How To Keep Your Outdoor Space Tidy And Organized

A yard strewn with gardening tools and sports equipment is no one’s definition of an oasis. But spend a weekend channelling your inner Marie Kondo and you’ll enjoy it for the rest of the season.

Caitlin Black, a landscape designer and co-founder of Aloe Designs in Vancouver, recommends creating drops zones for various items, thinking about how you actually use the space and creating storage areas where you need them. For example, she uses a jumbo-sized basket in the garage to hold basketballs, while bike hooks hang at the side of the house. A shelving unit can hold kid’s outdoor toys and gardening supplies, while hooks are great for barbecue tools.

“If space is limited, consider a nicely designed storage box that can double as a coffee table, side table, or seat,” says Martin Wade, a partner at MWLA Landscape Architects in Toronto.

When choosing storage pieces, look for one that’s not just aesthetically appealing but multi-functional (maybe it doubles as an ottoman or coffee table), appropriate to the size of your space, and still large enough to accommodate your needs, suggests Wade. Then, “treat it like you would furniture in a room,” says Black. “Think about where it makes sense to tuck it, then accessorize around it so it looks more like an interior storage space.”