want to dress up an outdoor wall - ideas please?

[alpsy]

hi all,

i have an outdoor concrete wall approx 3mts wide and 5mts high that i want to add a touch of wow to. at the bottom of the wall will be a pond made of bessar blocks (2 high) going across the width of the wall.

although this wall wont be a waterfall, the bottom part of it (2 high bessar block part) will be submerged.

initially i was thinking of cladding the wall in black stack stones but am now thinking that has probably been done to death and might be a boring option.

so im wondering what else i can do with this wall. have you guys seen anything of late that might work?

thanks

b

[OBBob]

All we did with ours was run criss-crossed diagonal wires and grow passion fruit on ours. They smell nice, have good white flowers and produce a heap of fruit. At some stage I am thinking about attaching a grand old door to the wall with the passion fruit hedge surrounding it ... so it looks like it goes somewhere. I ahve seen this doen before and it can look really good (you might need a drawbrideg though :) ).

I guess it depends on if you are after a cottage style or a modern style etc.

[OBBob]

I'm not a fan of the stacked stones ... a more modern approach might be to run a couple of battens up the wall and attach horizontal hardwood strips to make a sort of screen-like feature?

[echnidna]

Paint a mural

[K_S]

Post some pics, pls

[alpsy]

thanks guys,

will post some today.

wanting a super contemporary look.

will try and explain a little better with pics

b

[Colin Howkins]

Alpsy,

Track down one of your local graffiti kids. Tell him roughly wnat you want. If the kid's any good he will give you a rough sketch up, you OK it then let him to it.

It's different, its conversational, and you'll get it done for a real good price

Colin Howkins
Graceville Qld

[rhancock]

It's a bit hard to give you ideas without some help as to what you are trying to achieve. Where in your garden is the wall? What is around it? Do you want to maintain it - ie pruning? Is there soil underneath? Does it get sun / water? What sort of climate do you have? What colours are near by? What style of garden / house do you have / want?

And pics, please....

[alpsy]

In early stages as you can see.

Plan is to have polished concrete floors (white concrete with river pebble aggregate). Looking for super contemporary look.

Picture of wall and to be completed pond below

B

[Huntsman]

Here's something I made for my wall. I used an old rusty trailer floor, drew the picture with chalk and cut the steel with a stick welder cranked up high. You could use an oxy. Wire brush finish with a coat of clear over the top and screwed to the wall. I hope the photo attaches, this is my first time.

Just an idea.
Brian.

[Planned LScape]

How about a random sandstone/bluestone/slate pattern in a central width band, with render on both sides to the edge. Basically divide into 3rd's with the pattern in the middle

[rhancock]

I"m a plant lover, so I will always look for a plant to provide the wow factor.

I assume you're going to render the whole wall, so you could paint it a coffee brown colour, then grow a climber up it, star jasmine is good - dark green leaves, white flowers with a beautiful perfume. Or you could just put a decent sized dracena in a pot (not in the water!) in the middle of the pond. Both will stand out against a brown wall.

Since you have a pond, there are plenty of water or marginal plants which would look great - just walk around any decent nursery (even bunnies have a decent selection these days!). The downside of water plants is that you will need to spend a little time each year maintaining them, so you need to be realistic about whether you want to do that.

If you want movement, put a water spout on the wall - a lion head, or whatever takes your fancy.

I'd avoid any more straight lines, as you've already got all the slats around the rest of the walls - any more lines either vertically or horizntally is going to overload your brain!

You said : "super contemporary" does you mean minimalist? black and white? stainless steel? zero planting?

Are you painting the rest of the area, or is it staying the same colour? Do you have a plan to reduce the visual impact of the roller door (eg a pergola with a climber over it)?

What are you putting on the floor?

I'm assuming its an entertaining area, and that there's traffic the other side of the roller door, so a little running water would make it more peaceful, and cooler, even just a little bubbler in the pond, or is it a reflection pond?

[alpsy]

thanks for all the feedback richard.

glad you mentioned the slat wall - need to do something about that ... either put blueboard over it and render or do something more creative.

roller door has just gone in and at some stage i hope to soften it a little. area is for carparking and entertaining and has huge visual impact from the house looking out.

plan is to lay a polished concrete slab (white concrete with river pebbles and perhaps white quartz thrown in). slab will have a 150mm gap from walls and i hope to throw large white or black rocks along border illuminated by led lighting.

pond with have 3 -4 spouts bubbling water above surface.

plants will be potted and comprise of yukkas, agaves and the like.

contemporary by my definition will be ultra modern and minimalistic.

a pergolas is out of the question as we want the natural light. we do have a motorised awning that covers a little less than half the area that comes in and out automatically based on level of sunlight.

all suggestions welcome.

regards,

b

[pharmaboy2]

OK opinion time , water feature - given you have so much height, i think a cascading water feature makes good use of that height and draws the eye - you cant hide a 5m high wall, so making the most of it is a better option, and there seems to be a shadow line about 3m high, that i would end whatever I did at that height - making sure the lower colour is darker than the upper.

cladding options - behind the water feature you could put a mirror on the existing wall, and bring forward the rear wall around the mirror (so a setback) to even with the engaged block wall, that seems to be about 100mm further out into the space on the left - this might even succesfully hide the downpipe.

Otehr cladding options that you may set out a bit on steel to flow straight off that engaged peer, is copper sheet, or core ten - core ten is steel made to rust so is the orange rust colour - very contemporary. patterned stainless steel can also be done, but you have to make sure direct sun doesnt shine off it into the loung room - can be blinding.

to hide the garage door, I'd consider going to ikea and buying their white shower screen sheer fabric, and hang off stainless steel cable, maybe 3 feet in front of the door - an extremely soft flowing effect, and for night time, you backlight it with either plain or coloured lights - when car is there, it gathers off to both sides, again softening the harsh walls..

Fo the floor, this depends on how much light strikes it, again going light looks great, but if it bounces light into the living areas, you may need sunglasses inside. I like off white cement and white sand mixed and poured as one floor but divide into 1.5m slabs (looks like the biggest slightly rustic tiles you have ever seen)- finished steel float and seal with non slip sealer - otherwise any large beautiful floor tiles (so much classier than pavers)

phew - all outta ideas now

cheers

[Dirty Doogie]

How about - tiling the wall in large 600 x 900 porcelian tiles. Matte or satin finish.

But I like the sheer waterfall idea too. The mist created would cool the area down.

Doog

[alpsy]

cladding options - behind the water feature you could put a mirror on the existing wall, and bring forward the rear wall around the mirror (so a setback) to even with the engaged block wall, that seems to be about 100mm further out into the space on the left - this might even succesfully hide the downpipe.

hiya pharmaboy,

dont fully understand this though it sounds very good ... could you please explain further? like the idea of covering the pipe, though it will make area look a little smaller :( not understanding how i will see the mirror if its behind the false wall? will the water be flowing down the mirror?

thanks

b

[pharmaboy2]

hiya pharmaboy,

dont fully understand this though it sounds very good ... could you please explain further? like the idea of covering the pipe, though it will make area look a little smaller :( not understanding how i will see the mirror if its behind the false wall? will the water be flowing down the mirror?

thanks

b

OK, on the LHS of the first pic, the block engaged pier wall looks to be 800 wide and probably 200 deep - so continuing that block work (can be blueboard just set out to flush) to the house wall. Now within that wall you construct a window frame - say 1.5m high, 1m wide for example - on the existing wall, that is now set back from the new fake wall you place a mirror that is now framed by the new wall and set back from its face by 200mm or 100mm depending on how deep that blockwork is.

Essentially you are providing the illusion of depth into the wall, as if being able to look through it to somewhere else - the water feature can do whatever you want it to do - could cascade off the new wall and therefore in front of the mirror, could be a fountain in front of the mirror (will seem like 2), OR down the mirror.

Another idea is to again build a false wall to bring out to flush with the blockwork, but stop about 200mm above the pond you have built, so it sort of hangs there - then have a cascading waterfall thats running over a surface (tiles, stainless steel, pebbles glued to fibre board, micro ribbed gal sheet etc), then when it gets to the bottom, it drips down into the pond.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/WATER-FEATURE-STAINLESS-STEEL-WALL-FEATURE_W0QQitemZ270170003676QQihZ017QQcategoryZ10035QQcmdZViewItem

that water feature above can be used without the pond base and simply screwed to the wall (must be level), with the pump in your pond you are building, and pipe going up to the top, so the water cascades down the ss, then comes off the bottom for a say 200mm fall into the water - would make a relaxing noise. lights obviously from inside the pond upwards.

You could do any of the above just leaving the wall as is, but I think that jutting out actually makes the space seem smaller not bigger . and covering the gas thingy is a must. For areally mod option, think about using shadowclad texture - its a rough sawn ply product with a monolithic appearance, that you can paint in whatever colour, but very different to the usual solution of blueboard.

[alpsy]

ok,

here is where im at now :)

stackstone style design to go on rendered wall - won't be having water running down it but pond will have 3 - 5 spouts along length bubbling water up to give what i hope will be a nice effect.

pond with have stackstone on external faces with black limestone capping on top. internals of pond will be painted black with waterproof membrane. will probably line base with large white stones.

stairs (which you can't see but directly beyond bifolds and flooring (currently the sand part) will be done in polished concrete. there will be a 150mm border between walls and concrete and i'll line it with large white or black (or perhaps even a combination) stones with LED lights spread evenly creating a border around all walls, pond and stairs.

colourbond cover over roller door with return to cover roller part.

there is a shot in this thread that shows the hot water system exposed. i will encase this in blueboard and render to match house.

now i'd like some suggestions as to what to do with the slat wall on either side as i hate it. one option is to blueboard it and give it a rendered look or can you guys suggest something more creative?

will appreciate any suggestions you have regarding all aspects of what im planning. best to hear it now rather that after i've done it only to find that ive botched it :(

thanks again

b

[NewAtIt]

Hey Alpsey

Well, you certainly have heaps of great ideas of your own, some quite costly. We did it very cheaply - had a carport which we couldn't use as our car was too big so we just used blueboard on a frame to close it in, then painted it with stone-finish paint in a Chilli Red colour which is very Mexican, put a water feature in front of it with some plants in colourful Aztec pots and hung some artwork. Was a great finish but very cheap.
Good luck with the rest of it - I hope you post photos of the finished product!

[frog_hopper]

Go and have a look at the water feature / feature walls at Plantation Homes - they have display homes out at Springfield Lakes. They have some really good ideas for outdoor alfresco feature walls on their display homes as most of their homes are designed for flat blocks, facing on to somone else fence. I took photos of them when I was out there, as I too was looking for ideas to dress up the wall (don't have the pics any more).

[chromis]

There was a program on vertical gardens recently that was pretty interesting

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s2058317.htm

A vertical garden combined with water feature and lighting would look great

[celeste]

Hi all

I saw a programe on the ABC or SBS can't remember one of theose.

They had a wall in a patio to decorate. they had some cane in pots. So they painted the wall in a green I think and then drew a muriel of cane on the wall in chalk would you believe - you could paint it on, it looked really good, it was simple and modern. I am thinking of something similiar in my current reno.

have a look around their web sites it was about 4-6weeks ago

Celeste