If you’ve got a lot with a house on it, chances are you’ve got a fence. It just comes with the territory. Literally. They’re practical things, keeping kids and pets in, other people’s kids and pets out, and quietly asserting just exactly where your responsibilities for grass cutting and baseball tosses begins and ends.

But fences can be so much more. Here, 5 ways to spin some fun into your fence. Click on any image to start the slideshow and get the full story.

The neighbourly fence, Take 1: Why not be accommodating to someone else’s tree? You wind up with a great garden feature.

The neighbourly fence, Take 2: If your neighbour’s backyard is gorgeous, why not take advantage of the view?

The fence as backdrop: Salvaged wood turns into outdoor sculpture when placed against a contrasting dark, smooth fence.

The salvaged fence: Rather than bordering a property, this vintage find delineates two sections of a garden.

The bringing-the-indoors-outdoors fence: a simple shelf added to a fence directly outside a home’s back entrance helps blur the borders between living spaces.