Add Privacy To Your Patio With These 9 Stunning Water Fountain Designs

Patio privacy is a homeowner luxury, and if your backyard doesn't come with its own built-in methods for privacy, like high fences, it can be hard to find creative ways to build it for yourself. It's difficult to balance the desire for open air and breezes with the need for keeping neighbors (and their eyes and ears) away. Some methods like building an extra wall or putting up transparent screens can be pricey and unappealing. Luckily, you don't need to sacrifice your patio aesthetic — you can instantly elevate your backyard with beautiful water features that double as privacy screens or white noise machines. Whether you want to DIY a water fountain, make a rock-based water feature, or purchase a ready-to-go water wall, these options will increase privacy in your home and make your patio feel like an oasis. 

Screening your patio in with an enclosure system, effectively creating a sunroom, would typically cost between $2,000 and $4,000. To build your own water feature, you may need to pay for simple materials and a pond pump (usually $100 through $1,500, though you may be able to find some that cost less than that). So a water feature might be able to save you money, create a nature-inspired design feel, and maintain the airflow all at the same time. You can easily make a backyard water feature yourself with DIY materials or buy a premade version. Either way, with the sound of the flowing water, these backyard features will add privacy and drown out noise. 

Repurpose an old shower door into a privacy screen and waterfall hybrid for your patio. YouTube user @evamonroe built a structure with a wooden box that collects the runoff water and a wooden frame for the shower door. You can do it, too. Place the shower door into the frame and use C-clamps to attach a clear hose around the shower door, poking holes in the parts of the hose that will emit water. Attach a pond pump to recycle the water in an infinite loop and place decorative rocks at the bottom.

One classic way to add a water fixture to your yard is with stacked rocks, a catch basin, and flowing water on the side of your patio. You can easily DIY a stunning waterfall for your outdoor space with a simple pondless water kit (typically around $1,500 to $5,000) and use rocks or large stones from a local landscape supply store to create a rocky waterfall. This option creates a rustic, natural aesthetic in your yard. However, the privacy provided is less than what you'd receive with a taller wall, so it is not as ideal if you're looking for complete seclusion. 

If you're not looking to DIY, you can purchase a product that still offers the same waterfall effects. This model from Alpine Corporation on Amazon has a mirror built into the waterfall, providing privacy. You can buy one for a specific area of your yard or line up several to make a wall of opaque waterfalls. They will run you upward of $460 to $700 each, but they come with high customer reviews, with users saying the waterfalls still look great even when the water is turned off. 

Use water itself as a potential privacy screen in this DIY rainfall project, with the waterfall sounds adding white noise. Simply erect a frame of wood to whatever height you'd like, and paint the panels any shade. Consider using a waterproof wood sealer to make the wooden frame water repellent. Place the frame into some type of basin — it's common to use decorative rocks for this part — with a pond pump that will collect and recirculate the falling water. Create a sprinkler by poking holes in PVC pipe and setting it along the frame, then connect it to the hose and pump to begin the rainfall effect. 

If you like the feel (and the ease of installation) of the rainfall feature, but need something completely opaque, you can add a piece of metal roofing. This simple change can be accomplished by purchasing thin, metal roofing and cutting it to the exact size of your rainfall frame. Slide the piece into the back of the waterfall, ensuring that it does not get in the way of the water streams. Once installed, it will add more privacy to your patio and create a barrier so to keep the water in one specific area, helping you conserve the amount of water needed for the feature. 

Tiered water features are available from most outdoor appliances manufacturers and usually clock in between 3 feet and 7 feet in height. You can buy a premade version on Amazon for around $280 that comes ready to install for homeowner ease: just plug in the electric cord and let it run. While they might not offer the same privacy screen effect for your patio as other options, tiered water features essentially serve as white noise machines — you can drown out the sounds of the neighborhood so that a relaxing day on the back patio is filled with just the calming sound of bubbling water. 

You can create a large water wall by building a wooden structure from stained or painted planks that surrounds a plastic basin meant to hold the water, a pond pump, and hose. As with other projects, you can surround the basin with decorative stone to capture the falling water in a decor-friendly way. The difference here is that you'll wire the hose up through the built-in thin box and install a metal spout that releases falling water in a single sheet for that classic waterfall look. 

If you're worried about losing green space, you can mitigate that by adding planters to your water structure. Some planters can sit atop the small frame, whether they are built to straddle wooden planks or simply thin enough to be attached onto one. You can also drill hooks into the side of your structure to hang more planters for some additional greenery. Planting directly beneath the waterfall might seem like a great idea, but the constant flow of water could lead to overwatering your plants.  Like the rainfall feature, this provides less privacy unless you poke holes large enough to have a thick sheet of waterfall. 

Another option to avoid the DIY route is with a pre-made cascading water feature that can easily be placed on the side or corner of your patio. This one from the Alpine Corporation is 6½ feet tall and ready to plug in wherever you want it to be. It's one of the priciest options, at over $3,000, but an added benefit is that the multiple tiers of water falling make for an even louder white noise effect for increased patio privacy. Plus, the faux rocks offer a rustic and natural aesthetic.