If you’re considering surrounding your property with a horizontal fence, you’re probably trying to think of some of the best ways to get a little extra service from your fence. Below you’ll find a list of five tips to help perk up your property. These will help your fence stand out more, emphasize the classy nature of your home, and draw the eye to where you want onlookers gawking the most.

Aesthetics

Horizontal fences are aesthetically appealing, while breaks in a horizontal line (like a gate) draw the eye. Because there are no vertical spaces between the boards, the eye can move unflinchingly along it (assuming a smooth paint job is applied) to large spaces like an open gate you’d like them to approach. You can even use an eye-catching color like red on the swinging door or the gatepost it’s attached to, which is scientifically proven to enhance this effect.

Emphasize Lawn Additions

They also make yards appear wider, which emphasizes the size of gardens, outdoor spaces, and in-ground pools that raise the property value of a home. This is a common tactic used by real estate agents or homeowners considering selling their property to make it seem more appealing to first-time visitors and potential buyers. Many compound this effect by mowing horizontal lines into their grass or turf, to make the property match the fencing above it.

Use Different Materials

Building a horizontal lined fence means choosing between several materials from a catalog completely different from that of traditional, vertical fences. Because the weight is distributed over a wider space between fence posts, wood and normal materials might bow with time. Composite materials, like plastics or vinyl, are excellent choices for a horizontal fence and can be given a wood grain finish or stained to look like natural materials once completed.

You don’t need to focus on the boards alone, though. You will have to choose the supports for your fence when constructing it, and contemporary design has a few suggestions that may help. Modern home designs like to use concrete or stone to form the pivots of a horizontal fence, sometimes even letting a corner of the fence run into the side of the home itself. This creates a dynamic that many consider to be high-class or contemporary between the two materials.

When in doubt, the opposite can be just as appealing to someone installing a horizontal fence. Horizontal fences are excellent for climbing vines and plants that use supports to grow. You can build your fence next to organic features like growing trees or cover it with vines to make it look like a natural part of the landscape so that it doesn’t draw attention away from your patio or yard.

Bring Balance to Your Yard

They are good for uneven terraces or slopes, allowing you to turn a feature of the landscape into an artistic part of your wall. You can create “steps” with your horizontal wall that progress up or down the slope where it is impossible to even out the landscape, which makes it appear to be a controlled part of your yard or environment.

Keep Out Unwanted Guests

Finally, privacy is a welcome addition of a horizontal fence. Oftentimes, horizontal fences break the line of sight of outsiders better than vertical fences by leaving no gaps between the boards. When there are gaps, the boards are often tilted in slightly like a window shutter to allow a cool breeze and airflow, but they still block line of sight from anyone trying to pry into your family’s business.

In Conclusion

Those were five tips we had to use a horizontal fence to emphasize the good of your property and draw eyes away from the bad. The materials used and the landscape around it can be important factors when building a fence. Using striking colors or unique materials for gates and fence posts can make it seem more welcoming to outsiders. And when reversed, a mild color pallet or some vines can make your fence seem so natural others won’t even know it’s there.