It’s no secret I love staying organized. I have to have things go back where they belong, or it drives me crazy! And while it can be easy to keep clutter at bay with cabinets, closets, and armoires inside, the outdoors is a different story. For instance, I need a place to keep our pool floats corralled and the garden tools and hose neat. So outdoor storage is a must to contain these items, but I want storage solutions to be as aesthetic as possible so they don’t disrupt the visual landscape. Read on to see four types of outdoor storage solutions that I’ve found (or have my eye on) to solve for this problem!

Deck Box | Striped Pool Floats | Striped Dress | Green Adidas

Deck Box

A deck box is great for items that live outside, but benefit from being protected from the elements. We’re talking sports equipment, outdoor toys/games — even citronella candles or outdoor throw pillows. Ours holds inflated pool floats and goggles, and I just got a smaller deck box for our pool pump and filters. A deck box should be sealed well, so I try not to put things that are wet in there.

When it comes to choosing a deck box style, I gravitate toward ones that blend in with the surroundings. I like a dark gray or brown one that’s against a wall or in a corner, and it’s just part of the background.

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Towel Storage

This is a category I need to solve for: Right now, I have all our pool towels — a pack of 32 I found for a great price — up in the laundry room in a cabinet. Most of the time when people come swimming, they bring a towel. But many times they don’t. I don’t always remember to bring a stack downstairs, and I don’t want people to feel weird asking, “Can I borrow a towel?” I want it to feel like we have so many towels poolside, don’t even worry about bringing a towel unless you really want to. Also my girls forget their towels inside, so they traipse through the house dripping wet. I’m looking for a summer solution for pool towels outdoors, and these are some that I have my eye on some that just scream “beachy resort” in the best way. I think this one will be worth it!

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Potting Bench

Another outdoor storage solution I’d like to add to our backyard is a potting bench. It just sounds so quaint, doesn’t it? Right now we have our gardening gloves, our shears, and our pots all in the garage amongst other tools. I think if I just had a potting bench that was beautiful that I could keep somewhere out here as open storage, that would be so wonderful.

So what am I looking for in a potting bench? I’d like to find one that has a lower shelf for pots and soil plus hooks and a drawer or a concealed box for gloves. I’d like a lower shelf for extra pots and soil. Every time we’re filling up planters, I have to rummage through the garage to find bags of soil, and it makes a mess. I think things like pots, shovels, spades, and watering cans can be so beautiful, so I’m not as concerned with concealed storage for them as much as I need a place for these things to go that is their home. That is my key to staying organized: grouping like items together.

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Hose Storage

This is not a sentence you see every day, but hose storage has really come a long way in terms of aesthetics. If the hose is going to be attached to the front or side of the house or in an exposed place, make it beautiful.

For ours, I wanted something I can wind up really easy and that blends in with the masonry. It had to have a hand crank, because I don’t want to ever reach my hand into a concealed space. When it comes to a hose box, I like ignorance. I don’t want to know what’s in there ever (I still think about those snakes we had to deal with when we first moved in!). But it’s nice to find one that is a little more designed. if you’re like us, you’ll be using it a lot! I cannot believe how much we use our hose: I think we use a hose 2x a week, so hose storage is a really big one.

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It’s so nice to have things easy to access and yet stored away!

Small Deck Box | Path Lights | Chaise Lounge Chairs | Striped Outdoor Umbrella