Apart from enhancing functionality by holding the soil behind them, creating usable space, and providing an outdoor living area, retaining walls play another vital role— maximizing a property’s curb appeal. A well-designed retaining wall looks way cooler than anything you have ever thought of having in your outdoor space.

A retaining wall can transform the uneven ground on the outside of your house into something appealing to the eye. Over the years, people have primarily used concrete to construct retaining walls. That’s understandable because it holds the soil properly and it is generally inexpensive. Concrete is not so aesthetically pleasing, but one can always manipulate it to inject style into it, like MagnumStone’s concrete block retaining walls.

Whatever material you want to use for your retaining wall, discussed below are amazing looking retaining walls and retaining wall ideas you can borrow from to make your outdoor space beautiful.

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1. Interlocking Blocks Retaining Wall

Interlocking blocks offer a cool design for retaining walls. The concrete retaining wall blocks or masonry blocks are arranged in such a manner that they form an interlocking pattern with one another. 

Interlocking blocks retaining walls are versatile since you can select interlocking blocks of a shape of your liking. The cylindrical-shaped blocks for instance are incredibly beautiful and make your space breathtaking to look at.

Have you always wanted to add life to that garden in your front yard? Interlocking blocks may be the lifesaving retaining wall idea you have been waiting for.

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2. Natural Stone Retaining Wall

If you want to create a functional outdoor space but do not want to lose the natural look on the exterior section of your home, stacked stone retaining walls will work perfectly for you. They make your landscape awe-inspiring by adding a natural depth and texture that other materials such as concrete wouldn’t achieve.

Natural stacked stone retaining wall ideas work even better if your property is set by a lake. Having it surrounded by a natural stone retaining wall is a great idea! You can make it look even more amazing by making the color of your house and the stone almost identical. Check out Pinterest for amazing lake retaining wall ideas.

You can also use stones to create a barrier around your swimming pool or any other water feature such as fountains. The look is spectacular!

 3. Fused Large and Small Stones Retaining Wall

You remember natural stone is a good way to use nature to your design advantage, don’t you? This is a variation to that idea. Using both large and small stones for the same retaining wall introduces a whole different dimension to retaining walls— it looks absolutely impressive.

To implement this idea well, build the retaining wall using large stones then fill the spaces in between them using the smaller stones. If you are daring enough with your wall design ideas, go ahead and use stones of varying colors. Oh, and don’t forget to follow a pattern of sorts as you lay the stones—  it makes for a gorgeous outdoor ‘piece of art’!

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4. Wooden Retaining Wall

If there is just one word that can perfectly describe wooden retaining walls, it would be ‘versatile’. You can explore a wide range of retaining wall design ideas with wood and timber. And guess what, you won’t ever go wrong!

Even though retaining walls made exclusively of timber are not strong, timber can be used to construct beautiful short retaining walls. Use these short walls as barriers for that garden in your backyard. The look is intriguing!

Using wood as an added barrier to your stone or concrete wall also adds vibrancy to your outdoor space. Once you have constructed your retaining wall, have an additional wooden fence to act as a barrier. In this case, the wooden retaining wall is exclusively used to add beauty to your space— it will not help with soil retention.

5. Entwined Brick Retaining Wall

Bricks are popular among homeowners as ideal materials for retaining walls. They are available in different sizes, colors, and textures. They are often manipulated to make outdoor living spaces more aesthetically pleasing.

Entwining different colors of brick can create an outstanding design for your retaining wall. In this gorgeous retaining wall design, bricks of varying tones are paired together to add an intriguing depth to outdoor space architecture. If these bricks match a tiled outdoor floor, the end product can be fantastic.

6. Retaining Wall with A Wire Mesh

Is your property located on a slope that is prone to soil erosion? You can always build a gabion-like retaining wall that looks great. You just need to be a little playful and creative with it.

A retaining wall entailing the use of a wire mesh is customizable since the stones used to fill the enmeshed wire boxes are not held together using any binder. You can manipulate its size, shape, and color. 

You can make the wall eye-catching by varying the color of the mesh. Imagine an off-white mesh cutting through the natural brown color of the stone. You’d want to look at that twice! You can even vary the sizes and patterns of the stones. Clearly, there are endless possibilities with enmeshed wire.

Photo by Mike Enerio on Unsplash

7. Retaining Wall with A Wire Netting

This is a variation to the wire mesh stone wall. For the enmeshed wire idea, the aim is to make the mesh visible. It introduces a unique pattern. For the wire netting, the aim is to make the netting ‘invisible’. 

The wire netting is made very thin, to an extent where one can barely see it. This makes the stones look like they are standing on their own without a binder. This would look amazing on your landscape if done right.

This retaining wall idea is great if you want to build a gabion that only uses the wire to enhance structural integrity but never to be seen.

In Closing

Amazing looking retaining walls do not have to incorporate expensive ideas that are ‘out of this world’. Having a beautiful outdoor space may just call for you to be more creative with your retaining wall design ideas.

Pay attention to small details like color, the type of material, the shape of the material, and the different combinations thereof that would work for your space. You will end up turning your outdoor area into an impressive outdoor art masterpiece!