Breathe New Life Into An Old Garden Hose By Turning It Into Adorable Outdoor Decor

Hoses wear out, no matter what kind you buy. It's a fact of life. However, it's also a fact of life that they're hard to get rid of once they're done for. Yeah, you can throw them in the landfill, but you'd do so with a heavy heart. Just because they're perforated enough to be sprinklers themselves doesn't mean their life is over. Their potential for upcycling is amazing; whether it's a Christmas light hack that calls for an old garden hose, creating an outdoor rug, or turning one into a backyard storage essential, there are plenty of reasons to keep a holey hose out of the bin.

One of the cutest and least time-intensive repurposing ideas we've seen is converting one into a wreath. Decorate it with seasonal adornments, hang it on your door, and your old hose will be on a new path. Virtually any length hose that's long enough to coil into a circle twice or more will work. Wreaths consisting of just two rows of hose will look best with minimal decoration. Longer wreaths with more coils will be more suitable for heavier decorations like gardening tools or an upcycled rubber boot.

Generally, hose material is rigid enough to keep a good-looking wreath shape without any extra support. However, if you have an extra-long hose, you can enlist the help of a wire wreath form. Shape the hose into a wreath matching the size of your form, zip-tie all of the loops together in one or more spots, then attach them with zip ties to the form. Hold the loops together with zip ties, ribbons, floral wire, or yarn.

The hose itself is a novel enough material that it's nice if your final product shows off its humble origins. Arrange the coils so that one or both of the metal ends are part of the design. If you have a spray nozzle that's past its prime, screw it on and let it shine anew. A pairing of two shorter hoses in contrasting colors would make an eye-catching wreath, even without added accessories; use brightly-colored yarn to bind the coils together.

Even expandable, stretchy hoses can find second life as a wreath; their distinctive scrunchy material is appealing enough to take center stage without extra flair. Simply wrap a defunct expandable hose around a wreath form so that the entire form is covered by loops of the hose. Use floral wire or jute twine to connect the two hose ends near the connectors; let the ends be part of the design by having them hang like ends of a bow at the bottom of the wreath. You can hide the floral wire connection with a decorative piece, or you can arrange the folds in the hose fabric to conceal the wire.

If you used zip ties to hold your loops together or to a wire form, camouflage them with your decorations. Attach accessories with fishing line and/or a heavy glue like E6000. Go for a spring theme by decorating your hose wreath with gardening gloves, seed packets, faux flowers, and a watering can. Summer it up with a profusion of silk flowers and butterflies, or herald the harvest with a wreath bedecked in faux mums and sunflowers, pumpkins, and dried grasses.