Houseworks: Five projects for your yard 

This cast-iron horse harness hook at Maxwell’s house is one of four mounted on his house. Beefy hooks like this make a great outdoor storage option for garden hoses.   Photo by Steve Maxwell 

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I find that summer’s best when outdoor living is easier and more beautiful, but that doesn’t always mean major renovations. A handful of projects can remove little daily annoyances, make the yard more useful and tidy, and add the kind of quiet satisfaction that your backyard realm is working properly. The five projects here are ones I’ve done at my place. They’re simple, long-lasting and worthwhile. 

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Garden hose storage 

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Most people leave hoses coiled on the ground, draped over a railing, or tangled around a cheap plastic reel that never works well. The alternative approach I’ve used for decades is a cast iron horse harness hook. I have four mounted on different walls around my house and I love them. Easy to use, timeless in durability, and classic in appearance, harness hooks like this hold plenty of hose and makes watering less of a nuisance. It’s a small thing, but small things matter when you use them every day. I bought my hooks from Lee Valley Tools but horse supply retailers have them, too. 

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This heavy-duty, 30-year-old, three-cable clothesline is made of 8×8 and 4×4 timbers and handles a lot of laundry with ease. Photo by Steve Maxwell 

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A serious clothesline 

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While drying clothes outside saves energy, that’s not the main attraction for me. Sheets and towels dried outdoors smell fresher and feel better, and a real clothesline still works when the power’s out. The setup I built uses 8×8 pressure-treated wooden posts, not spindly metal poles. Big timbers with proper joinery have a timeless look, and they’re strong enough to work flawlessly for decades. Half-lap joints, carriage bolts, and knee braces create the kind of strength that light-duty hardware never delivers. Done right, a clothesline becomes part of the landscape.   

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Maxwell built this outdoor utility table more than 25 years ago with scraps of composite lumber left over from a deck building job. It looks exactly the same today as it did when new. Photo by Steve Maxwell 

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Composite lumber table 

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Composite lumber isn’t ideal for everything, but it’s excellent for a table that sits in rain, sun, and heat for months on end. One of the best things about composites is that it doesn’t ask much of you. It won’t rot, it doesn’t need painting, and it keeps looking the same year after year. That’s why my outdoor table built from composite still looks essentially unchanged decades later. If you have leftover composite deck boards, this is one of the smartest ways to use them. I built the table here 25-plus years ago and it still looks exactly the same. 

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Gazebos like this one Maxwell designed and built adds visual interest to a garden, but it gets even better when climbing plants have covered the structure. Photo by Roger Yip 

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Garden gazebo 

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If you have the space, a gazebo changes outdoor life even more.  Here at my place I built one over the entrance to one of our garden paths, and its covering of climbing vines make it a huge visual feature of our garden landscape. Suddenly there’s a defined place for shade, climbing plants, and a sense of entrance to the garden. Good outdoor structures begin with large, solid posts set first and trimmed level later, because the ground is never regular enough to trust beforehand. In my experience wood that’s larger than structurally necessary look best (and last longest), so don’t skimp on the wood budget.