Collecting votes! Should I keep the fence grey or repaint to a neutral beige/cream colour?

gilla.walmsley

The fence was this colour when I moved in (and the garden is still very much a work in progress!). This winter I'll be replacing all of my side on the left with new panels that properly fit the posts, so that side will need redoing some sort of colour anyway. I'm a bit bored of the grey, just because everyone has it, and it's quite heavy and modern looking, and I prefer the cottage garden look. The plus point is that white looks great against it and I love white flowers, but I also love blues and purples and they get lost in the colour.

I have a fancying for a neutral beige sort of colour - although white won't stand out against it, hopefully once I've covered the fence with some climbers and shrubs (which is the plan) they'll look good against the green. 

I love the sort of mediterranean look I've seen in photos with neutral coloured fences, but I'm wondering if the upkeep will be a total pain (although I have to repaint the current one anyway all the time because of the bird poo!) or if it will look too "in your face" because so much fence shows.



Any votes either way?

Pete.8

I rather like fence panels that are just weathered.
I had these panels fitted about 10 years ago and now they've faded in the sun I think they're just right and look natural

Fairygirl

I think you may find the cream/beige a nightmare @gilla.walmsley, for the reasons you've outlined. Any bits in the shade will get green. Once you have lots of plants on them, if you're doing that, it's less of a problem - and less painting.
I thought of doing a few of my things  [bench etc] in a cream last year instead of the light green they'd been, but the paint was much lighter than it looked on the tin - almost white. I wanted it to tone with the creamy render on the house wall and the gold gravel, but it wasn't right.
I'm sure we had a thread about the creams/whites a while ago. 
I thought I'd go for a light grey for the contrast instead - fences etc are black, , but they were all too dark, so I mixed some of the black paint with the cream, until I got the colour I liked. I don't have a photo unfortunately.

Loxley

I would avoid painting it beige or white, this tends to draw the eye to the fence rather than what is in front of it. The grey you have looks fine, I would clothe it with a few climbers and the fence should effectively recede from view. I might also want to paint the posts in matching masonry paint.

Fairygirl

I've been doing my terracotta pots with the grey paint @Loxley. It's fine even although it's fence paint. I have too many of them and it'll mean there's better co ordination.

Toning various bits and pieces with the main colour, is always a good solution, and as you say - it means the focus is on the plants and the main garden. 
Keeping colours, in general, to no more than three is the ideal. Any landscaping should be included in that - paving etc.  I use the grey as an accent - the bench, a bird feeder and a couple of other things, so apart from the planting, the colours are black grey and gold/cream.

B3

Definitely not beige or white. I prefer natural too unless it's a really small space, then I might go for grey.

gilla.walmsley

I prefer natural too but the fence was already this colour and I won't want two sides which don't match - so has to be painted in something!

So the existing colour over anything else is the best?

LG_

In the picture above the existing colour looks fine, but in a previous post where you had more of a close up it was a very blue/lavender-grey which I felt didn't work. At the time I thought a different colour would be better but didn't say anything as I didn't realise it was an option, though I agree that white/cream would probably prove difficult to maintain. I think I would probably go for a grey, but a silvery one rather than blue. Or leave the new panels as they are and let them silver and then paint the other side a similar colour.

LG_

PS it was me that started the previous thread on whitefish fences, though my purposes were quite different - it's a side passage with no plants against it, so lightening the colour was purely to reflect as much light as possible into my dark kitchen. It has worked, by the way!
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1061870/painting-a-fence-white-ish-best-coverage/p1

Plantminded

Beige or white will make your fence a feature, best to let it recede with a dark colour.  Painting your fence posts as @Loxley says will make a big difference.  I changed my fence colour this year from a light colour (a creamy grey called Muted Clay which went on a former Forest Green to produce a light grey/blue - not intentional or liked but it was too much to repaint it the same year!)  It's now black which makes greens look greener and the fence is less obvious.  Here's before and after:

AnniD

My personal take is stick with the grey, but maybe in a lighter shade. I can only imagine the nightmare of trying to maintain a beige colour.

I know what you mean about fashions changing (Barleywood Blue anyone ? 😊).
 So many to choose from these days, maybe this might help (or possibly not).
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/398568635749663791/