Fence colour for cottage style garden

[SilverSixpence]

We have a tiny garden and I wanted to get the fences painted to give it more of a cottage garden look. I'm thinking cream, pale sage or grey. Which one or sown thing different?

I'd go for plain white. Nice and fresh against green foliage.

I did originally want white "pale jasmine" from cuprinol but the gardener is advising against it as it will need repainting quicker? What do you think. I am hopeless at decisions! Also have read on here that black makes the walls recede more so makes it look more spacious? So would white make it appear smaller?

White will make it stand out more. If you painted the fence black (not that you would, not very cottage garden-y) it would recede and not be as apparent.

I don't get the comment about needing repainting quicker. Does he mean it will be more noticeable than a darker colour? Go with what you like and want.

Google images of cottage garden fence and have a look at pictures of the different colours and see what they actually look like with plants around them.

I think he meant it would get dirty . I am not really getting much of an idea on google as most of the cottage gardens have picket fences and we are having closeboard panels, and can't see any painted examples of those! I am now even thinking about just leaving them plain as I'm so confused!

Depends if your garden is damp/shady? If so you'll get algae quite quickly, which will make it look dingy. Also, if it's larch lap or vertical closeboard, you might find it's an awful lot of white and a bit dominant!

What about a darker sage, or a sort of air force blue? (As opposed to Ground Force blue )

Interesting point about algae or garden is a tiny city garden and quite shady, mostly because of the monster 9foot ivy though which will thankfully be gone soon.

I quite like cuprinol willow and muted clay but DH thinks the muted clay will look dingy.

Presumably if a small garden it's close to the walls of your house? So you need to think about toning with the stonework or bricks, but more importantly matching or toning with the window frames and door

Grey is amazing, really shows up green and is beautifully soft.

The grey walls of my shed in the garden

I have pale jasmine picket fence in my small front garden. Its been up almost a year and as the foxgloves, lupins, roses and lavender (amongst many other things) are coming into flower I think it looks lovely. The white really offsets the gentle colours of the blooms

It hasn't got any signs of algae or dirt yet.

I've got an apple tree trained to one section, winter jasmine, clematis, ivy, passion flower and climbing roses growing through it so eventually it will semi disappear beneath a thin hedge of flowering plants.

I've just painted my back wall and side wall grey and my shed and fence in cuprinols Seagrass. It looks lovely!

We have a small backyard in a city.

I'll take some pics tomorrow

Lauriefairycake I definitely have shed envy now! Which colour did you use?

Misformum your garden sounds lovely, I might still go for the pale jasmine after all.

Fcukfifa pictures would be great thanks.

This photo is the kind of thing I was thinking of but without the trellis - i'd like the trellis but it's already costing a fortune to replace the fence so will have to manage without!

If you haven't yet purchased fence panels we have just lined our garden with feather edge. It was far cheaper than panels and i like the clean lines.
The garden is not yet finished but I took some shots for another thread a while ago

It's laura Ashley's pale french grey

Love the featheredge by the way, it's gorgeous

How does the feather edging work ?is it instead of panels or does it go in front of existing ones? I think we will definitely have to replace at least 4 panels maybe more so was going to just replace them all at the same time.

This is wild thyme I have a south facing garden but I repainted regularly due to algae on the north facing side of the fence

We've got ugly concrete posts, concrete barge boards and fairly rotten panels behind ours.

Neighbours either side have established growth against the rotting panels so they're not easily replaced. We fixed batons onto the concrete posts and then used a board as a spacer when laying the boards. The joints are staggered so your eye doesn't jar particularly at any point.

The mini greenhouse to the right of the photo above is painted in seagrass. Its a lovely colour as a bit of a statement colour, my chicken house is the same colour too.

The wild thyme looks great on that fence too. I'm glad I started this thread, lots of pretty gardens on Mumsnet!

Any more ideas? I have noticed no one in our area has a painted fence! Is it an urban garden no-no or something?

Sorry OP - I assumed it was picket fence from your post.

Personally I think green looks best. Mine is dark green and covered with climbers, the fence is barely visible.

I think strong colours, including white, draw the eye to the fence and make the boundaries of the garden more obvious. This will make a small garden look smaller iyswim.

I would go for sage I think...

(laurafairycake that shed is AMAZING - you have inspired me now to crack on and convert dc disused playhouse into a gorgeous garden haven! do you have nay more pics of interior for inspiration purposes ...) sorry for brief hijack of thread.

God yes, I love boasting about my shed - bloody thing took me 3 weeks

Another vote for sage/green. It's soft and muted, so fits the cottage garden theme. It will recede and your flowers will contrast against it nicely.

We went for Seagrass but only on the panels at the very end of the garden. It's a great colour but would be too strong for all round. White will drive you mad, trying to keep it clean.

oh laurie that is really lovely. I am definitely going to get cracking with converting dc old playhouse into a little haven.

Have you decided on a colour yet op?