You take all that time making your front garden look great, then it gets ruined by those unsightly wheelie bins. They just look ugly outside the front of your house. I feel your pain, I’ve been there and recently used a trellis to disguise my wheelie bin, here are all the options I explored before choosing that route.
7 ways to hide your wheelie bins
As I mentioned, to hide the wheelie bins in my garden, I used a trellis. It worked and fit in with the surroundings which it’s why I’ve made it my first option here. That might not work for you though, so I’ve given you 7 different disguises too.
1. Hide your wheelie bin with a trellis
All outdoor stores like B&Q sell trellises, but I bought ours on Amazon. You can get wooden trellis and then let plants climb up them, paint the trellis in a specific colour (grey might make your garden look bigger), or buy the trellis with fake plants on that expand to fit the space.
2. Decorate your wheelie bin as a disguise with covers and stickers
A disclaimer before you consider this one; check with your local council authority first before you paint or put stickers on your wheelie bin. I believe some will refuse to collect a wheelie bin if it’s been changed.
If you do get the go-ahead, stickers or paint are a great choice. Here are some you can buy online on Amazon.
These adhesive wheelie bin covers tend to come in different colours and patterns like leafy hedges, roses, or sunflowers. The bin can then be made to blend in and disguise with the other flowers.
The idea is to make the unsightly wheelie bin disguise into the background.
3. Hide the wheelie bins in a bin store
You can always cheat and get a ready-made storage unit for your wheelie bins. They offer a convenient disguise when you have three or more bins.
But you can still customize the storage unit to make it look more in-keeping with your front garden. You can paint or plant some flowers or trees around it. For example, this one on Amazon is in timber, so ready to paint.
If you are handy with tools and fencing, you could even consider building your own screen or fence to help hide the wheelie bins in your garden. You will save a lot of money and have the bin disguise just how you want it!
If that sounds like far too much work, consider this other bin store on Amazon.
4. Disguise wheelie bins with fast-growing plants
This one will require some patience but will be completely seamless with your garden. Ensure any flowers and trees you are planting can be tall enough to cover the bins.
If you are getting short plants, you will have to be creative with the pot arrangement or buy tall containers. I’d recommend building a screening hedge up though. A good plant for this would be some evergreen conifer from Amazon.
You can hide the wheelie bins perfectly yet have access to them in minutes. If you choose flowers with nice scents, you will also hide the horrible smell from the bins.
I know a hedge sounds like overkill, mainly because it takes a few years to grow and take the desired shape. You will also have to prune, trim and ensure it grows healthily.
If you have the patience and are eco-friendly, it can be the best permanent solution for your home. The unsightly wheelie bins will have a secluded place to hide in, and you will have more plants around the house.
Handy Hint: I recently wrote a guide on how to secure your wheelie bin from being stolen, as crimes like this are on the increase.
5. Consider a brick enclosure bin hide
Construction is not everyone’s forte, but if you can’t, you can hire someone to do it for you. You don’t have to come up with a full wall; a high-waist construction will work perfectly.
This is a long-term solution if you are tired of looking at the ugly bin every day. It will also stop your wheelie bin form blowing away in a storm.
You can have a two or three-sided wall with a small entrance – just enough to keep the bins out of sight.
Handy Hint: On a similar tip, here’s how you can hide electrical wiring outside.
6. Build a raised planter
A door-less raised planter is perhaps the one of the most ingenious ways of hiding wheelie bins in your front garden. I can understand why people love it too, as the results can look stunning after getting the plants on top of it.
Instead of constructing lids, walls, and doors, you can install a simple vertical fence that your bins can roll under. On top of it, you can plant all your favourite flowers. With the layer of greenery on top, no one will notice the wheelie bins under it.
Handy Hint: Here are the 17 best plants you can grow to create a quickly growing privacy hedge in your garden or yard.
7. Create under-stair storage to hide wheelie bins
Not everyone can do this, but if you have a staircase leading up to your front door, you can put them to good use. Create a handy storage cabinet under the stairs. This is better if you get a handyman because it needs a lot of alterations. A storage cabinet built into the stairs is the ultimate hiding spot.
Those are my 7 possibilities for disguising ugly wheelie bins, but here’s a bit more detail on some of the topics that always invariably crop up with this project.
Handy Hint: Here are some cunning ways you can try if you really want to disguise your garden shed from prying eyes.
Can you decorate your wheelie bin?
If the bin is provided by a waste management company or the local authorities, in most cases, you cannot decorate them or deface the bins in any way.
When you are in doubt, you should get permission from the local authority first. However, if you own the wheelie bins, you can decorate them however you like.
But you should be mindful of the collectors. They must identify which bin contains recycled waste and which one is general waste. You shouldn’t decorate the lid; leave it with the original colour so that the rubbish collectors can easily identify it.
Is it illegal to leave wheelie bins on the pavement in the UK?
There are fixed penalties for homeowners who do not comply with the set requirements. If your bin is attracting pests, obstructing the road, pavement, or street, you could get into trouble with the local council. If it’s not tidy and looks unsightly, you may also receive a penalty.
That is why it’s best to keep the bins close to the house. That way, you will not be getting in the way of your neighbours, and you can avoid any possible legal penalties.
Handy Hint: You might also be interested in ways you can disguise the electrical transformer box in your yard.
Conclusion
I know how annoying it is to get the front garden of your home just right, and then it gets ruined with an ugly wheelie bin outside. It’s made even worse when you have different coloured bins for recycling, food waste and other kinds of rubbish.
After going through some trial and error, I finally found what works for my garden with the trellis, so I hope you can too!
You might also like…
- How to disguise drain covers in your garden
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Image in header via https://pixabay.com/photos/wheelie-bin-garbage-rubbish-waste-2270582/