I would go with dark brown stain on the fence and bring in blues and whites in your landscaping and decorative items, e.g. chair cushions, table umbrella. Can you expand the stone patio to reach the fence? The palm trees are beautiful and will make a great focal point for your landscaping.

I agree about the brown fence but I'd put plants along fence not more stone.

Thanks Joanne Charamella and mwindrem! We already started on the first coat of paint so I'm not sure if we can apply stain over it.. If we were to paint would you suggest dark brown paint?

We are planning to sod the areas along the fence and in the back.

I think a brown on the fence would be nice...but I would not recommend sod between patio and fence. Grass there would be a maitenance nightmare. consider maybe a grassy ground cover like liriope.

A few shades of brown

I like the brown in your first picture..it's rich and looks like it would look nice with your house

I like the first brown too. My only concern that it might be too dark for our already small yard? Initially I wanted dark blue but then thought it maybe too dark too. Then I thought maybe paint far wall white and side walls dark blue. Would it look funny?

We really didn't think about the maintenance of the grass you are so right!! We may need to reconsider sodding that area...

The far right gets my vote. The middle color is too red; the far left is too dark. And, yes, you cannot stain over paint so just keep moving forward with paint. Also, I hope you don't mind if I make a suggestion for that space all the way in the back... a wall-mounted water feature, or a stenciled mural, or a big fan back wicker chair? How about a fisherman's net full of beachballs? Zero maintenance but eye catching.

Here is that dark blue I was thinking

Joanne we'd love any suggestions we can get! And what a great idea to have a water fountain on that back wall. What kind of stenciled mural were you thinking of?

dinka2001: I was thinking of contemporary or abstract art. Check out Houzz / Shop and search wall stencils. So many styles to chose.

HI -- Go black . We did and people drive by to take pictures now . Black is stunning and makes plants etc show up . It has a classy elegance to it .

liriope along fence is great idea...looks great for a long time and just cut back before new growth in spring. you could also try some ornamental grass if you wanted more height or agapanthus if it grows in your zone.

No more stone.

In that back corner think cabana space and make it a seating area with cushions, a day bed. Here is a gorgeous tent from Ballard Design as an idea. You need lush landscape elsewhere between the stone and the fence. I also agree, the darker the better but go with natural looking colors, no blue.

The blue pulls your eye from the pool which you want to have be the focus. The dark brown gives a rich neutral background for everything else that you add. Use the color in your chairs and cushions and plants, they will glow against that dark wall.

I also like the idea of painting your fence black! I can imagine it would look fabulous! I just made a quilt with solid black and very colorful batiks in pinks, reds, blues, aquas, greens, and oranges and that solid black fabric really brings out the colors in the batiks!

Here is the black fence

Love the black fence. I would be inclined to make a small seating area, bright cushion. Love, love big mirrors in gardens, you could put one on your fence with either a statue or big pot in front of it with plantings around, amazing how a mirror can lighten and enhance a dark corner

Thanks for all the amazing ideas!

I actually quite like the black fence. It looks very bold. It is dark as I like and I would prefer black over dark brown. My top pick would probably be dark blue but no one seems to like it :)

Our neighbor planted agapanthus along his black fence and it looks stunning with its blue flowers liserb1357.

Bellburgmaggie I'm in love with that cabana! We were planning to place our wicker lounge chairs and a small wicker table with umbrella in the back. I now want to place them inside the cabana. This particular model sells for $2500 so it's not in our budget but we can probably find an affordable gazebo.

Joanne i also love the water fountain idea. Where should we place it if that back wall will have the lounge chairs?

Lefty47 could you please post a pic of your black fence?

BeverlyFLADeziner that garden is beautiful!

While I appreciate your love of the dark blue for the fence, it seems to clash with the green tone of the pool. I think black might be the unlikely way to get your dark color while working with the pool color. Unexpected and dramatic!

The black fence would look awesome! However, clean all the grass out of the stone, top up the sand in between the cracks and/or re-grout, check the level, and then paint the stone a dark charcoal grey using texturized concrete paint.

It would look great and be sophisticated. Then add bright green plants and green plants with lots of textures--add something like white Annabelle hydrangeas. Keep it green and white.

Then add toss cushions in a dark teal colour to match the pool water.

I can't photo-shop, sorry. The idea of the dark grey is to make it look more like slate. The idea of the black fence is to make it look invisible.

Add some soft landscape lighting that will focus upward on select plants and the pool. Don't go crazy with wattage or amount.

lol, this is actually 2 photos. That's how they loaded :-)You can also get stain just for stone. Including wet-look glazes. Check with someone knowlegeable for products that are suitable for non-slip and pool areas.

:-)

I'm inclined to go with something like the first one. It lights up both the plants and the pool.

The bottom might be more of an annoyance, but the wattage is suitable.

Do keep in mind that a black fence will absorb more heat, so your pool area will automatically become hotter in summer;-)

Same with darker-coloured stone--it will be hotter than a lighter colour.

I would not paint the stone, keep it natural. Black stone and bare feet..ouch!

Black forest green (B. Moore) is a great backdrop for a fenced in pool area.

dinka2001: I would center the water feature between your lounge chairs. You have received so many wonderful responses to your project. Step back. Take a breath and enjoy. I hope you will post photos of the finished project.

The color that Beverly first posted reminds me of Sherwin Williams Charcoal Blue. Might be a happy medium between black and dark blue.

Thank you for all the wonderful responses and ideas. Here is what I came up with so far. I found this gazebo and wall fountain online relatively inexpensive. Wicker set is existing. We can plant knockout roses (or trees maybe) along the fence on the right and agapanthus on the left. What do you think?

Oc28 BM

We also have the square entrance that's just bare concrete right now. Should we lay tile or maybe paint it? I'm concerned that the stone is already busy so if we tile that area then the patterns might clash?

Memar Architects Inc did you mean this color for the fence?

Please don't plant Knock-out roses anywhere near your pool! They are truly lovely roses (we have lots), but they are also truly prolific! You will be cursing the amount of petals and will forever be cleaning the pool. They will clog your filter!!

Agapanthus? YES! Great choice. We have those as well. No problem for pool area. They come in purple-blue and white.

Hi Dinka, I just found this for you.

It's information on planting near pools.

:) http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/spaces/planting-around-pools.htm

I agree on the plants..one yes..one no. can you imagine doing pool maitenance while being attacked by the roses? beautiful..but not in that spot.

And depending on how attached you are to the current stone and/or budget, and considering that you still have to clean the current stone, it may be a great time to switch it all out rather than try to incorporate tile to match the other area.

Just a thought.

Dinka if you like hot-pink as it sounds like you may (I love it!), consider hot-pink dianthus. They are low-growing, soft-mounds with lovely and mild-fragranced petals. They are related to carnations.

They would look great with the Agapanthus, too. (We have beds with the Knock-outs, Dianthus, and Agapanthus).

They like it quite hot and should be fine near the pool. They are inexpensive perennials.

Luvourhome thanks for all your suggestions! I don't even know what I would do without Houzzers (is that a word??) :)

You are right roses and pools probably shouldn't be paired. I didn't think about that. We have a knockout rose tree in the front yard and it's great it's low maintenance and keeps blooming spring to fall. We actually have dianthus in the front too and love them! They are very low maintenance and we have color year round with our mild winters in Texas. My only concern with planting them along the fence is that they won't grow high enough to contrast the black fence?

About the stone. My husband is VERY attached to the stone. He laid it all himself using cement mold from Home Depot. So changing the stone is not an option at this time. We are planning to power wash it and regrout. We may also paint it as Loveourhome suggested but I think black maybe too much in Texas heat and with black fence. As far as the color we'll prob want something light.

Dianthus and Agapanthus together...

Keep the stone, sure. I like it.

I was just thinking of all the possible solutions. And yes, lighter stone is better ;-) I knew darker stone would be hotter, but if you are already in a hot state--that's a double whammy.

You mentioned mosaic tiles earlier-what if you did a cool design? Fish? Parrot? Dolphin?

Placing a trellis in front of part of the fence or even running vertical fishing line on eye hooks would let you plant a flower vine on the fence which could be very pretty.