Here Is How a Practical Retaining Wall Can Be Beautifully Incorporated in Your Landscape Design in Fitchburg, WI

Beyond showing off its natural beauty, your landscape design needs to be practical and support your family’s outdoor lifestyle. A retaining wall can be one of the best single landscape additions you can make, for several reasons. From supporting the landscape to expanding and enhancing your outdoor living spaces, here is how a practical retaining wall can be beautifully incorporated in your landscape design in Fitchburg, WI.

Related: 7 Landscape Design Ideas That Can Draw Focus to a Prized Retaining Wall in McFarland, WI

Following the Natural Curves - Or Not

For a successful naturalistic landscape design, masonry retaining walls will adapt to the land and follow the natural curves of the landscape. A well-designed retaining wall intended for a more rustic setting will take inspiration from the natural world instead of working against it: the use of natural stone, gentle curves, and proportional design will make the wall feel well-incorporated.

For modern spaces, you could go bold with razor-straight lines and colors that pop, such as stark white (which can be achieved using decorative concrete blocks or tinted poured concrete).

Creating Continuity

As one of the potentially largest masonry features in your landscape, the retaining wall is going to define much of the masonry design of your property. The masonry that’s used on your home and that which is already existing in your landscape should inform the look of the retaining wall, whether it’s natural stone, brick, or a modern concrete block arrangement. If you want to do a complete redesign of masonry features in your landscape including the retaining wall, remember that the landscape will look disjointed without some sort of masonry continuity. This doesn’t necessarily mean using the same materials throughout. Materials could be complementary (which gives each element its own character) and tied together with a common theme, such as straight lines and large format wall units.

Housing Light Fixtures

Every landscape needs good lighting for nighttime safety and ambience. A retaining wall is an excellent opportunity to house outdoor lighting fixtures. The sheer size of the wall, the proximity to other landscape features, and the safety of placing infrastructure inside make it one of the best places to use in lighting design. You can embed light fixtures in the wall itself, angling them directly up or down to accentuate the textures of the wall while casting light on the surrounding area.

Expanding Usable Space

When you install a retaining wall on a hillside, you end up creating two new surfaces: the vertical surfaces of the retaining wall are prominent in the landscape and present a wonderful design opportunity. The horizontal space that’s added can be a welcome addition to your outdoor living, enabling you to create dedicated fireside areas, hot tub areas, dining spaces, and more.

Plenty of Extra Seating

With an expanded outdoor living space, there will undoubtedly be a need for more seating. Whether you install some large and comfortable seats that surround a fire pit or use the wall itself (either as a seat wall or as support for integrated masonry seating), a retaining wall gives you lots of potential to work with.

Integration Into Other Features

An outdoor fireplace, water feature, or outdoor kitchen can all become “one” with a retaining wall. Integrating the fireplace and kitchen into a retaining wall adds a wonderful homey feel; and the addition of an integrated water feature such as a sheer descent waterfall or Roman fountain will enhance the experience even more.

Related: How to Choose Wall Stone for Your Retaining Wall in Monona and Madison WI Areas