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You have a sloped backyard, and while it looks lovely, it also restricts your ability to make the most of your property. You could flatten everything, but you have to be concerned about proper drainage. What you need are small retaining walls to create reinforced soil slopes. This gradually steps your property down to have multiple levels to use. You can customize the size and height of your retaining walls to suit the size and slope of your property. 

These inexpensive retaining wall ideas will help you create a plan for your property.

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1. Choose a Stone Block Wall for Aesthetic Durability

Consider using wall blocks if you plan to build your retaining wall yourself. They are clay or concrete blocks that you stack and reinforce. Build a custom wall. To keep the cost down, use a cinder block for the main contrition of the wall. Then you can cover up the block with a paver base. The result is a beautiful wall that you built yourself.

If pavers are out of your budget, the. You can paint the concrete blocks to camouflage their true identity. Another option is to use a concrete stain, which is more durable and has more versatility than paint.

2. Opt for Economical Poured Concrete on Slopes

Poured concrete is affordable if you have some serious retaining walls to build. This is when you need a large concrete wall to support the weight of your home or another building.

Smaller projects may not warrant the cost of bringing in professionals. In this situation, you could mix and pour your own concrete wall. While you could leave the concrete bare, it’s a bit ugly. Hide it by adding a stone veneer to the facade. This gives your wall an elegant look without sacrificing strength and structure. Another option is covering it in tile. However, tile can get expensive depending on the tile you choose.

3. Concrete Sleepers for a Retaining Wall

If concrete block and poured concrete aren’t what you are looking for, you have a third option for your concrete retaining wall, concrete sleepers. These are large sections of pre-cast concrete that get placed together to build a wall.

Unlike blocks, these are much larger and typically have a longer shape to them. Unlike poured concrete, they are made elsewhere in a more controlled environment, making them stronger and more durable. Most sleepers require a metal support frame to help hold the sleepers in place. They look similar to the posts in a fence, with even spacing throughout your retaining wall.

4. DIY Retaining Wall

You can build your own retaining wall. However, before you jump into this project, you need to know what you are doing. Getting a retaining wall wrong can create a costly disaster that you’ll have to hire professionals to correct.

Before you start your DIY retaining wall, have the property surveyed so that you understand the slope, grade, and drainage flow. Prepare a plan that addresses all of these things. The more earth you want to hold back, the more reinforced your wall needs to be. To prevent issues later on, have your DIY retaining wall idea reviewed by a professional before commencing with the project.

Read also: 37 Easy DIY Garden Ideas on a Budget 

5. Build a Stylish Gabion Stone Filled Wall

While you could buy preassembled gabion wall sections, you can save money by making your own. A gabion wall is a wireframe shaped into a square or rectangle. Then the space is filled with stones or rocks. The stones are packed tightly together in the wireframe to create a solid wall.

These walls work well as a retaining walls because they are solid and strong enough to hold the earth back. When you build your own, you can make them as long or as tall as you need them to be. You can also choose the type of stone you want in them. Consider your budget and the look you are going for when you make your selection. The most commonly chosen rocks are sandstone, granite, and quartzite.

6. Beautify Your Slope with a Garden Bed

You don’t have to have sloped property to build a retaining wall. You could add height to your property by building a tiered retaining wall. Once you build the individual garden retaining walls, you can cultivate a garden bed on each flat step created. With the multiple levels, you can cultivate different plants in each.

Develop different soil formulations for flower beds, vegetable gardens, and greenery. You could leave the garden walls plain or decorate them to give your garden a whimsical, bohemian, or English countryside feel.

7. Incorporate a Functional, Decorative Landscaping Wall

Building retaining walls is about more than cutting into the earth and building a wall. You need to do a lot of math first. The finished wall needs to support the weight of the earth pushing against it from above.

If you build anything on top of that earth, your wall also needs to support that weight. The thicker the wall is, the more weight it will support. To increase the wall’s strength, you may need to make it thicker. It can also help to slightly back angle the wall towards the earth you want it to support.

Read also: 46 Landscaping Ideas

8. Add Rustic Charm with a Log Wall

A timber retaining wall can look natural, giving your home and property a country feel. How finished the logs will dictate how rustic your wall looks. Unfinished logs that still have their bark will look the most rustic.

Finished smooth and uniform logs will look more like an elegant country cabin or lodge. Logs are best for smaller wood retaining walls. If you build too big, you’ll need to reinforce it with metal ties. You should also consider the diameter of the logs you are using to determine if your finished wall will be strong enough for the weight it needs to hold.

9. Install a Sleek and Durable Metal Wall

A cheap retaining wall idea that often gets forgotten about is to use metal. It’s more expensive per square foot than poured concrete but can be comparable to high-quality railroad ties. Adding a large metal wall to your outdoor space can give it a modern feel.

Try using multiple materials in your wall construction. For example, use wood Timbers to frame each piece of metal. This softens the look of metal to keep it from looking too commercial or industrial. Only use high-quality metal; anything low quality won’t withstand the exposure and will quickly rust out.

10. Bring Rustic Elegance with Rocks and Boulders

You’ll want to use natural stone to create a rustic or natural look to your retaining walls. This doesn’t mean using stacked stone, which won’t have a natural look. Natural stone walls use large boulders and rocks that get placed naturally.

The result is an imperfect-looking wall that blends in with natural surroundings. This style of rock wall Is not something you can build on your own, mainly because you’ll need heavy equipment just to move the oversized rocks.

11. Build a Retaining Wall with Sleepers

You don’t have to use concrete to make a sleepers wall. You can also build one out of wood. The long wood beams have a square shape to make it easier to stack them. On the backside of the wall, there are metal straps that secure the wood beams to the surrounding beams both horizontally and vertically.

If you want the look of wood but the strength and longevity of concrete, you can buy concrete sleepers with a wood grain texture. You can then stain or paint the concrete to create the illusion of wood.

12. Choose Classic Wooden Beams for Your Wall

Landscape timbers are sometimes called railroad ties. These are large square shape logs that can be several feet in length. They get their name from their use when building old-school railroads. They were the logs placed under the metal rails.

They work perfectly for building retaining walls because they are large, heavy, and easily stacked. Some cheap retaining wall ideas use the same wood you would use for a wooden fence. While this is treated wood, it isn’t nearly as strong or durable.

You love having an outdoor kitchen or sitting area on your backyard patio or deck. The only problem is the lack of shade. You would enjoy your outdoor living space a lot more if it weren’t so darn hot. Adding an outdoor structure like a pergola can provide you with much-needed relief from the sun. You may not realize that pergolas come in a wide range of sizes, shapes, styles, and materials. Choosing the right pergola for your backyard will depend on your budget, space available, and desired style. 

These pergola ideas will help you add some much-needed shade to your outdoor area.

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1. Maximize Space with an Attached Pergola

You don’t have to have a freestanding pergola. An attached pergola gets built off of the side of your house. You could have a wooden pergola constructed to extend from the roof of the house outward o cover your patio.

This is a great solution if you want seamless protection from your house to your outdoor living space. This style also works better when you have limited space and need a uniquely shaped pergola. Instead of a square, you could have a long rectangle shape that extends the length of your house.

2. Enhance Protection with Pergola Cover

A traditional patio does not have complete overhead protection. There are long beams that provide some sun blocking, but not completely. It also won’t protect you from rain or falling debris. If you want more protection, you need an additional patio cover.

A popular pergola design idea is to use large strips of fabric that get woven through the roof. This blocks more light but won’t fully protect you from the sun. Another option is a mechanical roof. The beams are all interconnected so that you can move them either manually or have a motor connected to them. The beams then rotate to partially or fully cover the roof.

3. Upgrade Your Deck With a Pergola

If you already have a deck attached to the backside of your house, then adding a pergola to it can make the outdoor space more enjoyable. What’s nice about pergolas is that you can buy them in different sizes. So you can add a pergola roof to small spaces.

When adding a pergola to your deck, consider building it onto the existing deck. This integrates the design and helps everything to look cohesive. You can upgrade the design by adding lighting. You can have lighting around the lower deck area and then add more string lights overhead.

4. Match the Style of Your Pergola to the Style of Your Home

While all pergolas have a basic design of supporting legs and parallel beams overhead, they are a wide variety of pergola styles. When choosing your backyard pergola, consider its style, construction, materials, size, and color. This will ensure you pick the right pergola that complements your home.

Your pergola should look like an extension of your home as if they were built at the same time. Otherwise, it will look like an awkward add-on. You also need to consider the climate you live in and the direction your backyard faces. This will help you choose the right setup for your backyard to provide the right amount of protection to make your backyard comfortable.

5. Ensure Stability and Safety with DIY Pergola Building

Do not try to DIY your pergola unless you have experience with woodworking and building. Depending on where you live, you may need a permit to build your backyard structure. If you build the right support for your pergola, it could sink into the ground and become crooked or completely fall.

You also need the right support for the top to ensure it stays standing during inclement weather. If you don’t have a lot of home improvement experience but still want to build your own pergola, you could buy a kit. They come with everything you need, from precut wood to hardware. Follow the directions and put your pergola together.

6. Create a Vertical Garden Oasis with Your Pergola

Turn your pergola into a living vertical garden. You can encourage a climbing plant to grow up the supports and across the top. Or you could hang potted plants from the pergola to add an accent of color. Put climbing vines in your hanging pots, and you can keep the garden off the ground and only above you.

You don’t need a trellis when you have a pergola because the frame acts as the support. This is why you commonly see grape and lemon vines growing over a pergola. Flowering vines are also popular because it can create a natural cover full of colorful blooms.

7. Transform Your Space with Modern Pergola Aesthetics

Unlike other pergola design ideas, modern pergola plans feature a simple design with straight lines and crisp 90-degree corners. While they could be made from wood, you will also find fiberglass pergolas.

They will come in more colors and have a simple and clean design that looks beautiful on modern homes. They can update an older home and look good with modern patio furniture. Skip the curtains with this pergola style as they look better with a stamped metal screen.

8. Embrace Elegance with Mediterranean Screen Pergolas

A Mediterranean screen-style pergola is perfect for creating an oasis in your backyard. Unlike other pergola design ideas, these pergolas have a screen built into them. This could be a screen over the top to provide gentle light filtering.

There could also be a screen on one or more of the sides. Look through pergola designs to find one that complements your home’s style. It could have large statement columns or screens made of metal. A lattice style of screen is perfect for growing a vine plant to create a living wall.

9. Transform Poolside Space with a Pergola

If you already have a pool in your backyard, adding a pergola is the perfect addition. It will provide you with a much-needed escape from the sun. You can outfit your pergola with home decor-inspired elements. This creates an indoor feel to your outdoor space. Add an outdoor sofa, area rug, and lighting.

A few throw pillows will create plenty of cushion. A chaise lounge or lounger chair is perfect for relaxing on a hot summer day. Curtains are also nice because they can block the sun as it moves across the sky from morning to evening.

10. Add Curtains and Screens to Your Pergola

Once you build your backyard pergola, you’ll want to spend more time outside. This can lead to a new problem, a lack of privacy. You don’t want your neighbors inviting themselves over every time you try to enjoy some outdoor dining. Instead of just having a pergola frame, you can mount curtains.

This transforms your structure into a white pergola with billowing white curtains flowing all around. Having multiple curtains allows for plenty of airflow while also creating privacy. If you’re looking for more privacy, you could turn your pergola into a more solid structure with screens or even glass doors.

See more backyard privacy ideas here.

11. Generate an Outdoor Ingenuity With a Rustic Wooden Pergola

A sleek and modern pergola won’t make sense if you have an old house. Your pergola should blend in with the rest of your home’s style and architecture. Take a lesson from southern living trends and build a wood pergola.

This traditional building material looks good with a wide variety of home designs and can be cut or carved to mimic the details of your home. You could have a rustic pergola that looks hand-built or an ornate pergola with intricate carving details throughout.

12. Transform Small Space with Pergola Kits and Canopies

Pergolas are typically large, permanent structures that cover your entire patio. If you don’t have the budget for this type of investment, there are smaller options. The first is to buy a vinyl pergola kit. They come in a range of sizes to fit your backyard space and budget.

The other option is to put up a canopy; these temporary structures typically have a metal frame and a canvas or other fabric covering. They come in smaller sizes, making them perfect for micro patios. These small patio pergolas limit the number of people you can fit under them, limiting the size of the entertaining you do.

13. Add Swings and Hammocks to Your Pergola

Give yourself a place to sit back and gently sway as you enjoy a cool afternoon refreshment. Instead of having a porch swing, you can hang one from your pergola. If your pergola is large enough, you could hang two that face each other.

Each swing should be large enough to seat more than one person for them to be functional. If wooden porch swings aren’t your style, take a tropical or bohemian approach with a macrame hanging chair or hammocks. They’ll cradle your body and are perfect for a more organic feel to your pergola seating.