Simple Ideas for Better Homes, Gardens & Outdoor Spaces
Transform an open yard into a functional, architecturally stunning extension of your home. Welcome to our Outdoor Structures category, your ultimate destination for pergolas, gazebos, shade sails, sheds, and architectural elements that add both form and function to your property. Whether you are looking to create a shaded outdoor dining pavilion, build a cozy poolside cabana, or add a stylish storage shed to organize your yard tools, we have everything you need to anchor your outdoor living design.
A yard planted mostly for summer has a predictable winter problem. The leaves drop, the perennials get cut back or collapse, and what remains is mulch, a fence, and a few bare sticks. Most people respond by looking away from the garden until April. The fix is rarely more flowers. A winter garden depends on … Read more
Most weekend garden projects go wrong in one of two places. Either the materials were never meant to sit outside in rain and sun, or the thing got built before anyone decided where it would live. A planter that dries out in a day, a trellis that leans after the first windy week, a compost … Read more
A she shed that sits alone on bare lawn looks like a garden shed with a nicer paint job. The same building with a path leading to it, plants softening its corners and a place to sit outside the door looks like a destination. The structure matters less than most people expect. What surrounds it … Read more
Most homemade bird feeders don’t fail because the birds ignore them. They fail because the seed gets wet, turns to mold, and either sickens the birds or sits untouched until it’s thrown out. A feeder with no drainage, a flat lid that collects rain, or a tray big enough to hold a puddle will cause … Read more
My front porch used to be the saddest spot on the block. Three plastic beige pots, a leggy geranium, and a garden gnome that had seen better days. Then my neighbor Rosa invited me over for coffee and I saw her patio for the first time — cobalt blue Talavera pots stacked with marigolds, hot … Read more
Crows picking apart your tomato seedlings the morning after you plant them. Pigeons treating your blueberry bushes like an all-you-can-eat buffet. If you’ve ever walked outside to find your lettuce bed stripped down to nubs, you already know the frustration I’m talking about. My neighbor Carla used to joke that her garden had a “birds … Read more
You’ve got a postage-stamp backyard, three kids who are somehow always “bored,” and a Pinterest board full of play areas that need at least a quarter acre to pull off. Sound familiar? I get it. My own backyard is barely bigger than a two-car garage, and for years I thought that meant my kids were … Read more
Your backyard is the size of a postage stamp, and every “zen garden” article you find online seems to assume you own three acres and a team of monks. I get it. My first attempt at a Japanese-style corner was crammed into a side yard so narrow I could touch both fences at once, and … Read more
Your patio looks fine. Fine isn’t the word you want, though. You want people to walk out onto that patio and stop mid-sentence. I’ve been growing succulents for over a decade, and the single biggest upgrade I ever made to my own backyard wasn’t a new fence or a fire pit. It was hanging a … Read more
The first cold snap hits and suddenly your patio turns into a wasteland. The cushions are still out there from July, getting crunchy with frost, and you’re stuck choosing between hibernating indoors for six months or figuring out how to actually use your backyard when it’s 50 degrees out. I get it. For years my … Read more