When we replaced the back fence, we put in six taller posts so I could build birdhouses for them. Here's two of them (the rest stretch across the back). I then put chains between each of the taller posts. I'm training clematis and climbing roses across the chains so that we have a bit more privacy above all across the back of the yard. I didn't want an 8-foot fence because they look like billboards!!! Something I've noticed... in all the photos posted by people in California or up north, they have lovely fences... with top and bottom trim and often with lattice on top. Those kind of fences just don't exist down here, supposedly because of the humidity and heat. Our fences experience a lot of expansion and shrinkage during the year with changes in humidity, so they are usually just constructed as runners with simple planks... nothing architecturally attractive about them at all. That way they can expand and shrink without worry regarding shifting joints and moulding. We'd have to paint our fences regularly if we wanted to have the beautiful ones... or at least that's what all the fence companies tell us. Hubby and I talked about trying to do a pretty one for quite a while, but finally just decided to go with the norm for this area and then try to dress it up with garden art, roses, etc.
