Staining the fence black
Last year I noticed the dog-ear fence surrounding our pool looked a bit sad and dull. Once spring arrived this year I started thinking through some options, like power-washing, staining, painting. I also searched Pinterest and the Internet for black-stained fences. The dark colors drew me in right away with their clean look and how the green plants looked against the black. I began pitching the idea to Kirk to get him on board with the idea. Since change is slightly more difficult for Kirk, and he needs time to warm up to a big change like I was planning, I started floating the idea out there and showed him some photos of stained fences.
To confirm my decision of going with a black stain I looked at other color options. Every single time I came back to the black.
Black Fence Stain
When Kirk started warming up to the idea, I picked up black three stain samples from Home Depot. I tested the samples on the back of the fence where they wouldn’t be noticeable. My friend, Shauna recommended a few black colors to try and her suggestion for Sherwin Williams GreenBlack was a 100%, no doubt, winner. This color has a slight navy blue hue that makes it a soft, eye-pleasing black. In the words of Shaunna, “black is just sexy.”
Supplies Needed To Stain a Fence
STAIN: I used Behr Premium Solid Color (tintable) waterproofing stain and sealer. It is approximately $38/gallon at Home Depot. With a 25 year lasting power on fences, I don’t think I’ll be doing this again soon.
BRUSH: I used this brush from Home Depot and it worked great.
I brushed the stain on knowing I’d have little grooves to get into and also to avoid the trouble of balancing a roller tray. My hands tend to get a bit sore from wielding a roller too. Of course, there is also the option of spraying the stain on the fence. I decided against spraying to make clean-up and start-up simple. I will say, the stain went on great with the brush.
DROPCLOTH: I used a small (cut in half) dropcloth that I put down mostly incase of a spill. Getting drops of stain on the river rock near our fence doesn’t show. If I were to stain near concrete or other porous surface I would have been more careful.
MUSIC | PODCAST: Something to listen to as you paint. I did both, and I also painted in silence – Kirk thinks that is super weird, but I like the silence sometimes.
FLIP FLOPS: I always paint in flip flops! Inside, outside summer and winter!
Steps for Staining a Wood Fence
I’m sure there are proper steps are for staining a fence which might include power-washing, but, true to myself, I just dug in and started brushing on the stain. More steps = more work. After staining over 160 feet of fencing, I’m not sure that prep work would have made any difference.
First, I stained behind all the growing plants/bushes before they got too large and were in the way. We have a couple of Honeysuckle plants that had grown so much I couldn’t neatly paint around, so those spots will be done in the fall after we cut the plants back.
I worked one section at a time and alternated between starting at the top or bottom on each section. This gave my hands and arms a bit of a rest between sections since I was either stretching to the top of the fence or sitting on an upturned bucket to stain the lower half. Halfway through the project, I realized I needed to paint the “dog ear” top edges and decided to go back later with a smaller brush to touch up all the edges I’d missed. It worked much slicker going back with a smaller brush that was lighter and easier to hold to finish the edges.
Some slats needed a little paint between them since they weren’t quite lined up flat against each other. There weren’t many spots like this, but it did make a difference to cover those edges in the stain. The brush worked ideally for this.
Before and After | Black Stain
These are unedited photos – the black stain makes such a difference!
Black Fence | Results
Shaunna and I agreed that the green on the trees and plants would just pop against a black fence and we weren’t wrong. Even the blue water (solar cover), and the sky come to life against the black.
Next pool area project is fighting the moss that grows between the bricks. I’ll wait til next year to freshen up landscaping. We have enough projects going on here at The Cottage right now!
I absolutely love how the fence looks now. The pool area has a crisp, refreshed, and updated look for the cost of 5 gallons of stain and some elbow grease. In case you are wondering, this was Kirk’s comment on the black fence, “I like it better than I thought I would.” I’ll take that!
