Whether you’ve finally moved into a spacious family home or completed your home renovation project, finally having an outdoor porch to yourself is a dream come true for a homeowner. What’s not as exciting — the peeping eyes from neighbors and passersby.

Based on the design and layout of your yard your precious porch may be only a few feet from your neighbors’ huge bay windows. Creating a secluded space where you can enjoy your porch in private is important if you want to really kick back and let loose. One surefire way of sectioning off your porch area is a porch fence, but after finishing construction on your porch your remaining budget may not allow for a fence. Luckily we have rounded up several creative ways to add privacy to your porch with style.

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Porch Fences and Porch Railing

The most obvious way to separate your outdoor lounge or dining area from prying eyes is to build a porch fence or add porch railing along your deck or structure, if you have the budget.

Porch Fence

Full-on fences will certainly make you feel like you have your own space, but they can also be suffocating. Instead of a traditional fence choose something that only partially obscures the view. A sensible option is lattice fence paneling, which still gives you a view beyond your porch into the green of your yard. You can also grow vines and ivy along the lattice fence to reduce the physical separation from the yard.

Porch Railing

Porch railing materials like glass and cable are intended to provide you an unobstructed view of the vistas beyond your porch, but this also means the view of your porch is unobstructed from onlookers. For optimal privacy go with a vinyl or composite railing that can feature no openings or small openings in between posts. These materials offer high options depending on how much privacy you desire.

The main drawback to vinyl railing: you can no longer see your backyard from the vantage point of the porch if you install railing on all sides.

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Porch Privacy on a Budget

These clever solutions will grant you seclusion and a sense of separation from the sprawling space beyond your home without costing the equivalent of a new porch railing. Based on the design of your home and your vision for your outdoor porch these options might be aesthetically preferable to constructing around your deck.

Plants

Greenery has always been the natural wall of nature, and with a little ingenuity foliage and intentional planting can obscure your seating area or breakfast nook from view. One option is to hang tiered hanging pots along the barriers of your space. This method is effective for porches underneath balconies with a structure that serves as a “wall” to the space. Layering hanging pots with trailing plants like ivy will create a splendid privacy screen of green that will be the talk of your next brunch party or family gathering.

Another way to create a “wall” of green is to line a row of Traditional Garden Planters along the open edges of the porch facing your neighbors or the street. Available in a wide variety of attractive, fade-resistant colors, POLYWOOD® planters are perfect for housing tall greenery like bamboo or ornamental grasses.

Screens

Privacy screens are a low-cost, low-maintenance privacy solution that are easy to transport and rearrange if you adjust the layout of your space. Privacy screens are available in several materials to complement your existing paneling or flooring and are typically lightweight for convenience. An important caveat: their transportability makes them vulnerable to high winds and extreme weather.

For an inventive extension of this idea, roll up your sleeves and collect some old shutters. You can zip-tie old shutters to an existing wire fence to create a stunning, unique privacy barrier that can be rearranged or dismantled at any time.

Privacy Curtains

Cozier spaces can incorporate optional seclusion and openness if you fashion privacy curtains from outdoor fabrics to hang along the barriers of your porch. This is easiest when your space is below a deck or balcony, as you can hang the curtains from existing structures, but you can also construct inexpensive DIY curtain rods with a few simple supplies from your neighborhood hardware store.

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Incognito Porch Furniture

The design of the porch furniture you choose for your space can also allow you go incognito so you can be fully comfortable while blending into the neutral or natural color schemes already at play outside your home. Choose from a selection of versatile and cozy POLYWOOD outdoor furniture that provides ample cushioning and adds functionality to your private porch.

POLYWOOD Vineyard Deep Seating Furniture

Escape into your private retreat with no-nonsense outdoor furniture built to help you relax. The backs of pieces like the Vineyard Deep Seating Sofa are actually giant pillows, making this collection of seating extra cozy. We ultimately went with this collection of deep seating furniture when we recently styled a small, private deck for a couple.

The durable, weatherproof POLYWOOD lumber boasts a contemporary, minimal design and is offered in several natural, earthen colors for a rustic yet modern look that won’t draw any unwanted attention. Choose a central piece like the sofa or furnish your porch with a Vineyard 3-Piece Deep Seating Rocking Chair Set.

POLYWOOD Grant Park Deep Seating Furniture

For an intimate space often less is more. With seating for three and plenty of space for drinks, snacks, and your favorite book the Grant Park 4-Piece Deep Seating Set won’t feel like a limitation. The all-weather deep seating set is prepared for anything mother nature throws its way. This porch furniture option is ideal for homeowners who live in climates with unpredictable weather patterns, as it can withstand heavy rains, winds, and drastic temperature changes while adhering to a modern, minimalist design.

We’ve geared our porch furniture selections with relaxation in mind, but maybe you have a different concept for how your porch will be used. That’s great! Simply browse our furniture options for different spaces and fall in love with POLYWOOD outdoor furniture that matches your vision. With a little creativity anything is possible.

How did you create some privacy for your new porch? Sound off in the comments!