You’ve got your dream home with the perfect patio, balcony or backyard – now for some outdoor screen ideas to avoid that uncomfortable feeling of the neighbours watching your every move. The last thing you want to do is avoid this part of your home trying to escape prying eyes looking in on you and your guests. It may feel like you have no option but to live with this situation, but there are many ways to solve overlooking issues.
Privacy screens can easily be installed in your space, here are some living, man-made and repurposed material ideas to stylishly preserve the privacy of your outdoor space.
Just as you don’t like gazing up into your neighbours’ top storey windows, they would probably prefer not to stare straight down at your outdoor areas from their bedrooms. When considering how to achieve more privacy in your backyard, look for ways you can use plants, pergolas, awnings and freestanding walls to screen views and muffle noise for mutual benefit. Here is a selection of Fresh Perspective Landscapes privacy screen ideas for backyards.
Outdoor Screen Ideas for Privacy
Timber Panelled Fencing
A series of freestanding slatted, wooden fence sections staggered to allow walkways between them, can be used to screen unattractive views or adjacent buildings. The advantage of using freestanding panels, rather than a traditional fence, is that the height and placement of each section can be adjusted to suit the areas you need to screen.
Laser-cut Metal Screens
Artistic outdoor screen panels made of laser-cut metal can be used to separate garden rooms, screen a spa or hide rubbish bins. Mounting screens a few centimetres in front of a wall and adding lights for the evening to appreciate the shadows cast by the metalwork pattern makes these privacy screens outdoor features day or night.
Wood Lattice
Inexpensive and widely available, crisscrossing wood lattice is a great, affordable screen material for partial privacy. For more privacy planting a creeping vine or your favourite climbing rose to grow and fill the gaps in the lattice is a way to soften the more architectural screen.
Translucent panels
If you’re looking for outdoor screen ideas to block an adjacent building or stop the neighbours from peering in, but still would like light to pass through a screen, frosted glass can be a highly effective material. These feature panels also show off textures and shapes of plants or structures on the other side.
Freestanding Walls
Staggered sections of metal or wood panels create a feeling of privacy without completely closing the garden off. Experiment with the heights of freestanding walls and adjust to the specifics of your site and what areas you would like to screen.
Dense materials such as metal, stone, brick and concrete are the most effective at absorbing sound waves from traffic or industrial machines. These structures layered with lighter materials, such as hedges and timber fences, will block more sound than if the solid structures were used individually.
Living screens
Creeping vines that climb along a trellis, fence or balustrade are a living screen that keep things a bit cooler in your outdoor area on hot days and make an effective partition for areas you want better concealed.
Hedges
When choosing a plant for a hedge, consider whether you’d like total privacy in the form of a solid hedge or less privacy with one that is lighter and airier. For maximum privacy and sound suppression, select evergreens with a dense growth habit, or try types that lose their leaves in winter but make up for it by putting on a show with attractive flowers or a blaze of autumn colour.
Potted plants
Large container plantings can be effective at screening views for rooftop and balcony gardens. They also provide a softness and add to the atmosphere of these areas as plants sway beautifully with the breeze.
Plant a Tree
A single tree can be an effective and inexpensive way to block a view. Trees serve as both a shield from the hot sun, protect from overlooking neighbours and they create a stunning focal point.
Outside Screen Ideas to Mask Sounds
Privacy extends beyond your sense of sight alone. Water features such as a fountain, stream, or pond with trickling water will muffle obtrusive sounds. Or plants or ornamental grasses that rustle in the breeze also distract from unwanted neighbour noise.
Decorative outdoor screens are the ultimate privacy concealers or the perfect way to create a separate living space in your outdoor area. Not only do they create privacy from your neighbours, they make great features, can transform any space and hide any unsightly areas of your garden. Contact Luke for Outdoor Screen Ideas – 0434 355 066 Follow us on Facebook
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