Hide Ugly Outdoor Trash Bins With A Stylish DIY Solution

Most every homeowner, and many a renter, is quite familiar with the process of taking trash bins to the curb for pickup day. While necessary, it's a trek that carries a lot of baggage in the form of unsightly garbage cans sitting around when not in use. This is especially true if you have no dedicated storage space for the bins, leaving them to pop in stark contrast against your garage door or manicured hedges. If it feels like ugly garbage cans are reducing your home's curb appeal, it may be worth investing in a trash corral or privacy enclosure. Prebuilt corrals can be found at most home improvement stores, though they can run several hundred dollars or more. Instead of investing hundreds or even thousands of dollars in a prebuilt model, consider constructing your own stylish DIY corral better suited to your specific color scheme, size preferences, and aesthetic. Since all you want is a partition, there's no reason your privacy corral needs to be made of pricey resin or boards. Instead, look to the garden section for wood or vinyl lattice panels, like TikToker abby_roadhome.

You'll find a variety of methods across social media for building a lattice privacy corral for your garbage cans. To build this version, you'll want three 4-by-4-inch wood posts, 6 to 8 feet long, along with three vinyl post wraps and three post caps. Buy curved lattice or cut it for the design and size you need. Then to put it all together, you'll need a post hole digger, concrete mix (to secure the posts), screws, and a cordless drill. You may want to pick up paint that matches or complements the wall you're building this against.

Hiding your bins with a DIY trash corral is a fairly straightforward process, and can likely be completed within a single weekend if you have some experience working with your hands. You can also customize the exterior of your enclosure by picking up some lattice panels, vinyl slats, or some modern style louver fencing boards, if you want to get fancy. There are endless ways to customize this creation, from the design of the fence to the color of paint or wood stain you use once construction is finished. 

To begin, dig three holes roughly 2-3 feet deep, and arrange your posts. Fill the holes with concrete to set the posts in the ground, and make sure they're flush with the accompanying building or structure. Once the posts are secure, affix lattices, coverings, or boards, boxing in your trash cans from the street view. We also recommend spicing up your access with a budget-friendly garden path so it's easy to walk your bins right out to the street for pickup. A few hinges can even give the back of the structure an easy access gate.

Though trash corrals are perfect for stashing your bins from view, they also come with a number of bonus perks. They can help prevent pests from digging through trash, keeping things tidy. They also provide a bit of personalized flair to the side of your home, increasing curb appeal and adding some serious value to your home. As always, it check any applicable city or HOA ordinances before committing to any major outdoor projects. You'll most likely find that a simple trash corral is a basic project, which likely won't require much added paperwork.