How do I cheaply make this area look nicer?

If you are using cheap plastic pots try to get black ones - they just disappear. Especially if you can have a few nice ones to go in front.

 

One coat is never enough no matter what it says on a paint tin. It should really say One Coat at a Time
@Friendly

 

I use Ducksback paint [Ronseal or Cuprinol- can't remember] as it stays on better long term here, but the most important thing with any paint is to make sure you give it time to 'set' properly. You need a dry day to do it, but you also need approx. another 24 hours of dry weather for it to go off well. If it rains, it doesn't work well.
Once you have a good layer of paint on the timber, it's quick to freshen it up, as long as you have that decent weather window for it to set well. I used what seemed a very runny, dark grey paint this year - Johnstone's I think. It was great, and covered the horrible orange [sorry - cedar....] wood on an existing bit of fence I uncovered due to some renovations I was doing.

 

I use Ducksback (Cuprinol) on my shed and gate. It's absorbed into the wood and waterproof it as well as colouring it. Note different types of wood and wood surface absorb it differently and can give a different shade.

 

Paint etc (particularly the runny ones) tends to run between the boards and make ugly drips on the other side, so even if the fence is yours, if you're going to paint it you should talk to the neighbours and maybe get permission to go round and do the other side as well. It might turn out that they don't care how it looks but if they do, it's daft to annoy them over something fairly trivial. They might of course not like your colour choice and do their side something different so you'd get their drips on your side.......

 

I'd avoid painting it, the natural faded colour will look fine once the algae is removed. If you do paint it I'm not sure that the neighbours will be concerned as they seem to have sheds close up to the other sides.

 

We don't have those brand names of paint here amd since they're recommended as an economical choice, I wish we did. I'm curious. How much do they cost please? The ronseal looks like a good deal. The others?

 

I'd also leave the fence as it is, it looks sturdy and will last a long time.

To draw the eye away, a large permanent planter with robust and lush evergreen shade tolerant plants (large evergreen ferns come to mind), some seasonal interest pots, a comfy chair, table and a bottle of wine would tick my boxes.

The corner looks calm and relaxing already, and the solar lights will give athmosphere when the nights get darker.

Some charity shops sell furniture, a solid wood rocking chair is on my hunting list. Even though it might not be meant for garden use, solid wood will last a long time and can be treated to liking. I'd prefer that to a plastic egg chair, but that's just my taste.

Anyways, also social media thingies are worth browsing for cheap garden furniture and planters just now when people realise they have too many to conveniently store over winter.

 

@CanadianLori paints are much cheaper in the the UK than in Belgium and France which I find maddening given that VAT rates are the same.

Anyway, I asked Google and, in a Glasgow shop you can get 9 litres of Cuprinol fence paint for £25. In France I can get 2.5litres for 72€. I do not and never will have wooden fencing here and any trellis I make or buy will be oiled.

Indoor paints in France and Belgium are at least double the prices in the UK.

 

I have just ordered some Patio Magic, is it ok to paint it on the fence rather than spray? I feel I will be able to avoid run off on plants better that way.

 

Just to add Dulux Decorator Centre have a special offer on Cuprinol Ducksback 5L - £11.99

 

Spray gets in all the nooks and crannies?

 

@Friendly that is ridiculously cheap compared to here. Interesting!

 

It's cheap even for here @CanadianLori, I got 5 pots!

 

The cheaper paint I used this year was actually Spear and Jackson @CanadianLori, not Johnstone's but I originally had a smaller pot of the latter in grey, and the paint is virtually identical. I couldn't get it the next time, so I bought the S&J one. I got it in B&M, which is a cheapo shop over here. I think it was about a tenner for a 9L pot, but there's only a few colours available.
All the pot bigger sizes are 2.5L, 5L and now 9L instead of 10L.

I just looked and the paint is all reduced just now, so a 5L pot of Ducksback is £12, [£2 saving] and the 9L is £17 [£5 saving]. Those shops are usually cheaper than the main DIY store [B&Q] but you may get less choice in colours.