Hello! First time on here and hoping for some help.

My husband and I just moved into our first home and are hoping to increase some privacy in our yard this spring (and just generally make it look nicer).

As you can see in the pictures, the fencing is pretty bad. There really isn't any fence on the left side, just some sparse cedar bushes. There are a lot of trees and bushes on either side of the existing chain link fence at the back, which makes replacing that part of fence really difficult aside from chopping everything down which I'm sure our neighbours wouldn't agree to anyway. The piece of fence facing the road is lumber posts with some kind of cheap metal panel.

I'd like to at least replace the piece of fence bordering the road because it's a real eye sore, but I think we are probably looking at other privacy solutions for the other two edges, certainly at the back.

Any ideas are more than welcome! I've looked at doing some raised beds with trellises as an option but I really have no clue where to start. Just hard to envision it!

I think a split rail fence would look good if you don't have a need to keep dogs in the yard. Then you can plant in front of it or grow vines on it. You can go 3 or 4 rails high and it would be pleasing to look at, fit in with the neighborhood and provide privacy while not being a solid block of fencing. Planting shrubs and vines in various areas will help give you more privacy while giving it a more natural look.

Welcome and congrats on your new home!

As far as the fencing goes, I would suggest that if you replace one side, you replace all the sides to keep a clean uniform look. No need for 3 different fence types! For quick privacy, your best bet would be a 6ft dog-eared fence all the way around the property, however, some neighborhoods have height and material restrictions that might prohibit that.

If you are willing to play the waiting game you could plant a hedge. I've seen some people use closely planted arborvitaes to also create privacy screens, but I would imagine that is costly and they would eventually outgrow the space.

For the back section that runs in between the trees where it might be difficult to install a new fence, you could always install a privacy fence closer to your house and leave like a 10ft section behind the fence facing your neighbors for storage or something.

If you want a real industrial looking fence you could just paint the metal fence along the road black!

Your idea with the raised beds and trellis could work as well. You can find raised bed plans all over online or just screw some boards together and attach a frame for the trellis on the back. My only concern with this would be that in the winter whatever climbing vegetation was growing on the trellis would lose its leaves and you would have no privacy in the wintertime.

Good luck!

Find your property line, then find the fencing rules in your local.
Take it from there.

I'd start by talking to the neighbors so you will KNOW what they think instead of assuming, you never know. This will give you an idea right away which ones are reasonable and which ones you probably won't ever have anything to do with from here out.

Frillylily said:I'd start by talking to the neighbors so you will KNOW what they think instead of assuming, you never know. This will give you an idea right away which ones are reasonable and which ones you probably won't ever have anything to do with from here out.

RpR said:Find your property line, then find the fencing rules in your local.
Take it from there.

I concur. Your neighbours might be just as pleased to get rid of the trees as you are.