While everyone knows that I absolutely love rain barrels, I completely understand that they’re not for everyone. Bright blue plastic only goes with so many different color schemes and I don’t blame anyone for wanting to put something like that out of sight.
However, all is not lost! You can easily hide your rain barrel while also enjoying the benefits of rainwater collection.
There are many options at your disposal and if you need a few ideas on how to hide your rain barrel, read on! We’ll cover the broad strokes below.
Psst
We wrote an entire rain barrel buying guide for 2020. If you’re in the market, consider giving it a read!
Build an Enclosure for it
One of the best ways to hide your rain barrel is to build an enclosure to go around it. You can use a wire or wooden fence-like structure or even wooden pallets. The only limit is your creativity.
The idea behind this suggestion is that people will automatically notice the enclosure first and likely won’t care what’s inside, especially if you decorate it properly!
Other ideas for enclosures include basic latticework, bricks, a “cage” that is made out of wood and mesh wiring, and even cinder blocks.
In fact, it doesn’t matter what the enclosure is made of, what matters more is its eye-catching aspect and its aesthetic appeal – anything to take visitors’ eyes off of the rain barrel itself.
A Simple Paint Job Often Works
Let’s face it, if you choose to paint your rain barrel, the sky’s the limit when it comes to the designs available to choose from.
Viewing websites such as Pinterest is a great way to get some very creative ideas if you can’t come up with any yourself. If the rain barrel is decorated uniquely enough, no one will even notice that it’s a rain barrel, and this is what you want.
Best of all, you can choose from hundreds of colors and color combinations, use stickers or stencils to create your own designs, and even paint the barrel in a camouflage design that hides it away from the rest of the world. Painting your rain barrel also means you can include flowers, birds, geometric designs, or even swirls and other unique shapes so that it has a one-of-a-kind look in the end. You can truly make it ours!
If you don’t like to paint, not to worry.
There are dozens of companies that make decorative rain barrels that you can purchase and put in your yard, and they are uniquely designed and look just as good as if you painted them yourself!
Take Advantage of Your Landscaping
If you have a lot of trees, shrubbery, flowers, or hard landscaping in your yard, you can use their natural beauty to disguise the fact that you own a rain barrel. Hide it under any type of greenery or place it near that outdoor barbecue area your landscaper just created for you.
Whether it’s decorated or not, hiding it in your landscaping is simple and goes a long way in eliminating the “what is that?” question that many visitors will have.
Make it Into a Planter
The top of the rain barrel can accommodate a lot of things, so try placing a beautiful planter there and plant some beautiful flowers. Ironically, this idea may work best if the barrel itself is plain-looking and not decorated or painted. You can always purchase or make a simple planter that is the perfect size to fit on top of the rain barrel, and colorful flowers will take any nosy set of eyes away from the barrel so that they concentrate on the plants instead.
Try a Downspout Diverter
In many cases, a rain barrel has to be kept close to the house because that’s where the water source is, but if you purchase a downspout diverter you can keep the barrel further away from your home, meaning it can go in a much more discreet location.
With a diverter, the barrel simply doesn’t need to be that close to the house, so you have a few more options available to you.
Depending on the size of the diverter, you can place your rain barrel behind a gate, in a side alley, or even in the corner of the yard where hardly anyone will notice. Indeed, you get a lot more options once the water route is changed up by the diverter.