build your own recycling and garden center

We’ve tackled a lot of projects in our yard this past year, and it was so fun to dive in. But after taking on the cabana and backyard this past spring, summer, and… fall {from fences to dining areas to planting 141 bushes and trees, covid made us do it} the backyard kind of had a mullet. Pretty in the front, with a small catastrophe area in the back. This year we challenged ourselves to create a project which would encourage our family to be more green, we dreamed up our own recycling and garden center.

All our other backyard projects had wrapped in the late fall, and we were exhausted.

So my wildflowers died and {yeehaw!} we had a mullet problem. 

TADA! Shame. Shame. Shame. Hot mess express. 

It was bad. But reality, because we can only do so much. So we were thrilled to change it over…

To this perfect little garden and recycling center. Once upon a time, this area was gross and dingy. It still had rotting wood for a garden area and the place where the old fence once connected to the house. 

So we built a new little space that hides our garbage and a few gardening tools, like our hose. It also provides an area for recycling which is perfect for our entire family to use. 

See the entire how-to video below.

So fresh and so clean clean! And so good for the environment, now that we can organize all things recycling, better. 

Today, we’re thrilled to share just how to do it. With the right tools and a little time, this really is a simple project that makes such a huge difference.

We started by clearing out the ground.

This was once a back door to the house when the basement was the garage.  And it had some old stepping stones and a slab of concrete that needed to be broken up and removed. Fun fact: We found some really old tile underneath the slab. Almost like some of the previous owners threw tile out the window during a renovation the first time around circa 1980 something. 

We also ripped out all our dead, flowers and the old wooden gardening box. Tthey were fun while they lasted, I love having a cutting garden in the spring. We replaced them with a stone wall, which is such a nice upgrade. I’m sure it’s something we’ll appreciate even more in the spring when the flowers come back in.

If you want to skip the whole cement thing, you can use construction adhesive to secure the stones. We’re big fans of skipping cement if possible, and using something that is quicker and simpler.

Then it was time to build! 

We started by marking where we wanted the posts to be, and started digging. (As always, make sure you dig below the frost line in your area.)

We then used some YellaWood® pressure-treated 4 x 4 posts as our support. We used some post levels to level the posts, and poured in a bag of concrete and added water. (It’s the lazy way, but since these posts aren’t structural from a heavyweight standpoint, we didn’t feel we had to premix.)

We used the circular saw to cut the post to level. (We also used the circular saw to cut all our pieces for this project.)

While those dried, we cut some YellaWood^® pressure-treated 2 x 4’s to help anchor everything to the wall. We used the Hammer drill and a Tapcon drill bit along with a impact driver and a Tapcon screw to secure them to the wall.

Next, we cut some YellaWood® pressure-treated 1 x 6’s to fit the length from the post, to the wall.

We left a 1/2 gap in between boards. Using a drill and some deck screws, we attached the boards from the wall to the corner post.

We cut two more YellaWood® pressure-treated 2 x 4’s for each door frame and built the doors using YellaWood® pressure-treated 1 x6’s.

We used some gate hinges and our power tools to secure the doors in place.

Next, we cut some YellaWood^® pressure-treated 2 x 4’s to use as our braces to anchor the roof to the wall and the post, as well as some YellaWood^® pressure-treated 1 x 2’s to attach the metal roofing.

Hint: you will want at least what is called a 3/12 roof to allow water, snow, etc to roll off of the roof. This means the roof should rise 3″ for every 12″ of run (or length). So we knew our post was 4 feet from the wall, which means that the brace on the wall needed to be at least 1′ higher than the post.

Next, we cut some 2 x 4’s to serve as braces for our shelves, followed by some 1 x 6’s to act as the shelf floor. We secured all these with deck screws and the drill.

But before we secured the deck floor, we added some pea gravel to that one section.

Once the entire frame was built, and before the metal went on, we primed and painted the structure using Sherwin Williams primer and extra white paint.

We filled the rest of the bottom area with pea gravel, to help prevent weeds from growing.

Finally, we added the metal roof using the grinder to cut the metal.

We adore the way that it all turned out!

It’s truly the perfect little spot for hose and soil storage, along with recycling and garbage. We love that in the new year, we can do more to help the environment. It’s a great way to get the entire family involved.

Not only are we planting even more on our property, we’re more mindful of all things recycling, too. 

To complete the whole thing, we added these bins for recyling. We love the simple look – highly efficient and easy!

And no more mullet!

We’ll be sure to share a prettier shot in the spring, when everything is in full bloom and green again. But for now, this simple view makes us oh so happy.

Recycling is something we’ve always done, but this is a great way to be more on top of it all as a family. Especially with the new year rolling in. 

We love the idea of creating something to help, with tools that are good for the environment, too. 

As always, let us know if you have any questions. 

Have an inspired day!

{We partnered with and are sponsored by our good friends at Greenworks for this post. For more info on our branded content please visit our disclosure page.}