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17 Landscape Ideas for Privacy in Your Backyard

Creative landscape design helps to transform your backyard into a home-based vacation destination. With all that outdoor living, you want to be sure you can enjoy your yard privately and in peace. Great privacy screens for your yard provide solutions with multiple benefits: increased privacy, beautiful landscaping and added value to your property. Check out these clever landscape ideas for privacy to create an oasis that will protect you from prying eyes, loud sounds and help you create serene outdoor rooms for work or for play.

1. A Living Screen: Privacy Without the Claustrophobia

You can build a living screen that provides both beauty and privacy. Whether you want to hide a fence or soften a wall, the custom planter “mulched” with white stones create a Zen-like look. Bamboo canes make an architectural statement against the backdrop of the fence, and allowing it to leaf out at the top is a great way to add extra height to a very tall screen. There are multiple varieties of bamboo that are perfect for New Jersey’s Zone 6 but should be kept in a raised bed or container to avoid becoming invasive.

2. Elevated Lattice: Extending the Visual Privacy of Fencing and Walls

Due to structural limitations and zoning, you can’t always build a tall-enough wall around an outdoor kitchen or living room to fully block the view of your patio. It’s common to see lattice tops on privacy fences, but you can also add it to the top of walls for maximum height. This design is more solid, but open-work lattice also provides privacy while adding a bit of airiness.

3. Composite Screens: A Dynamic Work of Art

Not a fan of square lattice? You can block visual intrusions and create artful shadows that change with the light and seasons with a composite screen around your patio. Composite wood doesn’t warp or fade, so this will last long for years while still looking great.

4. Blue Point Juniper: Natural Fencing in a Stand-Out Color

Junipers grow well in Zone 6, and the Blue Point variety is tall and thin, giving you the ability to create visual obstacles that are both beautiful and storm resistant. All you need is water and trees. Plant a line along the edge of your property, or use them to create “walls” to delineate your outdoor rooms.

5. A Living Wall: A Combination of Natural Rock & Plants

A living wall is carefully designed and made from rock. Its surface is such that containers become part of the wall and in those spots, plants are grown. A landscape architect can help to design these growing walls. Plants soften the hard surface of the rock so that sound is absorbed rather than reverberated for both visual and aural privacy.

6. Crab Apple Hedge: A Long-Distance Screen

Not all hedges need to be evergreen, and they don’t have to form a solid mass. These crab apples have defined trunks, but their masses of flowers — and later, leaves — will still block an undesirable view in the months you spend outside. The trick is to plan for the mature height of the trees and the distance of the item you wish to block. A professional will be able to help you plan this type of screen.

7. A Massive Stone Wall: Creating a Secret Garden

Stone walls are perfect for redirecting sound away from a home and for totally blocking the view of unsightly elements. Be creative in your design. With natural stone and stone pavers, the possibilities of what you create are almost endless. Adding a raised planting bed into the design will soften the overall look and add value.

8. Curved Walls: Organic Lines for Seating Areas

Not every privacy solution has to be massive. This curved stone wall delineates a patio seating area and provides just enough height to block the fire pit from view — especially when guests are seated. The stacked stone is formal but contrasts nicely with the gravel patio.

9. Pondless Waterfalls: A Personal Oasis

Falling water creates white noise, which softens and can eliminate sounds from traffic or neighbors. The trick to these beautiful landscape features is the reservoir. These are larger in-ground containers that hold all the water needed to make a waterfall without having to manage a pond. A landscape designer can use natural stone to create a unique wall that provides privacy and the soothing sound of rushing water.

10. The Covered Living Room: A Place for Everyone

One of the big bonuses of an outdoor living room is that you are not confined by walls, but you can add privacy with a roof and a single wall. The roof is supported by posts or pillars. Smart placement of the wall will block unsightly views and provide privacy, while the roof offers summertime shade and protection from rain showers.

11. Architectural Hedges: Modern Art for Gardens

For a truly unique look, remember that you can trim your hedges to any shape you like. This whimsical privacy screen toes the line between wall and hedge with a sheared surface of greenery.

12. The Freestanding Kitchen: A Cozy and Intimate Setting

Building an outdoor kitchen in New Jersey requires careful planning to make sure your grill and other appliances will survive the onslaught of winter’s ice and snow. You can add privacy and keep things covered by building a special shelter for your outdoor kitchen. A sturdy metal roof will protect your kitchen for years to come and looks great with more modern house styles; a more traditional shingled gazebo with a permanent roof would also look great with a natural stone patios its base.

13. The Spa: Vacationing at Home

There is room in everyone’s life for a home spa center. Add privacy to an outdoor space with a custom stone wall so you can relax and unwind. Tuck your hot tub into a stone wall that curves around the space to create a shelter that wraps around you and breaks free from boring, rectangular patio construction. For added visual interest, combine rough stone veneer on vertical surfaces with smooth pavers to create seating around the hot tub.

14. Blended Living: Blurring Indoor and Outdoor Spaces

It’s hard to tell where shelter ends and the great outdoors begins when you use the same stone pavers throughout your design. An outdoor patio blends with the rest of the home when the portion near the house is sheltered by a porch roof. A freestanding ceiling over an outdoor kitchen or living space can also be screened or glassed-in for more protection from insects and the elements. Choosing solid walls in strategic locations will create even more privacy in this pleasant retreat.

15. Curtains: A Touch of Softness

For a touch romance around your outdoor dining area, consider adding weather-resistant curtains. These are easily hung from a free-standing roof, pergola or from an existing porch roof or large awning, and they add a touch of luxury while providing privacy when you need it. Tie back curtains to show off the view, or draw them to block the afternoon sun or the eyes of your neighbors. Choose outdoor fabrics that resist mildew and take curtains down for winter storage when you clean up for the season.

16. Outdoor Fireplace: A Cozy Wall Element

A large outdoor fireplace is a much sought-after garden feature, and with careful planning, it can double as a major privacy feature. Build the hearth and chimney into an expansive stone wall to define an outdoor living space. Strategically placed, that wall can serve as a stunning privacy wall that draws eyes to the roaring fire as a focal point and blocks the view of your neighbor’s trash cans. Consult a pro for best practices on where to locate such a feature; local zoning laws about setbacks for large structures vary.

17. Water Fountain Wall: Perfect Pool Privacy

In addition to hedges and privacy fencing, your pool can get a much-needed loader of protection from prying eyes with the addition of a stone fountain wall. Built along one edge of a rectangular pool, this water feature adds the benefit of soothing water sounds and a visual screen for your swimming area. Best of all, these walls need not be tall to work well, because your angle of vision is much lower from the water. Sleek or rough, tall or short, there are endless ways to customize this basic idea to fit into your architectural style.

Putting It All Together

When planning your outdoor living space, remember that a backyard is not just a rectangle. It goes beyond mere length and width and includes height. This means that there is more to a beautiful landscape than just a fence line with trees. You have an opportunity to create scenic vistas that are functional on many levels and add privacy to your property.

Putting this all together is not an easy task. Great landscaping requires professional designer and architects — people who are trained to design beauty and who can safely turn an idea into something that not will provide years of safe, reliable use. When you consult with a landscape designer or architect, you gain their knowledge and expertise and the assurance that your design ideas are implemented to meet building codes and to exceed your expectations. Once you’ve found a landscape idea for privacy that you love, talk to a professional to bring it to life.

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