Hi,
I think your fence is fabulous, if you need to add street appeal, plant around your letter box, it’s a fab fence don’t hide it.

Thank you! It's interesting to get different opinions, perhaps I need to learn to love the fence more :) great idea about focusing around the letterbox.

I think is great as well and slats in between aren't really in keeping with your style of house.

Needs greenery in front on it. Say a low hedge or a climber over trellis wire.

If you paint it a darker colour it will recede.

Ivy will give you a hedged look which is always appealing while keeping the privacy of the home. I'd also paint it in a softer stone colour like a taupe or greige. Bright white is fine in santorini but a bit stark in our burbs. If it were me, I would put a low pot on the top of each pillar and fill it with silver falls dichondra then grow english or boston ivy from the bottom. In time you will have an amazing waterfall effect over what appears to be a hedge.

It looks like your house walls are a darker shade than white, try and match that lovely look. Paint the infill sections, then check look, with columns white like your house trim, then if wanted paint out more white to get to a softer more pleasing look

I would plant a row of sasanqua camellia bushes along the front of fence, they are gorgeous, deep green glossy leaves all year around and lovely flowers, they can be trained as a hedge or single trees or trained along the fence, come in different colours, cheaper than paint and timber and probably more effective. Lovely home you have

I agree with most of these comments. I think landscaping is the easiest and most striking solution. Planting it out well will give you the curb appeal that's needed. The driveway looks like it could use some help too. Unifying it to one type of paver would be nice.

Thank you everyone for your help! I've been talking to our local Council and they highly encourage more visibility in the fence to better tie in with the street. They also mentioned that a high solid brick wall could be detrimental to security because there is no way neighbours can keep an eye on each other.

So I've been thinking about a combination of introducing metal tube infill, and low planting in front of the fence and letterbox. I've attached a pic of a similar house - many houses in the area look like this. What do you guys think? Any suggestions would be welcome :)

I guess you need to consider whether you want privacy or you are happy for everyone to see you through the metal infill panels. And then consider whether the cost of changing the fence is worth it as I expect it could be $$$. If it was me, I would want the privacy of a solid fence and update it with some paint &/or landscaping. We have a brick fence with metal infill and planted a murraya hedge (now over 3m high) to create privacy. But then every fence on our street is very different and it's a main road.

The house is on a quiet street and has a good security system. I also spoke to some brickie friends and thankfully they can easily cut out the existing brick infill and retain piers which decreases cost. But a part of me feels like its a bit of a shame to cut into it given it's perfectly functional haha. Decisions...

Another thing to consider is how much of a backyard do you have? The house seems well set back from the street and unless the block is large you may have a small backyard. In which case you may really come to love having an enclosed front yard to increase your outdoor usable space.

Definitely leave for a while, live with and think about it. A solid brick fence also cuts a lot of street noise. When you are more intimate with the space make decisions then

Don’t cut into the lovely fence, enjoy the privacy, you might regret it. I’m certainly wondering councils remark also, a mid height planting should be fine at least after all it was obviously not opposed having high fence erected

One other option might be to simply remove the section in front of your door and put in an attractive gate and to a path to the front door. most people will probably still use the driveway but it might help with street appeal.

I like my Privacy with a capital P . I would take Kate’s advice but reverse the colours . The pillars to be painted cream and leave the rest white . This is a different type fence but you can see how the colours work . The fence does not look stark .

I'm surprised by everyone preferring privacy, very different responses than from friends and family haha. But I'm loving the new perspective. A bit more context as to why I'm thinking about changing it:

- we've been living here for 3 months and don't use the front porch, as we have a nice back patio

- the streetscape is character-filled and our fence sticks out like a sore thumb

- we have a friendly neighbourhood, everyone chats to each other on their front porches, so I actually feel a bit 'left out' that neighbours can't see me in the front of my house!

- we cannot plant in front of the fence given that it is the Council verge

I think you have answered all your own questions. Go with the cut outs as per your latest photo posted.