We just stained our section fences with Wattle Ebony from Mitre 10. Was looking for a charcoal color too, not much flexibility in color options with stains from the shelves at store. We sprayed on, rather than brushing. Is cost a concern? One of our to be neighbours was doing there fences at the same time with paint, he said he used nearly 100L of paint for 2 coats, we used nearly 50L in 2 costs - had similar amount of fences. I've included photo of it after the 2 coats

It looks great ! As the house is lighter and darker greys , I'd add a white gloss painted 'rail' around the top -- hard to tell appropriate sizes from the photos , but probably pine 150-200mm wide and 60mm tall . Easiest would be to simply nail it to the posts and top rails , but if you added some spacers ( cut some 100 x 50 pine into 100mm lengths , then stain them the same dark grey fence colour , nail to the posts and probably every 'halfway' too , it would really 'lift' it more ? IMO that would really tie it all in with the house , and look classy , for maybe $2k tops .

Unfortunately it is also a requirement in the CCC District plan restricting ones fence height being over 1.8m. There are also stipulations about visibility of no more than 50% through the fencing so most home owners opt for the cheap solid timber fence. It is rather frustrating when we design these beautiful homes and the client has no regard for landscaping and the house is subsequently 'blocked from view.' Perhaps a little more client education would go along way for us to push some great landscaping designs and make more of a house on a section.

I'll say it straight out -- I personally don't think the style of fence matches the style of house . But not painting it makes it even more obvious . Maybe you need a new friend haha . Me -- I'd render the wall , and paint in an English Cream , AND do the 3 gables and the boards above the garage door and any other trim in the English Cream too , to tie it all in . IF the bricks were still available , I would have gone down that route , with the rendered fence pillars ( and gables and trim ) in an English Cream , or possibly the pillars in the same white as the house bits , but generally I'd try and go a bit closer to the brick colour than 'just' a white . It's workable , and almost anything would be better than leaving the blocks as they are IMO .