How to Hide the Electrical Box in the Front Yard

Electricity is very important in our lives. However, it comes with baggage that may be a lot to handle, such as a large transformer box openly kept in our front yards for the world to see. Although kept there for the right reasons, many people consider them unappealing.

Instead of looking at your electrical box helplessly and wishing it was not there, you can convert the area around the box into a masterpiece that will keep your front yard glowing with easy DIY tricks. However, proper care should be maintained to ensure your outdoor disguises do not interfere with the normal functioning of the electrical transformer. You should, therefore, contact your electrical company for the right advice.

Use Landscaping

Depending on the size and shape of your yard, you can come up with great designs to sufficiently hide your utility box. Sonoran LanDesign’s Arizona landscaping service (http://sonoranlandesign.com) suggests creating a small garden around the box, where you can then plant beautiful flowers and herbs to camouflage it. To improve the appearance of the tiny garden, you can also add decorative stones around it to create a perfect outline.

You may also build a corner fence using wood preferably since it is easier to obtain. You can go a little overboard on your creativity and add electrical lamps to your wooden stands so that the area lights up at night to create a magical experience.

However, if you have some spare money you can build corner fences using iron or steel rods. You should ensure that there is proper circulation around the electrical box in order for it to function well. The plants should also be regularly trimmed to prevent them from covering up the box.

Use Steel or Iron Pipes

Who said plants and flowers have to be grown on the ground alone? You can use steel or iron pipes as a type of planter inserted into the ground. Get a number of pipes that are cut to the same size and shape, and place them equidistant to each other and around the electrical box. Fill the inside with both stones and plant supporting soil and plant flowers. You can also paint the steel or iron pipes to make them look good and to prevent them from rusting.

You can see an example of how to use steel or iron pipes in this article from BuzzFeed.

Use Ornamental Grasses

There are many ornamental grasses that you could use. You may opt for taller varieties, or you may prefer to work with shorter varieties depending on the size of the electrical box.

Shorter varieties easily blend in with flowers and are easier to manage.

Tall grasses require more work and may make your yard look bushy and unkempt, if not properly managed. To make it more appealing, you can use shorter grass around the box and also put several flower vases on top of the box.

Use Wooden Fixtures

You can create so many creative disguising fixtures using wood. Wood comes in handy when your electrical box is located near the house, for instance on the house wall. To hide the ugly electric box, you may build a wooden barrier around it.

With wood, your creativity will know no boundaries. You may give it a cabinet look for easier access.

Or you may build a wooden box to cover it. This works for large electrical boxes that are installed on the ground. For a more visual appeal, you may add flowers and porcelain vases on top of the wooden box.

Pinterest has many great examples of the types of wooden fixtures you can build around the electrical box, including birdhouses.

Use Color Camouflage

You can also conceal your meter box easily using paint. The color of the box is usually bright and shiny and offers a contrasting foreground to the rather dull background of the wall.

You can easily turn around this mismatch by painting the box the same color as the wall. If you are not confident in your painting skills, you can hire a professional painter to do it for you. Some people paint their meter box to match the brick or siding of their house so that it completely blends with the wall and unless you are very keen, you may not see it.

Try Graffiti

If you are the wild-type and don’t mind colorful art in your front yard, then you should try graffiti. The electrical box offers a large canvas that you can use to express how you feel by use of art.

But be wary of the rules and regulations in your area. Many people do not find graffiti appealing.