Displayed below are a bunch of wooden fence ideas I scouted out in the wilds of Sacramento and Rancho Cordova, California. Some look really nice and some do not.

This gallery might be useful to anyone designing a fence for their yard.

One of the concerns when building a fence is which side should you nail the pickets to? Some people consider the side where the rails are visible to be the ugly side. Other people consider the rail side to be the "inside", and feel better being on that side of the fence.

The rail side of a fence is also easier to climb over, so having the rails on your side can feel safer.

Sometimes fence designs alternate panels of picket sides with rail sides. These are known as "good neighbor" fences, but I don't think they are very attractive.

Another option is to alternate the fence side of individual pickets..

..but you can see right through that type of fence.

Here is a fence with flat, staggered tops.

Dirt rots wood. It provides an easy, direct path to the wood for insects and water.

This fence is supported by steel poles instead of wooden posts. These can last 100 years or more by eliminating the wood/dirt contact of the fence.

Unfortunately it is hard to make them look nice. The poles cost $17 and the metal pole-to-fence brackets, called "pipe grip brackets" cost $2.84 each.

Here is a fence with a long, horizontal "weed board" running along the bottom of the fence. This adds a little height and keeps the individual fence pickets off of the ground, protecting them from rot. The weed board might have to be replaced in 10 years, but that will be one $6 board instead of 25 $2 pickets.

The weed board can also help in building a fence that is level. Note that a second board was added below to compensate for the uneven ground.

A flat-topped fence with cement footer and metal posts. I'm not sure how the rails are connected to the posts, but this fence will last forever.

Here's a fence on a hill with a giant gate opening. Ideally they would have a weedboard covering the gap between the ground and the bottom of the fence, but maybe the wheels of their boat trailer kept getting caught on it.

You can tell that this is a new fence because the lawn underneath hasn't yet died.

Here's a fence which makes a couple of 45 degree turns to avoid fencing in a hydrant. It looks pretty good.

This latticework fence creates a semi-private area in the front yard. Home Depot sells these panels prebuilt in redwood or cast in plastic.

This fence has a nice little design on the top.

Fences with a rail along the top usually look pretty great. This one uses a double-row of pickets to completely block a view inside.

There are two ways down a hill, either with stair-steps or in a continuous slope. In either case, the metal rails are plumb, straight up and down.

These metal rails are premium fencing material, at about $25 each. The rails probably had to be custom cut to remove a little 10 degree wedge.

Here's a fence in a planned community. Its got three rails, good-neighbor panel-switching and a cap on three sides.

This fence used sheets of plywood which were then covered with pickets. It was definitely private, and the cap on top made it look pretty good, but I think plywood is a bad choice to use in a fence.

An old, attractive fence. Tiny wooden battens were nailed in to cover gaps between fence pickets.

Tiny details made from slender bits of wood seem susceptible to weather damage, but they appeared to be holding up well here.

This fence owner appears to have added extra height by adding two rows of horizontal board at the top. This provides protection from rain falling on top of the fence.

Just kidding.

This fence had a little hole, with a decorative iron fence behind. It took me a few minutes to realize this was to give their dog a good view of the yard. Sometimes people cut long slices out of the middle of a few individual pickets, so that the structure of the fence remains strong.

I think those are called keyhole cuts.

A round hole would also look good, or one shaped like a dog's head.

This looked like re-used flooring.

Here's a low fence with a saw-tooth pattern. It was falling apart but I bet it looked pretty sharp when it was new.

An old wooden fence around a house next to a schoolyard. Note the concrete footing to keep the top level and the triple row of barbed wire to keep victims inside.

Sometimes fences and trees are used together to create a nice barrier.

Bitch.

I've included a picture of this wall just because it is so terrible. Note that there is also a wooden fence close to the actual house.

These concrete piers keep the wooden posts away from the dirt, but they are not very attractive in my opinion.

A larger dog window. If you have one of these you don't even need a real dog.

Arched fence board pattern with decorative post caps.

Fence up a slope. Note that the gate is hinged on the downhill side so that the gate can open outwards without dragging on the soil.

This is what it looks like if you don't cut off the top of your fence posts.

This fence had a two rows of pickets, the back set three feet higher than the front, like a row of shark teeth.

Horizontal pickets!

Another 45 degree fence turn combined with a well-fashioned cap.

Fence down a hill. The top of the pickets looks like a perfect slope.
If the ground slope was inconsistent, they might have had to trim the boards to get this to work.

An inconsistent wave pattern.

Fence with lattice top on a steep slope.
The fence is so tall and fancy that the simple gate looks odd.

Note the dog window.

A sturdy box spring can be used to replace missing pickets in a pinch.

This white vinyl fence looks surprisingly sharp.

A beautiful lattice-topped fence.

Home Depot sells 1 foot by 8-foot pre-built panels of lattice for $25, but be prepared to add supports, caps and facing boards to make the fence look complete.

An eight foot fence. I don't have any idea where to get 8-foot fence pickets.

In some fence construction, a two-by-four rail is simply nailed to the post.

Sometimes the rails are supported by blocks of wood.

Some fences are constructed with the top rails meeting on the top of the posts. The joint was slightly off on this one so it needed an extra brace.

This fence used metal brackets to connect the rails, but it was susceptible to the same errors.

Very weird technique using post ties to extend the posts.

Added foot boards at the bottom to keep the fence level.

Usually a fence with metal posts will last a century, but this one was probably getting hit by cars in this parking lot.

White picket fences usually have wide gaps between the pickets, but this family kept them right next to each other to prevent toddler escape. It looked bizarre.

Anti-zombie gate.

Double gate made out of plywood.

An inside-out fence.

This kind of makes sense if you follow the logic that the picket side of the fence is more attractive, so you might as well let the neighbors look at the construction side of the fence.

However, all those exterior rails make a nice stepladder into your yard, so this isn't how most people do it.

I think this fence was constructed of pre-assembled fence panels from a hardware store. To me, those seem like more trouble than they are worth. If you use these panels you've still got to dig the post holes and cement them into place, and you've got to get them spaced perfectly, or the pre-made panels won't fit.

A nice fence on hilly ground in a housing development.

11" wide fence pickets.

An example of overlapping battens creating a expensive, but very private fence.

Fancy fence on the outside of a housing development.

Overlapping fence pickets, an 8" row of lattice and tiny ornate post towers.

This fence used a single picket to conceal the steel fence posts.

And that's it! 50 different ways to build a simple barrier between you and your neighbors. If you are planning a fence, you should now be completely overwhelmed with options and potential pitfalls.

But I've saved the best for last and made the decision for you. It's got three gentle arches, one above each gate and one wider one between them. It looks awesome.

Make your fence like this.