Garden design - back to black?

Fuzion

I am still a way off getting the keys to my new house, but am already thinking about the garden. This is the current photo:



I like it but the blue fence is a bit much. I looked through lots of alternatives to repaint the fence, but found I liked blacks and dark greys as in these images... and this general style



So I did a quick mock-up in Photoshop. Would be grateful for your thoughts, is the black too much? I would have green climbers on the fences, and foliage plants in pots too so try and picture that (too much effort to photoshop them!)

bouicca21

The blue is hideous, but black to me seems to make the space look smaller. How about a sage green? And the fence to the right looks as though it belongs to the neighbour. Will they be happy with you painting it? Are you not keeping the shed?

martinthebandit

I think you really need to be thinking of light colours to give it a more open feeling, black, to me, would look even more oppressing than the blue.

But each to their own.

arbrighton

My sister has a small yard behind her terrace in London. She's an architect so her ideal colour is grey.... her fence is a mid-light grey but the lay out means it looks a lot bigger than it actually is since the flags and gravel are light at she has lots of planters

tootallulah

I think a big expanse of any colour is overpowering but the sagey colours and grey colours covered by green planting looks lovely and peaceful. If you go for a dark colour you will need a lot of climbers to break it up but they are cheap enough at Aldi. It will be a fantastic garden - enjoy!

I_have_spoken

I think that black is a bit too much for that space, OK if it's used selectively such as the planters. But a couple of thoughts -

1) For a contemporary garden, you're going to have to get rid of that silly wee bit of grass

2) It's typical in "designed" gardens to use narrow slatted pieces for the fencing, which give a far more refined look than B&Q panels -

eDicky

Extraordinary, that anyone would paint a garden fence blue!

Black would at least cover it effectively, and perhaps weather to a dark grey. But a yellow paint or stain would theoretically produce some kind of green - I would experiment with this on a small unobtrusive area of the fence...

I_have_spoken

Extraordinary, that anyone would paint a garden fence blue!

Very fashionable a few years back, along with decking...

Fay

I have painted all my fence black, having done it pale muted clay, then a dark grey. The black makes the fences look much further away as it extends the eye line. Green pops against it and makes the plants look incredible. It's your garden and you should do what you want with it. Maybe start with painting one side and see what you think. Be warned though, it takes a lot of covering to get all the joints done!
Then maybe think about some lighting too and some paler landscaping. Diaganol lines will also make the long thin plot look bigger. Good luck with it.

Davesnave

The right hand fence looks like it belongs to the neighbour, as it's behind the wall.

If I were that neighbour, I'd take a dim view if someone moved-in next door and painted my fence a shade which bled through, which it will.

OTOH, the neighbour on the blue side might be delighted!

Colours are a personal choice.

Davesnave

eDicky wrote: »

Extraordinary, that anyone would paint a garden fence blue!.

You are obviously too young to remember the antics of a pair called Titchmarsh and Walsh, who would take over people's gardens and transform them into high-maintenance consumer havens.

Titchmarsh moved on to more profitable ventures, while Walsh....well, he has a range of tools in Poundland.