Castle Rock, Washington, takes beautification seriously. This storage lot sits smack dab in the middle of their beautiful downtown. This is how it looked before they turned it into an art gallery. Photo by Nancy Chennault.
You’ve seen it before: a chain link fence right in the middle of a downtown. Usually there’s barbed wire at the top. Let’s face it, barbed wire is not the friendliest look for a downtown. We can do better.
Why chain link in the first place?
When a business ends up with an empty lot they can use for storage downtown, there’s a strong drive to fence it off and protect their goods. Chain link topped with barbed wire is cheap and easy.
Businesses still need to store things. No one wants to spend a lot of money to replace the fence with something friendlier. Heck, we don’t even want to spend money at all if we can avoid it.
How could you make it look better?
A whole group of us brainstormed some ideas for you:
- Add colorful slats in rainbow patterns, waves, words or logos
- Frame art and hang it from the chain link, inside or outside
- Hang twinkle lights from the fence and barbed wire
- Twist wire foil tinsel garland around the barbed wire
- Hang whirly gigs or streamers to dance in the wind
- Set up a sculpture display in front of the fence (most fences are usually set back from the property line) or just behind the fence
- Create cut-out art to hang on the fence
- Hang some wayfinding signs to direct people to cool things around town
The Boise, Idaho, water reclamation plant features this chain link fence mural. The colors are little cups designed to pop right into the chain link spaces. Photo by Becky McCray.
The Stream of Dreams “mural” made up of individual painted fish shapes dresses up the fence alongside the school buildings in Castle Rock, Washington. Learn more about Stream of Dreams. Photo by Nancy Chennault.
How Castle Rock, Washington, made chain link fences into art galleries
When I visited Castle Rock, I pointed out the storage lot next the hardware store that in the photo at the top of this story. It’s not going to go away, so why not use it to hang art? Turns out they already had some kids’ art hanging on chain link fences, just around the corner in a less-visible place. So they moved it and added a big way-finding arrow to point out nearby attractions.
Originally, the art squares were hanging in a hard-to-find location. See those slats in the fence? You could easily use slats to be more artistic with rainbow patterns or logos. Photo by Becky McCray.
The students helped move their artwork to the highly-visible location downtown. Photo by Nancy Chennault.
The art now includes a big arrow to point folks to the nearby wildlife pond and the old jail park. You hardly notice the fence or wire at all now. Photo by Nancy Chennault.
Have you seen any good chain link art?
I’d love to see photos of dressed-up chain link fences you’ve seen anywhere. Share the ideas so we can inspire even more small towns to more beautiful fences.
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
- Metaverse business idea: virtual world tour guide - April 15, 2022
- Make extra money from extra workspace: co-working and 3rd workplaces in small towns - March 28, 2022
- Trade show booth design trend: hand drawn visuals - March 21, 2022
- New business sign design? Don’t use cursive script - February 14, 2022
- Way more people prefer rural than urban, new Pew Research study finds - February 1, 2022
- Top 5 Rural and small town trends 2022 - January 3, 2022
- How to start a real small small business - December 17, 2021
- Tip for better pop-ups and shed businesses - December 5, 2021
- Small town business idea: cat grooming - November 15, 2021
- Community engagement planning: old way vs. Idea Friendly way - October 3, 2021
A great place for a billboard with solar powered security cameras. Please contact Osborne Electronics Rushville IN. 765 9324380
We specialize in security camera systems viewable from your cell phones, and can help you create your billboards
Hi Janice, I like the idea of using chain link for billboards, especially if they’re artistic and add rather than detract from the downtown. I’ve left your ad in your comment for now, but I hope you’ll be more conversation-minded in future comments and less advertising heavy. Welcome!