I am going to be installing a fence at the back of my property. My back yard is pretty small (at the narrowest probably 20' from the back of the house to the drainage ditch). The wife wants some privacy but it's also to keep the kids from just running and falling into the ditch (it's large and really steep).

I'm wondering the best options for something, and as you can see in my rough diagram, it's not going to be straight. Diagram fence posts are arbitrary and not to scale.

1) What type of wooden fence would you consider here? (I don't want the standard vertical cedar-board privacy fence.)
2) I was thinking about using round posts since the fence is not in a straight line, and making it a horizontal shadowbox style with 1 x 6 x 8s. Any thoughts on how that would work? I'm wondering if I would have to bevel the ends of the boards where they attach to the round posts to keep them from looking bad since the attachment angles would be different.

Thanks for any input.

 

This really comes down to your budget, carpentry skills and willingness to work. Easiest obviously, and cheapest, would be to use the pre-made panels you don't like. Doing something else means you'll have all the labor of making the panels. Then there is the expense. You cannot build a fence panel as cheap as you can buy a pre-made panel so doing anything else will likely be more expensive. You also need to look at the tools you have and your skills as that will really affect how quick and easy you can custom make your own panels.

 

Post a photo of the style fence you want. Then we can give more direct advice.