| I have much the same situation, but use the area under the porch for storage and wanted easy access. I did use lattice, but only vertically on the support posts and a horizontal header of a half-sheet of lattice at the top of the gaps, to visually "beef-up" the support posts and allow me to grow clematis on them. It worked well, in that the lattice isn't a solid mass, but does give some variation to the black-hole effect it did have - plus it looked less like it was going to fall down - the posts are certainly strong enough for the job, but didn't LOOK it. If your house is painted, then painting the lattice will allow it to blend in better. Or, you could paint it a dark gray-green to blend with foliage. Not knowing what the rest of the house looks like, you could also use Hardy-panel (or a similar cementitious 8'x4' sheet) and 2-3" wide rough-sawn pine (or whatever you want) in a board-and-batten arrangement, adding a door, if you need access to the area under the deck. Again, it could painted to match your house or blend with foliage. I have also seen pictures of a "skirting" that was made up of ply-wood or Hardy-panel sheets, made into a wainscot effect with molding, again painted to match or to blend. |
