NorthStar
Building Products
Cart
Product·2026-03-18·4 min

Why the shadowbox pattern finishes both sides.

A short note on why the Good Neighbour panel is symmetric.

NorthStar
/
Company
Why the shadowbox pattern finishes both sides.

A standard fence has a “good” side and a “bad” side. The good side faces the street — pickets flush against the rails. The bad side faces you — exposed framing, fasteners, the rail structure. For most of the last century, that’s been the trade-off on a budget fence.

The shadowbox pattern flips that. Pickets alternate across both faces of the centre stringer, so the panel reads finished from either side. You get the same view your neighbour gets; your neighbour gets the same view you get.

It costs a bit more in material than a traditional back-rail panel — more pickets, tighter joinery. But the pay-off is a fence line that doesn’t apologise from either side.

We called the collection “Good Neighbour” because that’s literally what it does.

Published 2026-03-18 by NorthStar, Company.
All journal entries →
Subscribe

New journal entries, once a month.

We send an email the first Wednesday of every month — the new Journal piece, what’s in pilot at the mill, and any shipment-delay honesty our yards should know.
Subscribe via emailAll entries
CallShop panels