12 Delightfully Different Garden Walls and Fences

You know the usual barriers well — the ones made of wood, brick, vinyl and chain link — but now it’s time to meet their more alternative friends. Here are 12 fences and walls that are creative and functional; they’re barrier solutions full of personality.

1. A sculptural fence. Cor-Ten steel blades (300 of them) make up this sculptural fence that winds around a Philadelphia residence. They’re 8 feet tall, which keeps out local deer, so the fence “is sculptural as well as functional,” says Bridget O’Brien of Archer & Buchanan Architecture. A sculptural fence comes with a high price, but for the right home, it can be the perfect custom touch.

2. Poured concrete walls. For these retaining (and climbing) walls, rough-cut 2-by-4s used to form the poured concrete have left their imprints on the surface. For walls like this, the concrete adopts the grain of the wood, so after it dries and the boards come down, there is an intermingling of elements — a natural wood grain set in solid concrete.

3. A mixed-materials fence. This glass, steel and wood fence incorporates three materials into a unified design. Architect Tim Cuppett says that the key element in bringing different materials together is that they “all reflect the same pattern and rhythm.”

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12 Delightfully Different Garden Walls and Fences