Contemporary Fence Ideas
Fencing tends to have a style bias toward rustic or natural designs, but there are a few fence styles out there meant for landscapes that have a more modern look. Contemporary fences tend to have strong horizontal and vertical lines to accent the strong lines of a contemporary home or landscape. With the right style, you can create a contemporary fence out of just about any material. Does this Spark an idea?
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Horizontal Wood Fence
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Wood fences usually have vertical boards attached to rails that run between the posts, but to get a more contemporary look, consider ignoring the rails and just running the boards horizontally between the posts. The smooth horizontal lines give the fence a modern look, and you can still have gaps in the boards if you want to allow some light through. You can also alternate which side of the fence each board is on, creating a shadowbox effect and allowing air to flow through the fence while still retaining your privacy.
Two-Material Fences
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While a standard wood or brick fence can each look old-fashioned on their own, by combining the styles you can create a very contemporary design. You can also make these types of fences out of concrete, iron and even wire. Build the base out of the stronger material and run the lighter material across the top. Keep everything symmetrical and have long, straight vertical and horizontal lines to give your fence a modern look.
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Basket-Weave Fence
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Basket-weave fences may seem out of style, but if you build them with the right materials and paint them the right color, they can add to the decor of any contemporary home. A basket-weave fence has large vertical posts with horizontal boards crossing over them. As each board encounters a post, it passes on the opposite side from which it passed the previous post, creating a weaved design. Make this fence out of long white boards, or long black boards with some space between each one, if you want the fence to mesh well with a contemporary home design.
Picket Fence Variations
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Contemporary vinyl fences are much like picket fences, except they place the bottom and top rails at the very bottom and top of the pickets, instead of just above and under them. Certain contemporary fences also include a third rail, just underneath the top one. These rails create strong horizontal lines to give a modern flair to a very rustic style of fence. The pickets themselves are also a little different on a contemporary fence, being square and thin as opposed to the wide, rectangular wood pickets on older fences.
Fixed Louver Fences
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Louvers are horizontal slats usually used with windows so that light can get in, but rain and noise cannot. While window louvers are usually movable, you can use a fence with fixed louvers in situations when you need privacy, but can't create a solid barrier. The louvers are angled to allow air to flow by the fence, and are available in forms that offer 100 percent visual blockage or 80 percent visual blockage, depending on just how much privacy you need.
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References
- Photo Credit white fence against blue sky image by javarman from Fotolia.com
