A privacy fence room divider: Covering up an outdoor eye sore
Hey guys, well you’ve already heard me rant and rave about the terrible place my electrician put my electric panel: Right by my front door! To see what I did about that ugliness on the inside of the house check this out: Covering up an incredible eye sore in my entry way. After seeing that post many of you asked what I did on the outside of my house because it was all just as ugly on the outside as it was on the inside! I had been at the drawing board about this problem all last winter before I finally had a light bulb moment! I had one extra fence panel leftover from my privacy fence so I thought I could make something like a room divider out of it… I got to work.
Yup all that stuff wasn’t two feet from my front door where everyone walks every day to come in to the home. It drove me crazy – it was SO ugly! The extra fence panel I had was lying out in the dog kennel so I went and grabbed it.
With my reciprocating saw I cut the privacy fence panel into three separate pieces. There were three supporting boards across the back of the entire panel, so each needed to be cut. Each cut section ended up with four fence “slats” on it. That left me with two “slats” leftover which turned out to be a very good thing. As room dividers go I knew I needed to put three hinges on one side and three hinges on the other so it would “fold” in opposite directions so it would stand on its own. (I purchased just basic outdoor hinges on sale at Ace hardware for this job and used small outdoor screws.) I was not worried about the one broken off slat as I knew I would be burying this “room divider” well into the ground so it wouldn’t blow over so the broken slat would never show.
I grabbed some leftover flat white paint I had and just did a fast dry brush over the entire things. I kept telling myself to make sure it wasn’t “perfect” in any way. I really wanted it to look like it had been here for fifty years like everything else. Then, after a lot of adjustments and not a few four letter words, I got it in place!
So… yeah, I didn’t really see that gap coming… No problem! Remember I had two extra fence slats leftover? I simply painted one of them up and tacked it on there, problem solved! No more gap in my outdoor room divider cover up thingy!
Because this IS electrical that I’m hiding I figured it would be against code to attach this or make it permanent in any way so I just drove it into the ground so it can be pulled out easily at any time. This has been up since this spring and it still hasn’t moved at all and I’ve had some SERIOUSLY bad and windy weather this summer. Before I show the real “after” photos though, let’s remember what my house looked like in the spring of 2015 exactly one year before I built my “room divider” to cover up that electrical ugliness. My grandparents’ old sign (that they made of course) still hung on the front of the house…
So far I’m totally stoked with how my “room divider” looks. Is it perfect? No. Will I ever be really happy with this ugly situation or ever really “over” it? Probably not. However, I do think I did about the best I could do to cover up a bad situation. You can still see the ugliness when you’re standing on the other side (in my back yard) but I had to leave the fence out like that because there also happens to be an outlet back there and it needed to be accessible. However, the majority is covered and I am pleased to report no one seemed to notice it at all. I pointed it out to my mom and she jumped and did a double take because it fit in so well even she didn’t notice and she walked right by it lol and lived here her entire child hood! Well, I guess that’s the best compliment I could get. Of course the soffits and things on the house (as you can see) all need to be painted etc. forgive me that I have not yet got to that this summer, honestly I kinda like the chippy old paint and don’t really want to paint it yet.
All in – I am happy with how this turned out 🙂
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I’m Tarah!
It’s been a hell of a ride since I started this blog and renovated and moved into this old farm house back in 2015. I got married, divorced, lost my doggo soul mate, spent two years as a single gal, remodeled everything, threw my back out countless times and was even found by an amazing guy in my own backyard! (The story behind Storyhardt Farm.)
Around here we’re totally fearless when it comes to bettering our home. We love to refinish old furniture, re-purpose old pieces, build it from scratch and totally renovate anything that needs it! If we can do it – so can you. We’ve got some serious plans for this old farm and, for first time ever, I have a real partner!
This is gonna be so much fun!
You can also find out more about the amazing Grandma behind this blog who moved in to this old farmhouse with my Grandpa nearly 70 years ago!
I truly does look very nice. What an improvement. You should be proud of all your work.
Thank you!!
Looks great! You could hang some fun yard art or fake birdhouses on it too!
Thank you Nancy!
Hey that looks great! I have an ugly electric box in my laundry room and I made a peg board to hang over it to disguise it. The peg board holds pretty cleaning supplies.
Tania
Tania, that’s a great idea!
Hi Tarahlynn,
You did a great thing by hiding the eye sores. I wonder why in the world these things get placed in the most conspicuous places possible? It’s a mystery to me. Ha ha.
Your new siding looks great too!
Thank you for sharing with Thursday Favorite Things.
Olivia
Thanks Olivia!
It looks great! You guys have done such a great job on this house! It truly is amazing!
Thank you so much Pam!
Love it! Brilliant idea. Have a wonderful Christmas.
Thank you Maria, you too!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful post at #OverTheMoon. I look forward to what you will share next week! Do something special. Give yourself a standing ovation today! We hope you’ll come back again next Sunday when we open our doors at 6:00 PM EST. Pinned and tweeted!
Thank you Marilyn! I’ll be there!
Tarah, that’s a very clever and beautiful way to hide the electrical eye sore. You did a wonderful job!
Thank you so much Keri!
What a great idea!! Thanks for sharing at the DIY party!
Thanks Helen!
You are always so busy and great at coming up with creative ideas! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Thanks Jann!!
What a wonderful idea! It looks great.
Thanks Lisa!
A very clever, creative and resourceful idea!
Thanks Linda!
I still can’t believe your electrician put that panel right there. Why? Oh why?! You did a fantastic job covering it up and making it blend in with the rest of the front yard. The front of the house looks so different!
Thank you and oh my gosh I ask that question almost every day! WHY?! But, I think it worked out ok lol Thanks again!
I hope that you have been generously patting yourself on the back, this turned out great! Thank you for sharing with us this week at Celebrate Your Story, have a great weekend.
Thank you Sandra!
What a brilliant solution! I can see it decorated for every single holiday. Thanks for sharing at the #ThisIsHowWeRoll Link Party.
Thanks Susan! This year we hung a christmas wreath on it 🙂
You really are The Cleverest of The Clever! This is a perfect solution and look great! Thank you for sharing at Tuesdays with a Twist! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
Thanks so much Marci!
Taralynn, this is genius. Fits the exterior of your home perfectly and goes so well with the updated screen door. As usual, super job and thanks for sharing at Your Inspired Design.
Thank you so much Carol!
I love this idea! 🙂
I would love for you to share this with my Facebook Group for recipes, crafts, tips, and tricks: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
Thank you!!
Very clever and pretty too. Thank you for sharing at the Snickerdoodle Create~Bake~Make link party!
Thank you Sharon!
Great idea and tutorial. Thank you for sharing at the Snickerdoodle Create~Bake~Make link party!
I am featuring at the party today.
Thank you so much Sharon!!
Wow! What a great idea!
visiting from the Tuesday Talk link up!
Happy Wednesday!
Megs
Thanks Megs!
What a twit that electrician was. In our last home the gas company came to “update” our meter to move the indoor meter to the outside. Fine no problem. But they went to run the gas line all along the inside wall of our basement. We had to be home so I caught it in time. They weren’t happy about having to dig up our back yard and repair it. I explained you can leave it as is!!!
Such a great workaround you did on this shoddy electrical shortcut. It looks great and once the plants all grow around it, it will be a beautiful feature.
Thank you so much Leanna, these things can be SO frustrating!!
This looks great!! I have some of those meters and boxes that i’d like to cover up too and I like this idea!
Tania
Thanks Tania!
Fence as Divider Screen is a great idea!! The wood and the color looks vintage..Have a look at our designs too. We are the manufacturers of Wooden Room Dividers handmade by artisans in India. One can order it and get it delivered at home worldwide – Aarsun Woods
Thanks for coming by I’ll go and check them out!
A little engineering genius goes a long way to re-use something you already have to solve a problem. Great job!
Carol (“Mimi”) from Home with Mimi
Thanks Carol for coming by!
That is adorable. You truly would never know that it was a cover up instead of a planned decorative element.
Thank you so much Elise!! Have a great week
It really does look so much better Tarahlynn and it looks in keeping with the building too
Thank you Amber!
Looks great – your house is so cute and charming
Thank you so much Carol!
Great job! Try hanging some planter boxes with bright flowers so it looks like the fence really serves a purpose, holding flowers!
Great idea Deb, thank you for coming by!
How creative! It looks fantastic, such a clever way to hide away the electric panel! #DreamTeam
Thanks Tash!
Great idea! Waste not, want not! Looks fab. #Dreamteam
Thank you, have a great week!
That’s a very clever solution, it almost looks like a little fairy house. Thank you for sharing at The Really Crafty Link Party. Pinned.
Thank you Teresa! Have a great weekend!
Good work, looks great. Thanks for joining in with #ThatFridayLinky
Thanks Emily!
Looks great but I know is our area, the meter reader has to have access to read the meter…can’t see them taking it down each time to read meter or even having to squeeze behind it to read the meter……
Hi Sandra, as you can read in the post this cover up I made is NOT COVERING METER. I would never recommend anyone covering their meter. My meter is actually 100 yards away on a pole. This cute cover up is just covering the big electrical conduit that’s coming into my house. Thanks for coming by!