Thinking of painting my fences black

[CurrentWife]

Will I regret it?!

We did ours last year abd loved it - they really set off the plants. However ... a year later its south facing and has faded quite a lot , although we didn’t do much prep and just painted over any greeny bits. So probably our own fault.

people at the back of us painted their fence black and I was a bit aghast for some reason, but once it was done it looked really good, and they did the shed to match.

It looks much nicer that the shitty ginger brown that dh used on our shed

They often do this on gardening makeover programs and it always look better in my opinion. I’d be doing it if I had fencing panels.

It really creates a great backdrop for the plants and if you have different fencing panels it can make everything look more cohesive.

It’s probably best to get a stain so you can still see the wood grain. Have fun!

We did our fences black a few years ago and I have no regrets. It really smartened them up and looks 100 times nicer than a orange/brown colour.
Our shed is cornflower blue and they look lovely beside each other.

I think it looks great. I age with the pp that wired orange colour is awful. Ours are untreated and greyed as ac result and I like this but if I was going to paint I'd go blank.

Interesting replies! Thank you!

They are currently that awful orange that a couple of you mentioned, so part of me thinks they won’t look any worse... but it does feel a bit drastic!

Think I’ll try and convince DH.

@SailingBuddy our shed is also cornflower blue!

Would it look a bit depressing in winter? We are trying to choose a paint colour for our new fence and while I think black looks great in the garden shows I wonder what it would look like on a grim January day. Our garden is not big and the fences close to the windows so this is an important factor for me but may not be for you if you have a bigger garden.

I was tempted but because garden is small I went with a lighter colour (ronseal warm stone) but agree, dark sets off the plants loads better.

I'm thinking about a darker colour now!

I had black fences and had to replace them this year so got bog standard coloured ones and the garden looks a lot bigger. So just to be considered.

It looks really good and helps them to recede in to the background and the plants stand out. The only problem may be if you share fences with neighbours. It's not really possible to only paint one side of a fence without colour going through.

@Sprig1

It looks really good and helps them to recede in to the background and the plants stand out. The only problem may be if you share fences with neighbours. It's not really possible to only paint one side of a fence without colour going through.

One set of our neighbours painted their fences "black Ash" or something similar which is a very dark brown and it did show through. We solved that by finding out what they had used and doing our side the same. Much nicer than the manky orange and green, distinctly rotten fence we have down one boundary.

We had all drainpipes replaced black and had black fencing.. Loved it!!

The neighbour that backs on to me has just had new fencing put in.

It's 6'6" high, and because we're on a slope, it's about 8' on my side, so really looms over my garden. Painting my side black is very tempting!

It also stops a foot above the ground on my side. I'm planning om getting a dog in the autumn, so will have the aggravation of blocking up the gaps. The chain link that we had there before wasn't attractive, but it wasn't obtrusive, either, and it kept 2 lakeland terriers securely in my garden for 20 years.

Do it! After years of dark oak on all wood in our garden, I painted it all black (black ash-ronseal wood stain - expensive but a year later still looking perfect...not for fence panels/rough wood though) we had no fence panels but did cabin, picket fences, planters, side gates, front gate. It looks so much better. Also have cornflower blue trim on some things and off-white creamy colour. Love it all. Looks great against flowers/greenery etc.

We have ours a very dark grey, I love it! Can confirm it works great in winter, even in a small garden. It definitely drips through the other side- we agreed in advance with neighbours that we'd do their side as well.

One word of warning - we needed 2 coats, so had to buy quite a lot of paint!

Paint is ordered!

Can’t be worse than the orange!

Realise it’s a bit late as you’ve already ordered but I have to recommend Witham Barn Paint. I used Suffolk Black on our fences a few years ago and it hasn’t faded. Really easy to apply.

www.withamgroup.co.uk/qualube/barn-paint-creocote-shop/

@LakieLady

The neighbour that backs on to me has just had new fencing put in.

It's 6'6" high, and because we're on a slope, it's about 8' on my side, so really looms over my garden. Painting my side black is very tempting!

It also stops a foot above the ground on my side. I'm planning om getting a dog in the autumn, so will have the aggravation of blocking up the gaps. The chain link that we had there before wasn't attractive, but it wasn't obtrusive, either, and it kept 2 lakeland terriers securely in my garden for 20 years.

I hope you are joking about painting the fence! It’s not your property and so therefore you can’t paint it at all.

We painted ours Cuprinol Urban Slate, it's fabulous!

@IAmNotDarling - too late I’m afraid. That’s a good price as well. Thanks anyway!