I need help with decorating my concrete patio, and deck area around pool. Also help hiding messy neighbors yard.

Question

I live in TN, the back yard has a 30round above ground pool with decking on one side. It has a large concrete patio area that wraps around to the side of house. 2 sides have a small privacy fence, 2 sides have chain link fencing. I just bought the house and have no idea what to do with this area. I has no covering, so it gets direct sun light. The neighbors yard is an eyesore, and I will have no privacy, that's one of the sides with the chainlink fence the otherside that's chain link, looks out to the street. NO privacy. Not sure if I should try planting something to provide privacy, or get a privacy fence put up. Any help or ideas would be appreciated.

Kimberly Barney · Answer

Since you have both privacy fence and chain link fencing in your backyard and privacy is an issue, I would suggest putting privacy fence on the other two sides. However, a couple friends of mine in TN have had good luck with providing privacy with zebra grass during the swimming pool season. As for covering, I would look into stretching weatherproof fabric using grommets, rope and the posts. You can either make the sunscreen or purchase it.

Gail Salminen · Answer

@Patrici Cannon it would be helpful if you could post pics of the areas you are referring to - that way you would get more useful comments. Having said that I will offer suggestions we have used, as we have three neighbours backing onto our property. One thing we did on one side of our deck that is against a frost fence is to plant a cheyanne privet hedge but it does need trimming a couple of times a year. It sheilds us from our neighbour's deck and them from us. We also use a gazebo on that side and I use curtains/screening on the side - voila no voyers. On the other side of the deck we have a lattice screen by the babeque area so that we are sheilded from the side neighbours backing onto our propery. The next neighbour down we have shielded by planting shrubs etc. I will try to post pics later when the snow leaves and after we errect the gazebos - new one this year - four seasons, can't wait.
Thanks for posting :)

Patrici Cannon · Answer

Gail Thanks for the post. I posted some pic

Gail Salminen · Answer

@Patrici Cannon you should check out @Susan B @Susan J 's post, she did a great job with disguising her neighbour's fence http://www.hometalk.com/diy/decorate/rooms/hiding-unsitely-fence-areas-1263585 You could even plant a vine along the lattice and it will totally obliterate the vision on the other side. If you carried the lattice idea to the other frost fence it would appear more cohesive. I am not sure of the traffic flow for your space. You may want to move the table out a bit and angle it. You could look for an outdoor living room type set - chairs, loveseat, side tables etc. We found Walmart to have some reasonable prices for a 6 piece set. When I needed to replace our cushions I could only find them at lowes, and lots of choice. If that is not an option at the moment, you could find new cushions for your table chairs - something with a bit of a pattern in it and colour. For safety reasons I would keep the pool deck fairly clear, but a couple of nylon web chairs, lowes has them in various colours this year and think they are under $20, or a small bistro set. You could also add some pots of flowers and maybe something with a little height. I think palms or yuccas on pool deck would be kind of cool. You could use inexpensive clay pots and paint them to go with the colours you chose for your outdoor area. Be sure to use a plate underneath to protect the wood. Hope this helps, I will see if I can dig up some pics of our deck and pool area. Sorry for being long winded.

Douglas Hunt · Answer

If it's in the budget a privacy fence will help provide some uniformity to the space and tie things together. You can then plant in front of it to help break it up. Perhaps you could build a pergola off the side of the house where you have your seating area to help provide shade. I'd bring in some big colorful pots to put large plants in and help soften up the expanses of concrete.

I need help with decorating my concrete patio, and deck area around pool. Also help hiding messy neighbors yard.

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I need help with decorating my concrete patio, and deck area around pool. Also help hiding messy neighbors yard.

Hiding Unsightly Fence Areas

Suggested Project Book