Wednesday, May 20, 2009

fence me in

One of the (many) things I have wanted to change at our house is the fence in the backyard.  It's a mix of janky chain-link and cheap vinyl and I cannot tell you how much I hate it.  Luckily, in a few weeks we are putting in a new fence!  The decision is practical as well as aesthetic, Ollie, aka "Houdini Dog", keeps getting out and we can't figure out how.  (He is hilarious when he "runs away" because he only does it when he knows Steven or I are in the front yard and he wants to come say hi.  It's kind of adorable, but I have nightmares about him darting across the street to attack a squirrel and getting hit by a car.)  
We're taking the plunge and putting in a cedar fence that we will let go grey.  Here's the sample the fence guy gave us.
And here's a house that has a similar fence in the back.  (I better not let Gus or Ollie see this photo, they might try and attack that squirrel!)  
We are thinking of changing the pattern a bit, one wide post, two narrow posts, one wide post, one narrow post, etc but I'm pretty sure I like the basic idea.  We want something that will offer privacy, but not so solid our neighbors think we hate them.   
What do you think?

2 comments:

Courtney said...

You know, it's funny because I grew up in Ohio, and in our first neighborhood, people had fences, but only a few had privacy fences. In our second neighborhood, no one had fences at all. Then, my family moved to the South, and everyone had privacy fences there. And E's and my house in central Texas had one too, and now, I absolutely shudder at the idea of not having a privacy fence (I mean, how could I take the dogs out in my pjs??!) But I digress...

I like the sounds and looks of the cedar fence you are putting in (as well as the possible change in pattern you are talking about doing!)

And yes, I can understand the nightmares about Ollie darting into the street after escaping the fence. We had a hole at the bottom of one of our fence boards, and Moose, our Shih Tzu, would sometimes escape to come say "hi" if someone was working in the front yard... we thought it was kind of cute to watch him squeeze through the hole, but it also terrified me at the same time. And twice he escaped without our knowledge (once when my brother was dog-sitting-- guess he forgot about my, "Don't let Moose out un-supervised because he has been escaping" rule,) and the "what ifs" scared me completely-- fence board was fixed not long after that second escape.

abigail said...

Thank you so much for commenting on this one! I was worried everyone hated the fence and just wasn't saying anything.
I think it's really hard to get used to not having a fence after you've had one for awhile. I too like to take the dogs out in my pjs and now that he's an escape artist, Ollie is not allowed out by himself!