A Modern Trash Bin Screen (Or: How HOFT Fencing Makes for the Easiest Fence Ever)

There are some inevitable ugly things we have to deal with in life. Taxes. Storms. Ugly Trash Bins. All things we have to deal with, but only one of which is on display next to our garage.

Now, I don’t mind having our bins outside nearly as much as I thought I would (we aren’t in a bear area here and it doesn’t stink up the garage this way), but that doesn’t mean I want to look at them. Especially because you can see the bins from our lounge spots on the deck and patio.

My request to Dustin was simple: I just don’t want to see them from the patio. And he came up with the simplest, prettiest modern trash bin screen. We even had a concrete pad poured to keep the area from becoming a mud pit. Such a simple solution but a big ol’ joy maker.

Trash Bin Screen: Before and After

This whole thing may be a little hard to envision—what exactly is a trash bin screen? (A trash fence? Garbage hider? Bin screen?) So I thought we’d jump right in with the images.

Now, we still have some work to do on our detached garage, so I hope you will bear with me as the “after” doesn’t truly mean “complete.” But here you can see the look after we put in the concrete pad, and after we put up the trash bin screen:

Honestly, I knew it was going to be nice to have, but I didn’t anticipate just how good it would look! It makes us happy to drive up to every day, and it just feels intentional and complete in a way that it didn’t before. Plus, it was such an easy weekend project!

The dimensions are the same each direction, so we can orient the bins either way, and we built it just a bit taller than the bins, so we can still reach over the fence if we’d like.

The Simplest Fence Design Ever: HOFT Fencing Review

This is not at all a sponsored post, but we HAD to share the fence system we used because it was just so easy. The brand is called HOFT, and they have a bunch of different pieces that you can use to customize your fence (or trash bin screen!) based on your own needs.

The pieces we used were the Corner Post Kit and End Post Kit. We also purchased extra spacers because we knew we were going to do a unique pattern, but we didn’t end up needing to use them.

You can see more HOFT products you might need here.

The posts in the HOFT system have channels built into them (that’s why there’s a different post for ends and corners). That means you’re able to just slide a board into the channel in order to fill the gap between posts—which can be up to 6 feet.

Once your posts are installed (anchored into the concrete, in our case), you install those first boards level, and then you’re off!

It’s so easy—you just cut the boards to size and slide them into the channels. We used cedar boards, 1×3 and 1×6 widths, 12 feet long. The 12 foot boards were just to have less waste as each side of our screen is a little under 6 feet.

We also stained the boards before starting install, so it went really fast at this point!

One of the fun things about this project is the ability to use your own creativity to come up with a pattern. You can, of course, do all the same width boards, but we decided to mix it up. Dustin put together the final pattern you see here based on a bit of improvisation and I really love the end result.

(If you’re going to mix up the pattern like we did, you may need additional spacers—some come in the kit but I think they assume more even spacing.)

Once our fence was taller than the bins, Dustin cut the posts using a reciprocating saw. Then, he installed the caps, which come in the post kit, on the top.

He said this was such an easy fence project that if we ever end up needing a fence somewhere else on our property, he’s going to use it again. I think that’s a pretty good endorsement!

Do Your Trash Bins Need Some Privacy?

If you’re sick of looking at your trash bins, and in search of a solution, I think this is a great option! It really transformed the look of this area, and it took our trash bins from eyesore to something pretty to look at. What more could we want?

I also think this look would also be excellent for a fence, privacy screen, breeze block…really whatever kind of project you’re considering. And if you needed a trash screen as well as a fence, for instance, you could get a nice cohesive look.

Let me know in the comments if you’d use a fence like this to hide your garbage bins or as a privacy screen!

Looking for more exterior ideas? Check out our posts: Exterior Projects Have Begun! and The Decision to Remove and Relocate our Front Door.

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