Painting a fence

I think one of my jobs for next spring will be to paint the side of this garage, whilst I can still reach behind where the climbing roses will no doubt take over shortly. As you can see it's quite ugly and drab currently so doesn't show off my roses to their best. I'm thinking a mid beige (not too light so that it shows the dirt too easily). I am also considering painting the fence panels around the garden to give some continuity (and I think it would be a nice backdrop to the plants). This sort of effect, but a bit darker ...
Not sure what paint to use on the fence though, so can anyone advise please? Ta

 

I painted a tin fence in a neighbour's garden with a dark green hammerite, made hell of a difference.

 

The fence is behind plants with shades of blue and purple and with some very pretty yellows at the front.

The new fence panels (put in two years ago) came in a yellow tint; I think that would compliment that area beautifully! But, , so I could be *very* wrong in that thinking

 

Whilst dark green may seem the obvious colour, I did once paint my fences dark green and it looked absolutely awful - despite spurning the cheapie stuff and going for the nearest shade I could find to what I'd call a 'nature' green (Cuprinol 'Somserset Green') it look horrible - the garden looked half the size it really was and whilst - for a few weeks - it showed off the flowers which grew in front, the foliage disappeared so the blooms appeared to be 'floating'! In the winter the vast expanses of green just look .... depressing.

Since then, I've gone for their 'Willow' - still green, but lighter and much softer, it doesn't try to be something to make the fence 'disappear', nor is it so in-your-face that it's all you see, but it does allow flowers and foliage to show up against it, lightens the dark parts of the garden and is much more restful on the eye than the fancy shades of pink, blue and yellow so beloved of people trying to sell us stuff to make our gardens look 'mediterranean'.

 

The cuprinol shades are very good, covers brilliantly and nice range of colours too.

For the garage, I did mine (and the house) in sandtex. Easy to apply, long lasting and washable!! I also did the fences in it next to the decking, along with the posts ( despite it being a masonry paint, it's good for fence panels as well!) I don't know if they do a dark enough colour for you though, as I think it's either white, magnolia or black. I used magnolia on mine, and I think it looks great!

 

light colours bounce the heat back I hope it will not damage those beautiful roses...

 

They are David Austin roses - Sceptre'd Isle, Princess Alexandra of Kent and Lady Emma Hamilton

That's good to know, thanks I do want to use paint (rather than fence stain) on it as the fence is currently dark brown so would need to be painted over. I wonder if I could use Dulux Weathershield for the fence? Think I'll email them and ask as that comes in a range of colours.

I'm thinking 'Claystone' from that range would look nice and not be too light (or dark).

 

As we all know, paint will stick to anything and masonry paint is no different, however I'm guessing Dulux will tell you not to use it on wood as it would be unlikely to adhere properly with the result that the surface would delaminate and moisture get behind it.

I too prefer to use paint on my fences (for me, the stains you buy are just ) - I use Cuprinol 'Garden Shades' paint because it's easy to apply, the coverage is very good, it's slightly 'plasticised' which means the water just runs off and the brushes wash out in water (in fact, the Wilko own brand 'Garden Colours' is every bit as good and, as they say, a helluva lot cheaper). With the Cuprinol, there is a colour called 'Country Cream' -if you go to their website, (http://www.cuprinol.co.uk/garden_colour/colour_selector/index.jsp) you can 'paint a virtual fence' to see what the colour looks like in situ, the Wilko paints don't come in the same range of colours, but they do a 'Buttermilk'.

 

Thanks FM. I like the Natural Stone, Willow and Country Cream, so may pick up a tester or two next time I'm at B&Q

Will look into the Wilkos one too.

If anyone has painted their fence I'd love to see some pics

 

Like fm said, the cuprinol just beads water, so it coats the panels quite well. Should last a long time before it needs doing, but here, by the sea, I reckon the salt wind will fade it a bit.

The sandtex is the same, it's plasticised so water beads.

I've also used ronseal teak stain on my newel post and spindles on the decking and my gate. Thats good too a little goes a long way.

I'll take some pics and show you the colours. I think if you want the colours really deep, then it'll take a few coats on fence panels to get the depth, but they all cover well with just the one coat.

 

The fence and posts painted in the magnolia sandtex:-


The garage/house in the magnolia sandtex:-


Fence and posts in the cuprinol shades black ash:-


Balustrade and newel posts in the ronseal teak:-



Gate in ronseal teak:-

 

Thanks Al I like the Magnolia Sandtex, looks lovely.

 

Well I finally got round to buying some paint.

I bought some Magnolia masonry paint for £6.99 from Aldi for the garage wall and have just bought some Heritage Green paint from Next for the fences and also for the wood trim on the garage. What with replanting the borders and painting the fences that should keep me busy all summer.

 

I decided not to go for the green after all Just spent an hour and a half in B&Q trying to find exterior paint in a colour which I liked. I failed. Ended up buying fence stain after all. Doh!