I bought a bunch of those slightly triangular but oblong edge bricks at "HD and Slowes" :-) and put them 3 bricks high all along the area under the eaves of my house.

This area now serves several purposes:

Rain from the roof no longer needs to be sent to a gutter, it splashes onto the stones gently and disperses nicely. I was thinking about getting gutters but these look better and serve varied purposes

I dump all of my extra soil and sand from planting in there and made raised beds which I turned into:

Nursery for small plants which get gently watered by the splashing of the rainwater off the stones.

A Bee habitat of flowering bushes

A sort of "composting area" that I can put leaves, kitchen vegetative waste, and fruit that falls from trees into by burying it.

A good edge to my walk path on the side of the house

Worms LOVE it there, making even better soil!

I'm sure I'll think of other uses for it too...