Please help me decide what to do with this weird area

[CrappyGarage]

I have tried to attach pictures taken from the upstairs window but it’s quite awkward!

Any ideas what to do with this space? We see it every time we walk down the stairs (out of the landing window) and it’s very ugly and depressing at the moment. Basically we have a driveway at the front of the house and then these gates, then there is this space which is the equivalent of about two cars parked end to end, and then our garage door. Our side access is here, the door you can just about see goes into our utility room. So we can’t put anything permanent here because we have to be able to access the garage etc but I want to spruce it up somehow? And even make the space useful if possible. Budget is next to nothing, we are spending all of our money on the garden/kitchen/bathroom so looking for budget ideas! Thanks

Do you need to drive the car into the garage or just be able to access the garage?

Id clean the green off with patio scrub, cover the wall/fence with bamboo screening (cheap from B and M etc, might cost £30, then a bag of clout nails, we've hammered them into the grout between bricks before, or pin some cheap slats of wood then tack into that).

Then a few pots with flowers, maybe a little bistro set or bench.

Is the white wall masonry? If so you coukd paint it a nice bright colour with masonry paint, then attach a trellis and grow sweet pea or something up it via pots.

Depends on what you mean by tiny budget, for £100 you could probably do quite a lot.

I'd also be tempted to pain the floor

Yeah, definitely clean up the ground so it looks fresher. Rolls of bamboo fencing can cover up the ugly walls, inexpensively, though I Ssume the garage at the side is your neighbour's so you'd be best off letting them know you were going to do this. Wall planters could add some colour without taking up drive space.

Probably a weird idea but our landing window overlooks our garage roof and is very unsightly. We put the film on the windows so it lets light in but we can't see the roof anymore. Also more privacy if were nipping across hallway at night

Power wash the ground

Paint garage doors

New fence along the boundary wall

Stained/rippled glass window?

Quick fixes as people have suggested.
Power wash everything and cover the rest with paint, especially the back of the neighbours fence/wall then a few potted plants or a climber like wisteria if the place gets enough light and a bench when you can stretch to that?

@1940s

Probably a weird idea but our landing window overlooks our garage roof and is very unsightly. We put the film on the windows so it lets light in but we can't see the roof anymore. Also more privacy if were nipping across hallway at night

That's probably the simplest and cheapest solution.

I also like the idea of a trellis, with some plants and painting the floor.

I'd be tempted to give the walls a coat of colourful paint - we got some paint from our free for sale and wanted boards on FB. Jet wash the driveway. rub down and stain/paint the gates/fence and garage doors. It is a bit of work but can be done section at a time.

Oooh lots of good ideas thanks everyone.

@Deedippy we don't put our car in the garage (was built in the 50s so a car probably wouldn't even fit in there now!) BUT we do have a clause in the deeds that says this area and the garage have to remain as parking areas, even though we would never actually use it as that. So it just means we probably shouldn't put anything there that would be difficult or expensive to move if/when we come to sell.

I'm not sure I know what the bamboo stuff is, @HighlandCowbag do you mean this sort of thing? www.wilko.com/wilko-reed-4m-x-1m-garden-fence-screening/p/0297985?gclid=CjwKCAiAp4KCBhB6EiwAxRxbpGvkVSzegEyJD5dex9jyYX_d16HlBhvVjH7JqhhqsocNRUWGB-Tm4hoCOz4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Will definitely jet wash the floor (and the walls?) but don't really want to replace the small bit of fencing because it is technically the neighbour's side/responsibility and there is nothing actually wrong with it so I suspect they'd tell us we can replace it but we'd have to pay for it. I could paint it (although not sure how I'd stop it from dripping through to the other side and making their side look a mess?) and I could do what they've done and get some plant hanger thingies.

I'd like to be able to grow something up the wall and/or hang stuff in pots off the wall (can you tell that I'm not a natural gardener?!) but the sun goes in the opposite direction - this area does get sunshine from the morning until about 3pm but the wall of the neighbour's garage that faces us (i.e. the one that is mainly shown in the pics) is almost always in the shade because of the angle. So anything on that wall wouldn't get much light. Any ideas of what plants would do well?

Also I'm fairly confident I can convince DH to paint the wall/garage wall but I suspect he'd turn his nose up at painting the floor :-(

Thanks all

Forgot to say @1940s I was tempted with the idea of putting film on the windows but we still see the area when we go in and out of the utility anyway, so would be nice to have it looking a bit better regardless

Yes, that's the screening highlandcowbag and I were referring to. We have some hiding a long drain pipe crossing our front garden. It doesn't look very sturdy in that wilko link but it's much better where it can be secured top and bottom.

What about creating a bin storage area with trellis panels, something like this? I strongly caution against painting masonry/floors. The previous owner of my house got paintbrush happy with all the external brickwork/walls in our garden and the maintenance is an absolute pain in the bum. I thought it would be easy enough to strip the paint back to the original brickwork, but it isn't. I'm resorting to trying to disguise an ugly badly peeling wall in my front garden with climbing plants to hopefully avoid having to demolish and rebuild a stucturally sound wall.

If you have anything in your budget, I WOULD replace that small piece of fence even if it is your neighbour's. It will make a big difference.
Ask them 7f you can whitewash the side of their garage, jet wash your drive and get rid of the rubbish leaning against the house.
Pretty much nothing will grow there but when budget allows, I'd get some fake Buxus in pots to cheer it up.

You could make it a nice space for a morning cuppa if it gets the sun. Some large pots from facebook or use scaffold boards to make raised beds. Plant some tall annuals like cosmos and cornflower from seed. Turn it into a wildlife friendly area. A small basin pond, some bird feeders. Ask any green finger friends for cuttings to grown a shrub or two.

I've got a couple of acers that I got almost free from Tesco that are doing really well in pots for some new compost.

A hydrangea petiolaris would do well on the wall that gets no sun.

But I'd really think about a tidy up and some planters/use the bricks you've got there to make a planter. And then sow some annual seeds.