Come over my house and you'll see all my cedar fencing weathered to a lovely silver-gray.

And you'll see me sitting out by the pool, which is surrounded by one of said lovely naturally silvered cedar fences. A 6' tall square picket fence.

I'll be the one sitting in my naturally silvered teak chaise lounger, enjoying a cold adult beverage.

The loud noises you hear? That's the sound of my neighbors cussing as they scrape and pressure wash their stained and painted fences to ready them for another coat of paint or stain.

It's not being lazy. It's being smart.

As usual, just my opinion...

Mongo

While Mongo is outside enjoying the yard and pool with all the weathered cedar, I'm outside every couple of years with the powerwasher and stain because we much prefer the stained color of cedar. To us, it's not work because that's our preference. And because we prefer the stained look, you don't hear cussing coming from our yard. Our run of cedar is only about 30 ft so it's nowhere near as much as you've got siobhanny.

Thank you for the replies. I do love the look of stained cedar, and I probably haven't seen enough weathered cedar to know for certain I'd be happy with the hands-off approach to our fence (did like the look of just one I saw). If it weren't so much fence and I didn't have a job and two small kids, I probably would stain it. My husband's definitely leaning toward letting it go au naturel and weathering to silver-gray. I just hope I'll like it! I'm already completely relieved we didn't go with the white vinyl PVC that was endlessly pushed upon us, so I figure we're already a step ahead. :)

Thanks again.

You know, kec01 brings up a good point...it's all relative.

How much fence do you have...what type of fence...where do you live...the style of your house...and neighborhood.

I have a 900' long driveway and am set back in the woods. Had I built a house on Main Street, perhaps a white picket fence would have been more suitable.

I have 400 feet of fence total by the pool. About 340' of it 6' tall, the other 60' is 3-1/2' tall.

It's 2" square picket cedar fencing. I made the top rails from 2"x5" cedar, the bottom rails from 2"x6". Posts are 5' square.

This would be a bear to stain, paint, and maintain. Had we wanted a stained or painted fence, I probably would not have built this style of fence, or I might not have built it out of cedar.

Mongo

If I had 900 ft of fence, I'd learn to leave the weathered grey look! Then I could join mongo at the pool and share cold adult beverages! In the meantime, I stain!

mongoct --
We have neighbors in the construction business. They've started hauling home debris from their jobsites and piling it up near our mutual property line. I've been thinking that I needed a fence like the one around King Kong on that island! But we may have to go with your version instead! It's much better looking! Thanks for the information and photos.