Gardening expert Alan Titchmarsh has shared a simple way to make your garden feel bigger: paint your fences a light colour. In a video for Gardening with Alan Titchmarsh, he explained that paint is essential for timber fences to promote their longevity and protect them from deterioration.
Light colours create the illusion of space
According to Titchmarsh, for a medium-sized garden, painting fences a light colour gives the impression that the garden is bigger. He said: "If you have a medium-sized garden, painting your fences a light colour gives the impression that your garden is bigger. The eye is drawn from the boundaries to the plants and features that contrast with it."
He recommends medium or light grey as the safest option, noting that plants with a lot of foliage will "really pop" against a grey backdrop. For those who want the fence to disappear, he suggests darker grey or black to turn it into a shadow.
Advice for brick walls
For garden walls, Titchmarsh advises a different approach. He said old-fashioned mellow brick walls make great backdrops for plants and he wouldn't paint those. However, newer brick walls can feel "oppressive", so he suggests painting them in lighter, neutral shades.
He also recommends fitting a trellis to the wall to allow plants to climb, as they are "often much prettier" than a plain, bare wall. For smaller brick walls or courtyard spaces, he proposes being more daring and treating it as a statement feature, perhaps with a striking colour choice or a mural.
He added: "Be careful, and if you get it wrong, remember you can always add another coat of a more subtle colour."
