Fence Paint Color Ideas

Indeed, there may come a time when we will drive down the street of any given neighborhood and see mostly vinyl fencing or stucco walls surrounding most homes. Until that time, homeowners with wood fencing can easily learn to rejuvenate and add years to the life of their own fence by staining, sealing, or painting it.

What ever path you choose to take in reviving the current lifeless state of your wood fence is entirely up to you, but should in fact take in to account a number of different contributing influences around your property. Here is a 5-step process to help you decide:

Your personal preferences: What do you like? No, really, what do you prefer? Be sure to include your spouse for their opinion. Significant, non-married others I would avoid consulting, since they may give bad advice and leave you to deal with the poorly chosen outcome alone. Nonetheless, decide on whether you like a transparent sealed appearance which enables the grain of the wood to show through yet still protects the wood from the elements, a painted finish that will completely mask the grain and sometimes emphasize the existence of the fence, or a stained finish that is somewhere in between. Staining your fence can be accomplished with either a solid stain for some transparency to have the grain show, or a solid stain that masks the grain yet still soaks in to protect it. You may want to also ask a knowledgeable salesperson at the home improvement store what they know of the different brands of sealer, paint, and stain.

The color scheme of your home: Look at the colors of your home, including the trim. Your best bet is to complement the colors of your home when applying a finish to your wood fence. You may want to match the fencing to the base color of the home siding or stucco, or simply pick a color that matches or complements the trim or fascia.

The color scheme of your landscaping: Ideally, your landscaping choices complement the color scheme of your home already, and will make it that much easier to pick a stain or paint color for your fence if you decide to go that route. If you watch any of the landscaping improvement shows you find on TV, what the designer will typically try to do is pick plant colors that flow with the color scheme of the home. The same goes for the color of the wood fence. Quite often, the natural wood color of the fence will complement the scheme well enough. If not, that is where your talents for picking colors will be needed. If you have trouble picking colors, find someone with a good color perspective to help you out.

The color scheme of your hardscape: Do you have hardscaping (rocks, pavers, masonry) that were chosen to bring texture to your property? If they already flow with the color scheme of your home, that is all the better. If not, you may want to take a quick look at how they would appear framed along side or near your painted or stained fence.

The continuity or contrast of your neighboring fences: Here is the killer. You may end up following all the steps above, from considering your personal preferences to evaluating your color schemes, only to find your choice clashes with the theme of your neighborhood. If you reside in a newer community governed by a homeowners association, your choices may be limited anyway. However, if you are fortunate enough to have some flexibility in rehabbing your property, just remember to never go overboard and completely clash with the neighboring homes. It will not benefit your property value to make it stand out so much like the proverbial sore thumb. Neither will it do your inner desires to revive your fence and home any good to simply replicate what may be a community cookie cutter look.

What ever you decide to do, take some time to decide and never make a choice just because you saw a finished fence project you liked on TV or somewhere nearby. Just follow this 5 step process and you are more likely to be much happier with your choice in the end.