Sprucing up your fence with £10 buy can make your garden look twice the size – here's how the experts do it

The Sun

27-04-2025

A SIMPLE step can help make your garden look twice the size this summer.
Sprucing up your fence this spring can elevate your outdoor space in time for the good weather.
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While spring is often a time for cleaning the interior of your home, many people take it as an opportunity to carry out projects in their garden too.
And with the season of garden improvement well and truly upon us, one expert has revealed the ways you can level up your fences.
With barbeques and garden parties on the horizon, you can now host to transform your limited outdoor space with a simple fence painting project.
And for those looking to maximise their outdoor area this summer, gardening expert Fiona Jenkins from MyJobQuote has shared five colours that can help.
First, the pro explained that light grey enhances the perception of space.
As one of the nation's favoured fence colour options, light grey is a sure way to create the illusion of more space in your garden.
'Light grey softens and blurs the frame of your garden, making it look much bigger than it is," Fiona explained.
"Lighter colours such as grey tend to reflect more light than dark colours, making it feel much brighter and open, enhancing the perception of space."
She added that the colour was a "great option if you have more foliage-based plants rather than flowers throughout your garden".
According to the expert, this creates a contrast, drawing the eye outward from the light hue of the fence.
"This makes the boundaries of the garden appear less constrictive and enhances the sense of spaciousness," she said.
Fiona also revealed that natural colours such as sage green visually extend the landscape.
According to the pro, soft green fencing creates visual continuity, especially if your garden contains plenty of green border plants.
Adding more green not only visually extends the landscape but makes garden boundaries look less conspicuous, creating a feeling of expansiveness.
Neutral tones such as beige and ivory are also ideal colours for a garden face, as they allow colourful flora to stand out.
Top 5 Spring Gardening Jobs
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Nick Grey, Gtech Inventor and CEO shared the tasks to crack on with as Spring arrives.
1. Clean your garden
Make sure to clear away all leaves, soil and plant debris from your patios and flower beds; this creates a healthier environment for new growth, especially as we get into the summer months. Gtech's Garden Safety Kit includes durable gardening gloves and safety glasses; perfect for comfortability whilst tackling those outdoor tasks.
2. Weeding
Early Spring is the best time to tackle weeds; if you can introduce some regular weeding into your routine, you can guarantee a tidy garden all year round.
3. Hedge maintenance
Spring is the ideal time to tidy up overgrown hedges and shrubs, as regular trimming ensures healthy growth and reduces pest issues. Using a tool like the Gtech Lightweight Hedge Trimmer can help to keep your greenery looking sharp and neat.
4. Composting
Starting a compost heap this spring is a pro-active, cost-effective way to harness nutritious soil for your plants and recycle organic waste that will benefit the overall health of your greenery and foliage.
5. Look after your lawn
Lawn care is hugely important in assuring your garden stays looking beautiful. Make sure to rake away any excess leaves and trim your grass routinely.
'Neutral tones, a particular favourite in more Mediterranean themed gardens, serve as a neutral background that allow other elements such as colourful plants to stand out," Fiona said.
"The lack of visual distraction can make the garden appear larger, keeping the focus on other garden features and thus making it feel more expansive."
She added that beige and ivory tones create a "minimalist feel" in your graden.
"[This] emphasises simplicity and openness, a contemporary garden trend that we're seeing a lot of right now," the pro continued.
"By keeping the colour palette as simple as possible, they create a clean and uncluttered look that creates a spacious feel in the garden.'
You can also add illusion of a bigger garden by painting your fence light blue, the expert said.
'Not all fence colours have to be neutral colours, either," Fiona explained.
"Light blue is often associated with the sky on a clear, summer's day and by painting fences light blue, you mimic the colour of the sky, creating the colour of an expansive overhead space.
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'Not only that, but the contrast of the light blue with any greenery makes vegetation stand out more prominently, therefore casting the eye upward and creating a sense of depth and openness in the garden.'
Finally, for those with a south-facing garden, opting for soft pink could be the best move.
'If you're lucky enough to get sun in the garden through all points of the day, a soft pink may be the colour option for you," Fiona said.
"South-facing gardens boast beautiful sunshine all day long and the soft hues of sunrise and sunset can cause gardens with pink fences to look much bigger.
"It can also evoke the sense of natural beauty, creating a serene environment which feels expansive and inviting.'
And there are also fence colours worth avoiding as they make your garden appear smaller.
'Fences with high contrast colours or include busy patterns and intricate designs can overwhelm the visual space and make the garden feel smaller, as they break up the continuity of the garden space,' the pro said.
'Other constricting colours include bold or vibrant warm tones such as oranges, red-toned browns and yellows as they can cause the area to feel overly 'busy' and cluttered.'