Thursday, July 11, 2013

Painting Pretty Privacy

LONG AGO this site published an article concerning privacy fences, generally disdainful in tone. I have wanted to write another privacy fence rant ever since, but lacked a new slant.

Then we kicked off the summer partly painting a friend's house, which included a separate building, a white cinder block tool shed. We painted it dark green because our friend wanted the shed to blend in better with the natural surroundings around here, which are green.

And it worked. The dark green tool shed looks better than the dirty white one did. Which brings us back to privacy fences. No matter where i go in america, they all look the same, same height, same light brown color, same wood, as if a single company built them all across the country.

Few people, surprisingly, who go to the trouble to purchase and install a privacy fence, ever do anything, like staining and sealing, to protect it. Thus, within a couple of years, they usually begin to warp and fade to gray.

Old privacy fences can stand and last for a long time, and from all current indications, will. One by one their boards will warp out of shape and turn gray, and will begin to resemble skeletal remains, but will stand still, in the united states of apathy.

Perhaps if they were painted dark green now, they would wear better, last longer, and blend in better with nature's true colors. Down with our culture of drab gray boxes dividing us, keeping us apart!

At least let us spruce up our dividers a bit. Even better to tear down the fences, and replace them with rows of tightly packed trees and bushes. If we must have privacy, let us have pretty privacy.

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