Chain Link Privacy

As I’ve blogged before, I’ve been obsessed with creating privacy for our chain link fence. For the past several months, I’ve been thinking about how to add privacy to the chain link fence, either through planting shrubs and trees or through adding a fence screen of some kind.

The fence drives me crazy, because there is a schoolyard with a playground behind it. Kids are out in the playground throughout the day, and even after school for after-school care. The kids are nice and friendly, and always want to know what we are eating, etc., when we try to have our dinners out on the patio.

Natural Fence

So, last summer, I had some skip laurel bushes planted along our side of the fence. I’ve read that planting skip laurels is like “waging war” against one’s neighbor, so I am hoping the laurels will grow quickly and create a perfect natural fence along the chain link fence. But so far, the laurels are only about 4 feet high and are spaced about 2 feet apart, so they don’t create much privacy.

Fence Screen for Chain Link

I thought about adding fence slats or a roll of bamboo fencing to the chain link fence, but both options would have cost me hundreds of dollars. But recently, I found the 100 series residential privacy screens from FenceScreen.com. The green tarps offer 95% visibility blockage, and have grommets on the top, bottom and sides, so they can easily be hung from a chain link fence with plastic zip ties. The fence screens are sold in rolls of 50 feet, or can be custom ordered at a higher cost.

So, I bought two rolls and paid a little over $160 for each, including shipping. I’ve hung one so far (it took maybe 30 minutes to hang 50 feet of tarp, but I chose a VERY windy day to hang mine — not smart), and am happy with the results. The children cannot see through the tarp, so now when my family and I dine on the backyard patio, we can eat in peace! Who knew that finding privacy in the backyard would be so easy!

This post was featured on Addicted2Decorating’s Link Pary.