Ways To Decorate A Retaining Wall
Retaining walls can be built for aesthetic appeal or for practical purposes, like reducing erosion on a sloped property. To keep your practical wall from looking too utilitarian, give it a little personality! Read on for some ideas.
Paint It
Paint your brick or concrete retaining wall in a color that blends with your home. Alternatively, give it a bright color to add a splash of interest to your property. If your wall is flat concrete, hire an expert to give it a faux finish. A talented painter can make that wall look like it's made of marble.
Decorate It
A brick or concrete retaining wall offers the perfect surface to hold decorative elements that will hold up to any type of weather. Antique gardening tools, metal sculpture or wagon wheels are just a few ideas. Get creative and let the retaining wall be a reflection of your family's personality.
Grow Something On It
Create a flower bed at the base of your retaining wall and plant tall bushes or plants that will help mask the wall. If the retaining wall ends at a barrier that makes it impossible to create a flower bed, like a sidewalk or a driveway, line pots along the base of your wall to provide the same effect. You also could attach a pretty metal trellis to your retaining wall and plant trailing vines in the bed or pots at the base of your wall. Make sure you like the trellis you choose, however. When the weather turns cold and vines die off, you'll want to have an attractive trellis to look at all winter.
Another option is to look up. Line the top of the retaining wall with pots growing plants that will reach for the sky, drawing the eye up and away from the wall. Or you could fill them with flowers that will spill over the pot's sides, adding visual interest to a plain wall.
Light It
If your wall is near a power source, use twinkle lights to decorate your wall. Use them to create a design or spell a message, or simply drape them down from the top of the wall. If your wall isn't near a power source, but you love the idea of soft nighttime lighting, consider solar-powered lights. Alternatively, if you've lined pots along the top or bottom of your wall, paint them with glow-in-the-dark paint. The paint will soak up the sun's rays and provide a gentle glow at night.
Don't let a foreboding concrete wall kill your creativity. Have fun with decorating it and make your retaining wall an eye-catching piece of your property rather than an eye-sore. For more information, contact Quality Lawn & Landscape or a similar company.