Our facebook group had an answer to this question! People love this fence and most were in agreement that it is midcentury in style.

Below are a few photos and comments on this topic that were shared in our exclusive Facebook Group dedicated to midcentury modern home owners. If you own a midcentury house and are not already a member, join us now!

• “This is a horizontal shadowbox style. Very appropriate from the mid 1950s on. There’s a 1967 in my neighborhood that has an original fence like this.”
• “I don’t mind shadow box fences, but I do prefer them painted or stained a darker color. Generally, I like a dark grey, dark brown or black fence because they fade more into the background and the plants etc., show better against them”
• “In my city EVERY midcentury house I looked at had this type of fence, including the house I bought.”
• “We did something similar except the slats are not alternating. Looked great when it was new but the red cedar eventually weather’s to silver. My neighbors spent so much time and money putting in something similar. It looked amazing the first season or two. To be honest, it’s less than 3 years old and looks blah. I don’t care for how the wood ages.”
• “Neither paint or stain will last forever. It just depends on whether you’re willing to maintain it. Paint will eventually flake, stain flakes or fades. We chose to use cutek. It’s an oil based stain from Australia that sinks into the wood. It fades like anything (though we’ve had good color for five years now) and if used on decks/steps it eventually wears. However it doesn’t peel or require sanding when you reapply so it’s easier to maintain. It is however very expensive so there’s a trade off.”

Here’s a photo that was shared from one of our group members – “I’ve always liked the assorted widths that look randomly spaced.”

One group member shared this photo and said: “This is a test section I did before material costs went through the roof. All cedar. I tore off the old panels and boxed and reused the posts. Material cost with new posts should be about $180 per 8’ assuming I do it myself. Hopefully I’ll be doing the whole perimeter this summer.”

Another group member commented and included a photo of their fence: “I’ve always loved this style… thin slats, with space between each slat.“

Another member commented and included a photo of their fence: “We used horizontal 1x6s.”

This member showed their creativity: “We spaced the rails and painted them black then did the panels front\back so they hide all the posts. This was a Covid project and we’re not fence builders. This pattern disguised a multitude of oops’s. But we love it..”

This idea was also floated: “My husband built this one and used black nano sealer.”

Finally, this member shared their own idea: “We’ve done this horizontal 2”x4” redwood at three different homes. This unfinished fence was before we applied sealer. “

There’s so much more to this discussion and fence ideas in our facebook group. If you own a midcentury home you can see more photos and ideas and read more tips about this topic here.