Don't fence me in

I am pretty sure my back yard is cursed - first the fence fell over in a wind storm, and we ended up replacing all 3 sides.  Then the neighbour's tree fell smack into our yard, narrowly missing our then-2-year-old and smashing down the back fence.  This past weekend, our glass patio table, which we have had for years, spontaneously combusted.  As in, I was standing just inside the screen door when I heard SMASH (tinkle tinkle tinkle) and looked out to see this:

shattered_glass_patio_table
shattered_glass_patio_table

Nothing fell on it, there was no big wind, the cars were not too heavy, nothing.  Thank heavens the boys had finished playing with their cars and had gone inside!  It was quite a mess, and took two of us to shopvac up over a few days (it was raining a lot!).  But that makes three backyard catastrophes, and I am hoping now the catastrophe gremlins will take off for good.

We now have to get a new table, which is not as easy as it sounds, as most patio tables are sold in sets and our chairs are fine (one may be a bit splattered with spray paint from one of my DIY projects, but whatever...)  We wanted to get a table slightly bigger than the one we had, which was great for the four of us, but pretty crowded when we had visitors - and we like our visitors!  Having done the online search-and-compare, I think it will be this one from Home Depot:
Not terribly exciting, but pretty much the only thing I could find, and it fits in our non-existent budget (It's $65).  It does not fit, however on our existing (teeny tiny) patio.  So we have reluctantly begun to talk about how to make it bigger - a full wooden deck?  Just continue with the interlock we have and extend it?  Take it out and put in bigger tiles?  No decisions yet.  You can see how it looks below.



I am sad to remove any grass but we do have a lot more at the back now that the tree is gone and we get some light.  


The other thing is that the house next to us (that shares the driveway) is being fully gutted and renovated, and they are building a back deck and repaving the whole driveway.  So with the advent of new neighbours (our last neighbour was an elderly woman who rarely came out back), we are thinking about putting in a privacy screen.  And it just so happens that the contractor is going to be digging posts for a privacy screen on the other side and offered to do some for us if we want - and he is going to repave the whole thing.  So idle discussions about a fence some day have ramped up pretty quickly!


I know, I know, those are some pretty fancy photoshop skills, eh?  This is more or less what we agreed on for the position of the fence and the size of the patio (still not sure what it will be made of).  I had been tempted to push it over to include what used to be our back porch, but this keeps all of the pavement area for the kids and their various plastic monstrosities, and makes it possible to tuck them up against the fence out of sight from the street.


Did I mention the plastic monstrosities?  Yikes.  And every single one of them acquired on the side of the road.  You can see the neighbours fence on the one side, so having one on the other will make it feel much more secluded.  

But the BIG questions is: What kind of fence?  

Below are some options I like, although they don't match the rest of our fencing - do you think that matters?  Which do you like?


Of course there is the regular lattice option as well, which would probably be the cheapest and easiest, but I want to take advantage of an opportunity for a little style!  What do you think?  Any advice or opinions?

12 comments:

  1. Could you get a new piece of tempered glass cut for the table? Not sure how much that would run, but it would spare you the expense of a bigger patio.

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  2. Great idea! I should look into that, although I do like the idea of a bigger table to accommodate more people, especially as we prepare for summer entertaining. But budget is the great decider! Thanks for commenting Sandra.

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  3. I'm sure you already searched Craigslist and Kijiji for a table, right?

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  4. I like 4 and 5 the best! Good luck with the decision-making (always the toughest part for me!).

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  5. Wow, three disaster - and none of them minor either. Unbelievable.

    I was wondering how a wooden slat tabletop would look - something like cedar that doesn't take a lot of staining and worrying about how it fares in the weather.

    I'm not sure I see a huge difference between # 1-4 (am I obtuse?). I think #6 or #7 would suit your house and existing fence the best.



    The other thought i had is can you use the existing bricks and rearrange them so they make a better shape to accommodate a bigger table if you end up doing that.


    Looking forward to seeing what you do.

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  6. Hi, a friend linked me to your blog because the same thing happened to my patio table. TWICE!!! I had that same table you posted from Home Depot. Don't do it. After having ours mysteriously shatter twice, I highly suggest that you avoid glass table tops. We thought it was a fluke accident so we bought a 2nd glass table thinking it wouldn't happen again and lo and behold...

    Craziness. Good luck and I hope no more glass breaks on your deck!

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  7. Amazingly I did not try that - ??? WHO AM I??? I will be looking immediately.

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  8. Yes, options are my strong suit - decisions, not so much...;p

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  9. Great ideas Grace, we are going to price out just continuing the pattern we have down now, or, as you suggest, scatter them a bit with maybe some pea gravel in between.


    I am also going to be doing a small 'appeasement to the dodgy spirits' ritual in the back yard!

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  10. WOW, that is nuts! We have the new one back there, but I am going to keep looking on Craigs list and kijiji for a nice, dependable wooden table! Until then I will be keeping a watchful eye on the new addition... Thanks for stopping by!

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  11. Thanks Stephanie, I just ended up replacing the table - I was in one my my blinkered eyes-on-the-prize/impatient moods. I have a feeling that much tempered glass wouldn't be cheap, and I am enjoying the bigger size (the square one was REALLY squishy...) As for the fence, the posts are up and we went with the square lattice. It seemed friendlier and a friend commented on Facebook that they currently have the top option and are going to replace it with lattice to lighten it up.

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  12. Hi, So glad I found your post. We are going to use #5 for two privacy panels. We are a good distance from our neighbors but need (replacing) a little privacy. I like that there is spacing between and not totally closed off. Thanks again, hollan

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Thank you so much for your comment - they always make my day!