 18 inches tall are capable of holding hoses up to 100 feet in length.

Once you have your measurements, begin to cut your wood to size. You will need eight 1-by-3s pieces in your desired box width to form the base lower and upper square frames, and eight pieces in your desired height for the legs. Secure the frames by lining the flat edge of one to the end side of another to form an even square. Then, glue two of the height pieces together and repeat the process until you have the four corners. Secure the legs to the outside of the corners of the frame pieces. Finally, cut the 1-by-2s to the desired height and secure them to the outside of the square frames at even intervals.

Be sure to leave one of the 1-by-2s off so that your hose can attach to the spigot while still in the box. Cut more slats to act as the floor of your box, and install them so they are evenly spaced apart with openings no wider than your hose between them. Next, create another square with the same dimensions as the original square frames, securing the pieces with pocket screws. Cut more slats for the lid that are a bit longer than the total width of the box so that they will rest on top of everything, and secure them to the lid frame.

Finally, you can finish the project by sanding and painting or staining it. Start with your medium-grit sandpaper and transition to the finer grit. Then, you can apply an exterior stain or paint according to its directions, and double-check that your choice will hold up well with water exposure. You may even want to apply a clear protective coat or try other ways to weatherproof your outdoor furniture to protect your project even more. 

Once complete, you can decide where to put your container. If you want to avoid the big storage mistake makes your hose's lifespan shorter, try to find a place out of direct sunlight for the box. Even with the lid, there will still be UV exposure, and limiting it can prolong the life of your hose and its beautiful new holder.