While front yards can be great for gathering with neighbors and catching up on the latest community news, backyards are often a place of refuge, where privacy is treasured. If your backyard is a bit too open for your taste, consider adding features that offer more seclusion and intimacy. Whether you turn to nature for a living border or get out the carpentry tools to create a structure from wood and nails, you have plenty of options for achieving the backyard privacy you and your family desire.
Common in neighborhoods across the country, wood fences are practically an outdoor staple. With a variety of woods to choose from, ranging from light to dark, and just as many style choices, wood fencing does more than boost backyard privacy—it also boosts design. Compared with other fencing materials, wood is also relatively inexpensive and, with proper construction and routine maintenance, long lasting. So long as you have basic woodworking knowledge, a DIY wood privacy fence is well within reach.
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Hedges have been a privacy landscaping hallmark for centuries, particularly along property lines. One advantage is that, depending on your choice of plant material, a well-planned hedge can reach virtually any desired height. The downside? It takes either lots of money or lots of time to establish a long, high hedgerow. Plus, hedges need a fair amount of maintenance. But with the right placement, even a hedge of modest proportions can be very effective.
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A built-in bonus of turning your backyard into an exotic tropical retreat? Natural privacy. That's because bamboo, an essential for any tropical space, grows tall enough to shield your cozy hideaway. Plant it on its own or use it to fill in gaps around pergolas and fences. Take care, though: Bamboo is invasive and should be planted only in beds or in containers with strong barriers.
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Wide-open yards are great for a lot of reasons—but they're not ideal for private outdoor spaces. Build an intimate corner into an expansive backyard by bordering a patio with small trees and shrubs. Then, anchor your patio furniture with a simple structure like the one shown here. Unlike a traditional privacy screen, the open frame permits light and wind to pass through, resulting in a space that's both breezy and cozy.
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For a little privacy without the worry of blocking a stunning backyard view, consider building a pergola. Even though it stands without walls, its wood columns and beams still offer some obstruction for neighbors who might be looking in. A pergola is an exceptional choice for placement atop an elevated deck, as seen in this lofty example.
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If you want a pergola with a little something extra—specifically, coziness and shade—fill in the structure's sides and open top with twining plants. The crossbeams and posts make the perfect base for climbing greenery, especially in a sunny site. The overall effect is serene and romantic as well as intensely private. It may take a while for the vines to make it to the top—but it's worth the wait!
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Here's another take on a living fence: a custom-made vertical garden. Fill it with vegetables and herbs or flowering plants ready to overflow. No matter your choice of greenery, the decision to garden in hanging planters will both screen your yard from outside view and free up space for lounging, grilling, and other outdoor activities.
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If you're rethinking your backyard altogether, you may be able to build privacy from the ground up. Cascading landscapes achieve this in a discreet yet picturesque way. Here, a backyard’s multilevel design showcases bushes and trees planted at varying heights, creating a secluded retreat that still feels open and airy in the middle. These terraced setups can also increase backyard decor options by spacing out elements such as hanging baskets and birdbaths on different levels so that all are highlighted without crowding one another.
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Corrugated metal is one of the more modern-looking fencing options on the market. Its industrial quality seriously shields your backyard from curious onlookers while contributing yet one more texture to the common palette of stone, gravel, and concrete. Found at home improvement stores and purchased in budget-friendly sheets, these metal fences are also extremely durable, ensuring a long-lasting privacy solution for your space.
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Whether simple or elaborate, store-bought or custom-built, a backyard trellis provides a direct yet self-effacing solution to the privacy problem. Even as the structure interrupts sight lines, it admits softened breezes and dappled sunlight. Plus, as the ideal support for any number of climbing plants or flowering vines, a trellis can become an attention-grabbing focal point in the design of your outdoor living area.
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Just as valuable in your backyard as they are in the bedroom, a few opaque panel curtains will both block your view of neighbors and further establish the sense of an outdoor room. If you're able to mount them, curtain rods are the easiest way to keep your panels in place. Consider hanging curtains along the sides of a porch, pergola, or custom corner unit like this one.
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Consider framing welded wire fencing, sometimes known as hog wire or field fence, to create beautiful one-off panels or contiguous fencing. Various panel sizes with various apertures are available so you can build custom privacy that’s perfect for your backyard. You can even buy some field fencing material in rolls. After the panel or fencing is in place, plant quick-growing evergreen vines to scramble up the wire and provide even more privacy.
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Wire cages filled with rocks or stones, gabion walls are an attractive blend of modern and ancient— Egyptians used them 7,000 years ago as flood-control devices. DIYers can fashion their own cages using field fencing or can purchase ready-to-use cages. Source rocks from your own property if you’ve plenty, or purchase stones from a local rock yard to complete your project. Either way, you’ll have a substantial, statement-making privacy wall.
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If you live in an area where snow- or waterskiing is a favorite activity, you may want to consider a fence or privacy screen crafted of discarded skis. Simply build a frame as you would for a typical picket fence, but instead of using pickets, attach skis. Not only will you have a new privacy element, but you’ll also make a striking artistic statement while honoring an avocation beloved by your community.
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Perhaps you already have a chain-link fence that needs a little personality? Consider adorning it with an assortment of padlocks, in emulation of Paris’s famous Pont des Arts, the “Love Lock” bridge. Copied the world over, the bridge had been a magnet for tourists who affixed padlocks to its iron mesh sides and tossed the key into the Seine as a demonstration of undying love. While that bridge is now lock-free—French authorities removed the locks in 2015 and installed plexiglass panels to put an end to the practice—you can use this idea to turn your chain-link barrier into a personality-filled privacy fence. Start with old locks in your garage, find more at junk stores, and invite friends and family to contribute too.
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