Making Your Front Porch More Inviting

Whether you have a small addition off your garage or a stand-alone storage unit for outdoor tools and gardening supplies, there are some way you can streamline your space. By adding in certain elements and taking the time to make the area work for your needs, you can enjoy an organized space. This way you won't have hunt down your tools and supplies when you're ready to work in the lawn or in the garden.  

1: Consider Adding A Workbench 

A sturdy workbench built along a wall at a convenient height for standing can have many uses in a storage shed or unit. You can use a long bench for potting plants, mixing sprays, and doing other odd jobs. If you build drawers or shelves under the bench, this can maximize your space quite a bit. You can use this space for labels, pots, bins for fertilizer, baskets, mulching materials and other gardening needs.  

Over the bench, you can build racks. These are useful for holding vases and pots. You an make holders for small tools, like hand-pruners, hand cultivators, and trowels, by nailing strips of wood close the wall. This way your tools are always on-hand when you need them.  

2: Leave Some Space 

While it's great to have benches and other storage, you also need to leave some empty space to store larger items. Leave an open space against one wall to store tools, like a lawn mower or wheelbarrow. One empty corner is ideal for storing rakes, hoes, shovels and other long-handled tools if you don't have wooden racks to hang these tools along a wall.  

You can make racks to hang long-handled tools by nailing pairs of tenpenny nails along the wall, allowing them to protrude outward. The nail pairs act as holders for these tools when you hang them handle-side down. If you already have an overhanging shelf in the unit, you can create notches in it every few inches to accommodate tool handles.  

3: Give Your Garden Hose A Safe Place 

If not stored correctly and away from sharp or pointy tools, your garden house can sustain damage. So, the hose needs a special rack to keep it safe while in storage. You can mount a sturdy 2-foot bracket on one wall and hang your coiled garden hose on it. Make sure the area you choose to hang the bracket is it a convenient place for you.  

No matter whether you do a lot of yard and garden work, or a little, it helps to have a storage unit to keep your tools safe from rain and other bad weather when not in use and make sure the things you need are handy. You can buy storage units, and other types of hardscape features, at home and garden centers, or find plans to build to your own. Use what additions you feel are necessary to streamline your space and make finding what you need simple.