Your front yard can be a very special place. Whether it’s to separate your front door from the road and let the dog loose, or you just want to spend a lazy summer’s evening, you need a fence. Choices come in all shapes and sizes depending on budget, requirements, and if you’re thinking of doing it yourself or calling in the experts. Do you need something that will add security against unwanted guests, or just something to stop people walking on your grass? Below are a few fence ideas to consider that will fit modern, traditional, or farmhouse-style houses.
Budget Picket Fence
A straightforward, simple, and cost-effective, budget fence. This type of fence can be created with various styles and types of timber to gain whatever look you’re after. Even recycled pallets work. However, on this occasion, a staggered height-pointed picket board has been used. A good choice as these will add a security element to the fence as it’s going to be tricky to climb over. I would use 4×4″ timber posts concreted in. A simple 2×4″ rail is then screwed on using a 3″ wood screw, at the top and bottom of the 4×4″ posts. Once these are on, straight, and level, you can go ahead and clad the pickets. I would start with one on the corner or end, and use it to cover up any rough ends of timber, or joints between rails. You can then use a spacer at your required width to equally space the picket boards apart. Normally I would screw 5 boards on at the correct spacing using the top screw only. You can then use your spirit level to make sure they’re perfectly upright before securing them with the bottom screw. Once all your boards are on, you’re done. If you’ve used timber that hasn’t been pressure-treated by your local fencing supplier, then it might be a good idea to treat the fence. This can be done with timber oil, external varnish, or paint. This treatment would normally need to be re-applied every two years or so. A matching gate could be made with relative ease, using the same rails cut to the correct width and clad with the same boards. You then just need to add a diagonal rail running from the top corner to the opposite bottom, add your hinges and latch and screw to the existing fence post.
White Wavy Picket
Another great, decorative, craftsman-style picket idea for your front yard. This one utilizes the different horizontal lengths to provide a cool wavy appearance. An easy one to DIY, as it has a straightforward installation process. First, concrete your posts upright and level, then screw on your rails. The style comes from the application of the picket boards. Here there is a rail attached to the posts at ground level. You can use this to add a temporary spacer onto to then sit the picket boards on. That way you will gain the 1-inch gap along the bottom, and know they’re all level. It might be worth separating them into piles of height so you know which picket to attach next. The matching gate and arbor, and the white finish, really give this front yard fence an elegant, country look.
Candle Style Picket
A unique picket idea here. This low, country-style, wooden fence would be mainly used to keep people off your front yard. An easy one to DIY. Although the fixings for the panel are not visible, this probably means that the posts are morticed. This is where a square hole is cut straight through the post and the rail would sit inside this hole, making a fixing-free, elegant look. However, this is a real pain if you need to change a rail due to damage. The candle-shaped pickets would be bought from a fencing supplier, although you could cut them out of plain lumber with a good jigsaw if you had the time and patience. Painted white and detailed with dark grey post caps, this fence design has a classic appearance.
Rustic and Cheap
Here’s a really cheap fence, but done to great effect. A simple 4×4″ post holding a rail creates the framework. Then the plain, uncomplicated timbers are screwed on. I would pre-drill holes in these to prevent the splitting of the wood. You should be able to pick up pickets like this for as little as a couple of dollars each. You can even back-ram the posts to save more money by not shelling out on the concrete. This is where the dug-out soil is rammed back into the hole around the post to support it. The little finishes such as the slightly taller gate picket boards and the arbor over the gate give this fence an almost delicate overall look that won’t break the bank.
Grey Flat Top Picket
This simple, budget friendly, picket fence has a lot going for it. Easy to install, with cheap materials, and a robust finish, this is a great choice for those wishing to put the fence up themselves. With morticed posts, you start by concreting in your first post, then push the rails into the morticed holes. Push the next post onto the other end of the rails and concrete that in. An easy option for people doing it themselves as the rails will not move anywhere. You can then nail the picket boards, using a 2″ spacer. I would run a string line along the top and put each board on so it lightly touches the string. Once finished, the grey paint gives it a modern style, while protecting the timber. I would have made a gate to match the style of the picket fence, rather than a solid arch top one. However, this gate would be more sturdy, and hopefully last a little longer.
Gabion and Horizontal Slats
The use of gabion baskets here makes for a modern, unique, and quite secure type of fence. They can be a lot cheaper than a brick wall, quicker and easier to install and you can also fill them with whatever stone you like, ranging from round cobbles to blue slate. Inserts within the stone baskets will then take the panels and gates, providing a great combination of wood and rock. Could you do this yourself? Potentially. The baskets can be delivered empty, and once they’re placed on a suitable foundation or base, you can then fill them. However, this would take some time. Professionals could have already filled baskets delivered and then crane them into place.
Oriental Trellis Fence
This type of fencing lends itself to an application where privacy isn’t a major factor. The trellis panel provides demarcation of a boundary but doesn’t give a solid fence. Ideal for growing climbing plants against it. This has 4×4 inch posts concreted in, normally to a depth of 2 feet. Longer posts that hold the archway and entrance may be in at 2.5ft to provide extra support. The trellis panels look to be 6ft high and 8ft wide. The off-the-shelf trellis would normally come in at 6x6ft so these panels would either have to be bespoke made by a fencing manufacturer, or made by the installation team, which would take an awful long time. And with the amount of lumber involved, you wouldn’t be able to make much of a saving. Starting with concreting in one of the archway posts, I would then dig the hole for the next post, and then attach the trellis to the first post before attaching it to the second and concreting that in. Moving along the fenceline in this manner would allow every hole to be in the perfect place. If you’re confident, you can measure, mark out and dig all the holes in one go. The center of the hole on this fence would be an 8 ft panel, plus the thickness of a post, so 8 ft 4′. That’s being sure that the panels have been made to the exact calculation. These panels also have a gravel board, or kickboard at the base; this can be installed along with the panel. There are a few methods of attaching the panel to the post. The easiest would be 3” wood screws, driving in one near the top, one in the middle, and one at the base. This gives adequate support whilst being able to be removed easily if the panel needs to be moved or changed. Once the panels and posts are all in, the top fascia board can be attached to the posts with the same screws and the pergola-style top timbers added. This, along with the lower post caps, gives the fence a fantastic oriental look.
Modern Steel Fence
This style of fencing ticks a lot of boxes, modern, contemporary, stylish, and elegant. As you can tell I’m a fan. The posts will have been manufactured prior to installation, make sure they are close to hand for ease of installation, you don’t want to be reaching for one when everything is set up and ready. Due to the closeness of the posts, individual holes would be tricky, as they would most likely fall in. If budget allows, a mini digger would be able to dig a trench the correct depth in a short time. Money no object? You could then get ready-mix concrete delivered, ready to pour into the trench to hold the posts. If not, you’re looking at good old-fashioned spades and shovels, and ballast and cement mixed for the concrete. The secret to getting this fence looking its best is to make sure the heights, levels distances, and gaps are all perfect. There are a couple of ways to make sure of this. Use a spacer. This can be a block of wood or metal, or even plastic that measures the preferred distance between posts. You can use this to make sure the gap between each post is exactly the same by butting it up against the first post and putting the second post against that. This will be a lot easier with an extra pair of hands. Secondly, I would use a laser level. A budget one can be picked up from a hardware store or online for around $120. DeWalt makes a great one for $180. Using this, a faultless line will provide a mark to which you can obtain the height of each post. However, I’ve done something similar before with just a string line running along the tops and sides. Just make sure it’s pulled tight! Again, I can’t stress how important precision is on this one. One post slightly out will show. Once all the posts are in, look along the tops and the sides to see if any are not 100% in line. These can then be adjusted to make sure they are, before the concrete sets.
Steel Panel Fence
A very sleek and modern panel fence. Although this one looks straightforward, it may be one for the professionals to install.
The horizontal 5ft high panels appear to be made from steel, meaning they would be quite heavy. So setting them on a concreted steel post wouldn’t allow for much error. If you’re installing panels on recently installed posts, make sure they are fully set, or you’ll end up with sunken posts. In my opinion, I would have moved the mailbox to one side, allowing for a smooth, continuous fence. I feel it stands out a little. Metal panels like this also wouldn’t come cheap. Incorporating gates for people and vehicles would involve some technical engineering. However, once installed, it looks great, providing a very solid and secure fence for years to come. And it really suits an elegant modern house like this one.
Sleek Black Railings
These metal railings provide a cool, sleek look to your front yard. Normally bought in panel form, they can be part of your new DIY project. However, a good spirit level is vital here. The tops need to be perfectly level or it’ll stand out like a sore thumb. With panels of any type, it will always look better, and give a cleaner finish if the top of the panels run flush. That is, each panel is perfectly level with the next. If you get to the slope, they will need to be stepped. But make sure the steps are all uniform and identical. The flat, black bars on this design give a nice modern look while providing a solid fence to keep dogs in. The matching gate looks great, with the bars of the panels lining up exactly.
White Brick and Panels
Another panel within a brick pillar here, but this time it’s all finished to an elegant, sophisticated white finish. A panel of this style can be made from a variety of materials, the cheapest being wood, but you could have it made from PVC, powder-coated steel, or lightweight aluminium. Having the panels made prior to installation from the more expensive materials would mean you could save a lot of time during installation. It would also allow you to choose your fixings to enable them to be hidden from view such as countersunk bolts, leaving you with a really clean look. The pyramid post caps are a lovely touch. Finishing the whole fence off nicely. This fence is on the higher end of the budget scale, but it’s very strong and will last a lifetime.
Bespoke Picket Panels
A really unique style of fence here. Starting with the stone wall, it provides a great solid starting block to build the fence too. You can easily bolt a wallplate made from a 4×2” timber to these and then attach your rails to the wallplates. This is the normal starting point for attaching any fence to a wall. In this style, they’ve gone for a picket that follows the contours of the wall at the base, and mirrors it at the top, creating an almost oval panel. The matching picket sitting flat on top of the wall is a great style feature, also providing somewhere to sit. And it is all finished with the wall post caps again made from the matching picket style. Truly a one of a kind here, but easy enough to DIY and on a good budget.
Round Pointed Picket
I really like this style of palisade, front yard fence as it’s made from wood. A strong solid top and bottom horizontal rails hold onto broom handle type uprights. These will have been made in a factory to create uniform construction. The large routed gate posts are very unique, providing a strong feature to hold the attractive arched gate. Painted white, once the roses flower, it gives a beautiful country cottage feel. Not the cheapest, but one that you can DIY. The lower kickboards on the gate and fence also provide a bit of protection from big-booted visitors.
White Candle Style Picket
Similar to the above fence, this again gives a lovely cottage feel to any front garden. It’s tricky to tell if this is timber again or a plastic fence. But as it’s slightly higher than our last option, it provides a higher security element and protection for your property. The alternating high and low, candle-style verticals give a pleasing appearance while making it great for keeping the dogs in.
Round Rail Ranch
For that ranch-style effect, this low, sturdy post and rail fence is an excellent choice. It would really match well with any log or timber cabin. The large 6″ diameter round posts will be super-solid once installed. You don’t even need to concrete these ones in. Once you’ve dug the hole, backram the dug-out soil around the post. A little bit at a time will result in a very stable post and save a lot of money. These posts even have an extra treatment at the bottom. Either using a fabric cover or painted on, this section sits in the ground to add further protection from the soil. Another great feature of this fence is there are no fixings to worry about. The round rails will slot nicely through the pre-drilled holes in the posts making this a great fence to DIY.
Undulating Timbers and Cobble Pillars
What a feature this is. Large, solid, concreted cobble posts, holding long flat wooden flat rails creates a rustic, ranch-style fence. A DIY dream, you have so many options here depending on what you have lying around. You could change the cobbles to bricks or stones of many types and colors. Putting the timbers in a V-shape between the pillars provides stability, removing the need for an extra post and therefore reducing the time and cost of installation. I would fix these rails together with 6 to 8-inch long, heavy-duty timber screws. This will prevent them from moving around and making the structure secure.
Basic Picket and Brick
Here we have a very simple picket panel, attached within some big, chunky brick posts. The wooden panels could be made on a cheap budget by someone with rudimental DIY skills. The materials used here wouldn’t break the bank. They can then be bolted to the brick pillars by use of some angled cleats and 4-inch through bolts. It’s all been painted white to perfectly match the house and neighboring walls and looks great on a sunny day.
Dog Friendly Panel
What a great way to allow your dog to view passers-by from your front yard. A standard picket gate, bolted to the brick wall, with a simple picture frame added to the front. Make sure to treat the frame with some outdoor varnish to protect it from the elements. This idea can be used just as well on a solid fence, cutting out the square with a jigsaw or circular saw.
Just make sure your dog doesn’t bite!
Modern Glass Fence
Perfect for an unobstructed view, these glass panels provide a modern take on fencing. Ideal for installing where your view is something to admire and you’d rather not look straight into a standard fence. This is often found on balconies to provide protection from falling while allowing you to make the most of your scenery. Installing a fence like this wouldn’t be for the first time DIY-er. The panels will be toughened glass and a half-inch thick panel of this size will weigh somewhere in the region of 50kg, therefore making them very heavy. It’s a great front yard fence alternative that, once installed, makes a very elegant feature with lots of benefits. However, I’m sure my dog would run straight into this one without noticing it.
Mixing Materials
This combination of stone, wood, and metal really makes for a one-of-a-kind fence. The heavy thick walls really sit nicely against the thin metal railings on one side and the treated lumber on the other. There’s a lot going on here so this would need to be installed by someone who knows a lot about each aspect. Starting from digging the foundations for the wall, up to the retaining properties of the timber section, as it looks like it’s holding soil for the tree to grow in. Having a similar color from the metal to the wall, to the capping on the wood, shows that this is a well-thought-out and executed front yard fence idea.
Living Fence
A fantastic alternative to the solid lines of a wooden fence would be to install a hedge. Choices for this are endless and will depend on soil type, amount of sunshine, color, size, budget, and so on. This one is a very neatly cut conifer hedge. These need relatively little water and can be picked up from your local plant seller at a good price. Be aware, however, some can grow very tall if left unclipped. Another good selling point of the conifer is that it’s evergreen. Meaning when fall comes, you can be sure of continued growth, not losing any leaves as you would with a Hornbeam or Beech hedge. Alternatives that could also add a level of security to your hedge could be Berberis or Holly which provide natural spikes to deter unwanted guests.
Elegant Gate and Hedge
Another great combination of styles here. If you’re wanting to install a gate in a hedge, it will need solid posts to hang from, so here they’ve made the great chunky block pillars a feature to hang an art-deco style gate from. Nestled within the tall hedge, it’s extremely eye-catching. The way the trees go from tall to short draws the eye to the front of the house making it all very elegant. The trees, once grown, can then be cut and shaped into a complete hedge, providing good security to the house. Some hedges grow faster than others so choose wisely.
White Low Panels
This is a lovely small, low PVC or vinyl fence which can be purchased in kit form and easily done yourself. Quite often with these vinyl fences, all the fixings are hidden away so you would need to construct the fence from one side to the other, concreting in posts and securing panels as you go. It leaves a great professional finish without any unsightly nuts, bolts, or screws. And also has a very smooth surface, so no splinters from this one. A matching gate is a great touch, providing a seamless fence around your front yard.
Scalloped Picket Fence
I like the neatness of this low, white, vinyl picket fence. A small fence like this is often bought as a ready-made panel. You can order as many posts and panels as you require and take them home to install. It’s an easy DIY option as the panels will be relatively light to handle, concreting the posts in before screwing the horizontal rails on. Making sure the rails are nice and level. This one is finished off with some low shrubs planted in front. If the soil was then covered with dark gravel or slate, this would look fantastic.
Steel Railings
Wrought iron or steel panels can be bought off the shelf at a reasonable price. They would normally come with their own matching posts and fixings and can be installed in a variety of situations. Panels such as these between stone pillars will normally be measured and manufactured in a factory or workshop and delivered to the site ready to be bolted to the previously installed pillars. The company making the panels will also be able to calculate the gradient when making panels go down a slope. This is a great option and the panels will be of a very high quality. Therefore, unfortunately, they wouldn’t come cheap. However, assuming they have been made exactly to the correct distances, they can be installed very quickly. A matching gate is a great touch, and panels like these will also provide a good security feature to your property and front yard.
Ornate Steel Panels
Lovely ornate, wrought iron panels sit great between brick pillars. These can be manufactured to your desired measurements so will not come cheap. However, you can also buy an off-the-shelf version, which would be more of a reasonable price but the wall would have to be built to suit. They are, however, relatively easy to fit. You can set the panel on the wall on the small feet, and prop it up with something, before bolting through into the wall. These really do make a striking impact, paired with a matching gate it’s a real head-turner.
Fantastically Decorative Panels
These beautifully decorative panels look amazing. Framed by solid stone walls, they create a fantastic feature for any house. These are most likely bespoke orders by the homeowner. Made from steel and at lengths over 10 feet, these are neither cheap nor light. Not one to DIY, these will need to be installed by professionals working in conjunction with the wall installers to make sure everything fits and is stable and secure. The matching gate and style of panel will however leave you with a very secure front yard, enabling children and pets to play outside safely. And the exquisite design is certainly eye-catching.
Rustic Brick and Panel Inserts
Adding the small black, metal railings into this wall will be the easy part. They can rest on the wall and be bolted through into the brick similar to previous panels we’ve discussed. The real challenge here will be the creation of the wall itself. A large chunky stone wall like this will require some relatively deep foundations, dug with a mini digger. Then there’s a lot of skill to getting the wall looking good, so definitely one for the professionals. The flat capping to the wall and pillars is a nice touch, allowing somewhere to bolt the lights too and protecting the top bricks from the weather.
Low Retaining Wall
Less of a fence, more of a wall here. Very decorative, the pillar sections cleverly mirror the pattern of the house. While this is only a low wall, the idea behind it is to hold back the ground in front of the upper part, allowing for a change in levels, hence the small steps behind the gate. Walls can be quite expensive and tricky for first-timers, and this one has been very neatly installed.
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