When we bought our home a couple years ago, I knew that all the fences around the property were pretty beat up and did not have much life left. Strong winds blew portions of it down the last 2 years in row, and the whole thing has been somehow standing with props, temporary posts and maybe even a couple band-aids. (On my hands from propping it back up in the rain!~)
This spring, I finally had to pull the trigger on a new fence. Building things has always been a hobby of mine. It is a great place to get creative, and the results are very tangible. Having hurt my back a few years ago,(Building a covered Patio) I was not going to be able to build this on my own, but that was not going to stop me from getting a little creative with my ideas.
While most of it, is pretty standard, – a boring 6′ good neighbor fence (means it looks the same on both sides – no frame on one side) I wanted to make the 35 foot section along the front of my house stand out with a little custom flare. So I came up with a design that is both a bit familiar, and also a little different. Rather then use a traditional angled lattice (think home depot), I used 2×2 piano key pieces  along the top, with rows of 2×2’s running horizontally to  create a really thick and heavy vertical lattice on top (old school mission / craftsman style).
Then for the gate into the backyard, instead of using the same 4×4 posts as the rest of the fence, I opted for thicker 6×6 so that this bulky mission style could extend into an arbor over the gate. The arbor is a simple design, but all the edges are notched on the corners with a 45 angle spanning the center. It has 3 tiers starting from 2×6 – to 2×4 to 2×2 that match the piano key on the fence top.
Once it was all in, the whole fence was sprayed with a nice even coat of oil based redwood stain to continue with the mission / craftsman theme I was trying for. (Fortunately, I was able to do this with my pressure sprayer) Redwood ain’t cheap – so there was no way I would be able to afford doing this custom fence for all my yard, but it makes a huge difference to have a small custom section up in the front.
I am an avid student and evangelist of user-centered design principles - I have created or overhauled some of the world's largest online Business & Technology properties. My focus has always been on building functional design systems that creatively solve business problems. Solutions that convey brand & messaging, but more importantly, are intuitive to maximize the possibilities of an interactive medium. 
