Front fence - getting the proportions right

The brickkie I organised to meet last Saturday never turned up. I've managed to find another bricklayer who came as a recommendation from a friend. We should hopefully get him around to our place in the next few weeks. But before I see him I would like to figure out what wall-in-between-the-pillars-height to go with and whether to go with a flush wall/pillar look, or to indent the wall a bit? I would love to hear your thoughts on what to look for when deciding the height of the wall, and how to get the proportions right.

I am still hoping/wanting a hedge behind the fence, on the inside of the front yard.

A flush wall with the pillar fence.

This one to me looks out of proportion and unfinished. Which is what I would like to avoid, hopefully...

B

Letterbox and house identification number

I've decided to add an extra brick pillar on the left of the front path thanks to my lovely friends over at the Decorating Forum. It will mean removing the middle structural metal rod (?) and adding two to the existing fence footings. I am not even sure if this is possible or how difficult it is. Do you think it is worth the effort in order to add an additional post?

What I also wanted to ask you is, about the fence in between the front path and the driveway. Should we have it as a solid wall or two 350x350 brick pillars with a plinth in between? We will need a letterbox integrated into the fence, and the spot between the front path and the driveway seems perfect, so we can reach it from both entrances. Also, thanks to KL's suggestion we would like a house identification number close to the letterbox.

The fence length between the gate and the driveway is 1.12m.

Do you think having a solid wall would look too chunky? It would also hide the hedge on the right of the path ... What I am worried about with having two 350x350 posts is not having sufficient amount of space to incorporate a letterbox, and also the fact that we would have to choose between the driveway or gate post, and we won't be able to reach it from both entrances....

What do you think? Practicality over aesthetics?

B

Fence and front garden

Just how gorgeous is this fence and front garden??? Ahhhh

Realestate.com.au

B

Tiny gaps and gate-less brick fences

So we decided to not do a gate because neither the sliding nor the swing would be practical. The swing gate wouldn't allow us to park any cars in the driveway, and the sliding gate would make the little gate to the front door unusable.

But now the dilemma is, what do we do with the fence part in between the front path and the driveway? Do we have a couple of 350x350 pillars with a plinth in between, a solid wall.

Also do we remove the brick pillar in between the driveway and fence on the right hand side or leave it in there, even though we are not having a gate?

I would love to hear your thoughts. Below are the drawings of some of the options I've been able to come up with... To be honest, they all look weird to me.

B

Front fence proportions ... what do you think?

So the front yard landscaping and fence plan is not yet finished, but with your help I am getting there :)
Thank you lovely people for all your help to date.
What pillar height should we go for? I've drawn them as 1.6m high. What do you think? Make them smaller?

Also, what do you think of the wall height? I've drawn the hedges behind the fence and along the front path as 1m tall, and the wall in the first drawing is 300mm and in the second 600mm high, what do you think? Which do you prefer, if any?

1.6m pillars, 1m hedge and 300mm wall

1.6m pillars, 1m hedge and 600mm wall

Do you think the brick fence in a matching brick as our house would look too matchy? Should we instead get it rendered? Or something else perhaps?

Also, our fence footings are only 300mm wide, do you think 300x300 posts look .... too skinny? What can we do to improve the appearance?

Do you think the two posts so close to each other in between the front path and the driveway looks odd?

PS. You will notice that I removed the hedges along the fence on both sides. I am worried that our 400mm garden bed in between the driveway and fence is way too narrow for a hedge and that it would be too high maintenance and/or scratch our cars :( - I will leave this for a separate post I think. Ugggh. So many things to consider, so many decisions to be made...

PS. don't forget to enter my giveaway for your chance to win one of three organic lip balms.

B

Gate-less front fence?

From an aesthetic point of view, is it ok to NOT have a gate if you DO have a front fence? So what I mean is just have a gap where the driveway/front path are.

I must admit I've always thought gate less front fences were ... pointless, but have lately been thinking about what we will do. We've already put provision in for the gate motor, but... If we go for a sliding gate, it will block the gate to the front path, and if we go for a double swing gate it will take up too much room. Even though there is currently just the two of us, we do plan to have kids one day, which means some cars will have to be parked in the driveway...

Soooo, I am now thinking of a gate-less front fence. Am I crazy or just lazy?

What are your thoughts?

Kerb appeal - front yard fence and landscaping. HELP!

I would love a simple, formal front yard with evergreen plants and shrubs.

Am not a fan of anything high maintenance, which means no flowers. Although hedges require regular trimming, from what I have been reading (Paul Bangay, thanks to KL and Heidi for the recommendation!!!) depending on the species they usually require trimming anywhere between two to six times a year. We can deal with that :)

Also, even though the path to the front doors has not yet been done or even decided on, we will match it to the width of the front doors, which leaves 1.2m between the path and the driveway for us to work with.

Please ignore the fact that in my drawings the path does not line up with the front doors. I clearly messed up, but I can assure you this was not my intention and it will not happen in real life :)

This is what I am thinking of for a start. Would love to hear your thoughts, feedback and advice, as always.

"When planning a hedge, the most important thing to consider is scale. Many people get it wrong. Some make the hedge too large and dominant for the site they are working with, dwarfing all other planting and overwhelming the other elements of the garden..."

As a starting point, I am thinking of a 30cm x 30cm hedge on the inside, and 60cm x 60cm hedge on the outside. Do you think the balance of proportion and scale work with the house? Does it work with the architectural style of the house? Would smaller shrubs instead of the lower (inner) hedge look better?

Here is a pic of our front yard as it is:

The fence footings have already been done, but we are still unsure of what sort of fence to go with. We originally thought a brick pillar fence, but I am now thinking it might look to heavy and full on with our brick house. What do you think? I am even considering a low line rendered fence with a hedge behind it. See, I am obsessed with hedges. But then I think about the practicality of trimming the hedge against a fence .... Eeeek!

Quotes are from Paul Bangay's Guide to Plants 2011.

B

MrB's creations

Look what MrB made for two of us on Friday night :)

Sushi Train's Ebi Fry copies.

I helped of course. We used the Japanese Panko bread crumbs as per FAUX FUCHSIA's recommendation :)

It was delicious! The prawns we used were huge so they weren't exactly bite size pieces like the originals. But we didn't complain :)

Although, MrB said that next time he will just get them from Sushi Train instead as it took almost two hours to make. Eeeeek!

A bit of a house progress update... Mr B installed the fence at the front of the house over the weekend. It was boiling hot. I heped by suppling him with delicious smooties though :)
Oh, and he continues to work on his car so this was the only thing he managed to do last week. Better than nothing I guess :)

Oh, do you like our curtains? :)

The prawns look a little burned in the photo but in reality they weren't :)

B