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Beautiful! It'd be even nicer if the plantings in front of it were kept up. Seems wasteful to use exotic wood for fencing though.

Love this. Domino mag had a backyard in Brooklyn a while ago that had this type of fence (in a lighter wood) all around the perimiter to cover the ugly exterior walls of neighboring buildings. I love how it's vertical!

boomer~

throughout it's lifespan, vinyl is probably more hazardous to the environment than a sustainably harvested wood fence!

http://www.myhouseisyourhouse.org/

many varieties of 'exotic' woods are FSC (forest stewardship council) certified.

hey, those look like my plants! just want you to know the salty, sandy, windy air isn't that forgiving to plants--you need the right kinds that can take the abuse.

The fence is actually made out of a Brazilian hardwood called ipe that is sustainable harvested (I've edited the post to reflect this.)

It should also be noted that most woods aren't suitable for use in coastal areas due to the expedited weathering process from ocean proximity - redwood and ceder along with teak and other exotic hardwoods are weather resistant and therefore OK to build with.

The "vinyl" used to build things like fences and siding is actually PVC, which is one of the most toxic materials currently produced, and not recyclable. You can read more
here about why vinyl is so bad.

As to the plants - the owners of the fence are building a large addition to their house, and I can only speculate they've let the plants go in the mean time - it is definitely a shame.

This is a beautiful concept. What does the inside of the fence look like (the side faces the yard)? Is is as aesthetically pleasing as well or does the frame take away from it?

True, the fence is lovely but I'd like to know from the readers if this is something not seen in the rest of the country? Here in LA, the horizontal fence has been pretty much standard fare for, I'd say, over 5 years. Please don't read this as elitist or anything, I'm really just curious about the spread of such aesthetic trends.

Pop me an answer here or via my tiny, little design blog:
http://luxelife.fatbrain.ca

Thanks, all!
/diane

Well, I don't know about the rest of the USA, but there is a 'fence' like this around the rugby clubhouse in our little village here in France- I've been meaning to take a photo of it because I want to replicate it in part in front of a particularly ugly side of my house in the States (east coast, when I am there)...and now I promise I'll take a photo and send it to Diane's blog, for whatever it's worth

This kind of reminds me of retracted wooden high school gym bleachers, albeit prettier.

I love the look of this fence but it won't look like this 6 months down the road when it's all grey. It's extremely high maintenance to keep the wood color.

This has been the trend in architecture in the last half decade - horizontal wood slats. Unfortunately, when you visit those buildings today, you see weathered and warped sticks of wood now. And most of them will have to be painted.

What wood fence doesn't fade with time? A faded fence can look just as interesting as a brand-spanking new one, at least in my opinion.

In South Africa where all city dwellers have BIG fences, have noticed that there is a definite trend toward horizontal slats. With crime a common occurrence in our part of the world, I do believe horizontal slats are that much easier to climb over...

Um, where is this?
Stinson Beach by any chance?

Sparkle - yep, this is in Stinson Beach

I just asked our carpenter about this fence and he says you do need very dense wood to build it so it doesn't warp over time. He said Brazilian ipe is best, also mahogany, and similar dense lumber.

I absolutely love this fence. My husband and I are really interested in building one around our house in the Bay Area.

Where exactly did you find this fence? We'd love to take a look at it in person. Also, did you see if they have a gate? We're debating on what we want our gate to look like.

Thanks!
Rachelle
rrrachelle@gmail.com

This is definitely a beautiful fence. I am looking for a modern fence design to use in my yard, and this is a great design.

But please don't use Ipe wood. Even much of the "sustainably harvested" wood is illegally harvested, and to get to any rainforest wood, ("sustainable" or otherwise) roads are torn through the rainforest. This is the case in both Bolivia and Brazil, where legal and illegal logging is destroying the forests for American and European markets. Keep your materials recycled or as local as possible.

Unfortunately, vinyl is not a good option either because of it's high toxicity (check out the film Blue Vinyl, awesome)