Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Making A Cinderblock Retaining Wall

When Christy sent her amazing curb appeal makeover our way we couldn’t wait to share the eye candy. Here’s her letter:

First, love the bathroom stripes! I was amping up to stripe my laundry nook and I am even more excited about it now! But the reason I’m writing is to share our new and improved retaining wall in our front yard. When Erik and I moved into our townhouse our property line on the unattached side was marked with a DISGUSTING retaining wall. It was raw cinder block, 2 rows too short and just plain u-g-l-y. Of course our builder said he would complete it with stucco to match the foundation but I, thank goodness, didn’t hold my breath because as he ran from finishing our development, our retaining wall hopes ran with him. Needless to say, we had to pick up his pieces and finish it on our own. So our plan was this: 1. Add more rows of block to raise the wall. 2. Finish the exterior of the wall with paint. 3. Add a decorative planter box to cover the top of the stone. 4. Do it all affordably!!! We just finished it the other day and we couldn’t be happier. Here’s our price breakdown: cinder blocks: free (found them), mortar mix: $5, paint: $15 (Walmart baby), wood: $30, potting mix: $16, five begonias: $25… GRAND TOTAL: $91! We hope you guys like it! – Christy (& Erik)

Here’s the icky before:

Planter Box Before

And the lush and lovely after:

Planter Box After

Isn’t this a great example of using your wits and not your wallet to transform something less than appealing into a functional feature that actually contributes to curb appeal? We love the planter box they built right on the top of the retailing wall. And of course prepping and painting those cinderbloks definitely took them from raw and wrong to oh so right (on a major budget). Thanks so much for sending the delicious before and after photos our way Erik and Christy (check out their blog here)! The neighbors must be green with envy.


Comments

  1. Laura in LA says

    Ooh, great job! I love how well it matches your home!

    Hey Sherry, do I remember seeing something about you being in an upcoming HGTV show? Maybe Bang For Your Buck?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Laura,

      Maybe our Rate My Space episode is repeating? Other than that we don’t know of any upcoming HGTV appearances. Yet…

      Hope it helps. Glad you’re loving Christy and Erik’s awesome curb appeal quick-change.

      xo,
      s

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey Laura in LA,

      We figured out the HGTV rumor! We actually retweeted that Baltimore Rowhouse will be on Bang For Your Buck tonight at 9:30, so people thought we were talking about ourselves! Hope that clears it up. We’ll definitely be tuning in to check them out!

      xo,
      s

  5. Heather says

    I’m in LOOOOVE with the paint colors Christy used on her house!!! If you hear from her, can you ask for the exterior color, trim color and stain color? And maybe a source on the wooden blinds??

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hey guys,

      So glad you’re loving Christy and Erik’s awesome retaining wall makeover! We’ve emailed her to let her know that her Reader Redesign is up, so here’s hoping she stops in to answer your questions soon.

      xo,
      s

  13. Wehaf says

    That looks great! I wonder how much soil they removed to paint the wall, and then put back, so if the soil level shifts you won’t see the paintline. That would be my big concern!

    Reply

  14. Christy Grubbs says

    Hey everyone! Wow I’m so excited that you dig our re-do. I hope I can answer some questions here but please feel free to visit me at simplydwell.blogspot.com to see more of my home and all the projects in it.

    Our stain color is Behr’s Semi-transparent Oxford Brown. The planter box was really easy, my husband used 2- 2x10x16″ boards for the sides and 1-2x8x16 for the base of the planter, then he just finished the ends with scraps from the sides. It straddles the top of the cinder block and the weight of the potting soil holds it down. As far as our house colors go, we didn’t pick them out so I have no clue what they are, sorry!

    Thanks again for all the nice comments!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks for dropping by with that info Christy! And so sorry that the link to your blog somehow dropped out of the post, but it’s back in there now and we hope to send lots of people your way (to check out your lovely house and blog).

      xo,
      s

  17. Laura in LA says

    That was it Sherry! Thanks for the reply. Sorry to ask my off the wall question in your comments. It was the only option at the moment here at work.

    Reply

  18. Jennifer says

    I am amazed when people can put a little bit of money into something and turn it into something so beautiful. I can throw tons (or what seems like tons to me) of money toward something, and come out worse than when I started! Thank goodness I found this blog – I have actually done a few things that actually turned out well! Great job on the wall guys!!
    By the way Sherry, I absolutely adore the new pillow you guys picked out in the “We’re Digging…” section!!

    Reply

  22. Yansy says

    They did an amazing job, I can’t wait to see more. I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend. I would like to invite you to come and participate in my giveaway.

    Reply

  23. prettythings says

    Love the re-do, but the simplydwell blog has some bizarre links – instead of linking sources, it took me to political blogs… they might want to fix that.

    Reply

  25. darci says

    Okay, I’ve been a “blog stalker” for awhile now and finally had to say hello! My husband and I, both 27 too, live in Texas and love your blog!

    We’re headed to Wal-Mart right now to look for bamboo curtains (just had wood floors installed in our master bedroom this morning and now I’m on the hunt for white panels & bamboo curtains)! You have an awesome blog – such a wonderful resource.

    :)
    Darci

    Reply

  28. Ellen says

    If you want an easy and semi quick fix, that my husband I did to cover some cinder blocks was planning creeping vines. I would space them every 6″ and they will start growing pretty fast. Hopefully this can help.

    Reply

  31. Hannah says

    Love it – great job guys. You drive around and see so many of these opportunities on other’s homes and you wonder why they don’t take a page out of your book….really nice transformation.

    Reply

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