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13 Ways to Hide Outdoor Eyesores

Written by Elisa

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Add curb appeal with these easy ways to hide outdoor eyesores like utility meters, air conditioning units, and garden hoses.

Having air conditioning, water on demand, and electricity in our homes are all wonderful things, but they require bulky and unsightly machines and cords that litter the outside of our houses. Cover them up with these 13 ways to hide outdoor eyesores and improve your curb appeal!

Ways to Hide Outdoor Eyesores

A note before we dive into these awesome ways to hide outdoor eyesores: always check with your local utility companies on policies for covering up your water meters, electrical meters, trash bins, and AC units. Some of these policies might have to do with clearance, access for meter readers, and adequate ventilation for AC units.

How to Hide Utility Boxes and Wires

Are your utility boxes and wires, like your water meter or the electrical meter, distracting to the eye? Whether they are located at the side of your home or at the patio, there are several clever ways to cover or camouflage them!

Repurpose old vinyl shutters to act as a screen to cover up your utility boxes! Easy to move or take down for the winter or whenever you need to access the utility boxes.

outdoor repurpose vinyl shutters hide outdoor eyesores water meterOutdoor Repurpose Shutter Screen | Hometalk

Or build a wood screen using wood scraps in your garage or pressure-treated fence boards. Use door hinges to attach them together and paint or stain your new screen!

diy wood shutters hide outdoor eyesoresHiding Outdoor Uglies | Provident Home Design

Here’s another wood building project, this is a slatted wood screen that uses cleats – one pair attached to the screen itself, one pair attached to the house – to hold it in place. You simply push it up and away to get access to the utility boxes.

diy-wood-screen-23DIY Wood Screen to Hide Utility Boxes | Remodelaholic

Add some greenery (and even more curb appeal) by attaching planters to your wood screen! This DIY wood screen is held up on hooks; simply swing away from the house to gain access to the utility boxes.

slatted panel with planters hide electric meterDIY Electric Meter Screen | House Tweaking

Here’s an easy solution: paint your utility boxes and wires! It’s surprisingly effective and would work well for areas with stricter regulations.

paint utility box wires camouflageCamouflaging an Eyesore in Our Backyard | Love of Family and Home

How to Hide Utility Boxes in the Front Yard

Do you have a cable box, an electrical box, or a sewer access cap sticking up through the grass in your front yard? Many people hide them by planting shrubs and other plants around them, but you could easily make a slipcover with beadboard and top it with a birdhouse.

utility box cover birdhouse beadboardDecorate Your Garden | BHG

Another way to hide utility boxes in your front yard, especially those huge electrical transformer boxes, is to add a corner fence and plant bushes and flowers around the fence.

use fence to hide large utility boxLandscaping Ideas to Hide Utility Boxes | Views From the Garden

How to Hide Air Conditioning Units

AC units are bulky and they need a lot of airflow to work efficiently, so they can be difficult to hide. Enter the lattice screen! They are nice to look at, pretty easy to assemble, and provide plenty of airflow.

lattice screen hide ac unitEasy To Build Lattice Screen | Canadian Gardening

If you want something a bit more modern, check this awesome slatted wood screen!

slatted modern ac unit screenHide That Ugly AC Unit | HousePet

Here’s another lattice screen built to hide an AC unit, but this is an even easier DIY.

easy lattice screen ac unitCovering Up An AC Unit | First Home

A louvered screen, built with the louvers fixed at an angle, works well in providing an AC unit adequate air ventilation. Plus, it looks so nice, especially when painted in white! This is a more permanent solution to hiding your AC unit.

hide ac unit diy louvered screenDisguise Your AC With a DIY Louvered Screen | The Kim Six Fix

How to Hide Common (But Ugly) Outdoor Items

Some outdoor items are a necessary part of home living, but they don’t look so good out in the open. Water hoses and trash cans are two such examples. Here’s some great ideas how to hide them!

Build a wooden planter to hold your hoses! Plant pretty flowers and plants in the lid and no one will ever know you’re hiding a water hose or two inside. Make a hole in the back to feed the hose through.

hide hose outdoor planter diyDIY Hose Hiding Outdoor Planter | That’s My Letter

Build a modern and beautiful cedar screen to hide your trash cans! Add your house numbers to give it another purpose. You could use this DIY cedar screen to hide all kinds of outdoor eyesores, from kids toys to pool equipment!

hide trash cans modern wood screenCedar Screen | Sugar Sugar House

These brilliant DIYs will turn any front yard (or back yard) into a beautiful space without the interference of outdoor eyesores! What other ways to hide outdoor eyesores have you seen or made yourself?

Add curb appeal with these easy ways to hide outdoor eyesores like utility meters, air conditioning units, and garden hoses.

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Remodelaholic is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Please see our full disclosure here.
We love hearing from fellow Remodelaholics, so let us know what you like about this and leave any questions below in the comments. If you've followed a tutorial or been inspired by something you've seen here, we'd love to see pictures! Submit pictures here or by messaging us over on Facebook.

Published: January 12, 2016Filed Under: Gardening, How To Tagged: curb appeal, Exteriors, Top Ten, yard

About Elisa

I’m Elisa and I live in Austin, Texas with my husband and our two little girls. I used to teach reading and writing, but now I stay at home with my two kiddos and read and write in my spare time. I also love to undertake DIY projects, find new recipes on Pinterest, and dream about someday finally completing our home. Above all, I love to learn about new things and sharing my new-found knowledge with others.


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Comments

  1. Steffi says

    June 9, 2018 at 1:54 am

    I have ugly exposed conduit piping surrounding the walls of my swimming pool. Any ideas???
    Thanks!

    Reply

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We love hearing from fellow Remodelaholics, so let us know what you like about this and leave any questions below in the comments. If you have followed a tutorial or been inspired by something you have seen here, we would love to see pictures! Submit pictures here or by messaging us over on Facebook.
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