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.
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
Nothing ruins a crisp October morning like stepping onto your garden path in your good boots and sinking into a puddle that’s somehow always exactly where your foot lands. Fall rain doesn’t mess around. It comes in sideways, it pools where you least expect it, and by November your once-charming stepping stone path is basically … Read more
Standing water on your walkway after every rainstorm is more than annoying. It’s a sign your yard is fighting you, and every puddle is a little reminder that water has to go somewhere. If it’s not soaking into the ground, it’s pooling by your foundation, drowning your flower beds, or turning your favorite path into … Read more
Your windowsill is begging for plants, but every time you try to make it work, something either falls off, dries out in three days, or looks like a sad afterthought. I know that feeling. My first attempt at a window ledge garden was a single plastic pot of petunias that blew off my second-floor sill … Read more
My neighbor thought I’d lost my mind when I started digging a foundation in my backyard in October. “It’s nearly winter,” she called over the fence. “Exactly,” I said. By January, I was sitting in 185°F of cedar-scented bliss while snowflakes melted on the little window. That outdoor sauna changed my life — and my … Read more