The ugly Wall.
That’s been my nemesis in this house ever since I bought it. That ugly block retaining wall at the end of my driveway has been an eyesore since day one. Â We tackled the inside of the house and then I started on the outside, by adding the new front porch, stone retaining wall, and landscaping. Â Wow, did that all make a difference. But, that wall was still mocking me, saying….make me pretty too!
It’s not a great looking wall and never will be, but I did not want to start over and tear it down.  It’s definitely leaning towards the driveway and over time has shifted.  It’s nowhere near straight, but again I want to save it and not start over if I can help it.  Some of you mentioned adding faux stone to the wall to make it prettier and yes, that is a great idea, but I don’t want to add any extra weight on it, since it’s leaning already. In my mind, making it look better is a good solution for now.  I don’t want to overspend on this house and need to do what I can to spruce up without spending a bundle.
I talked to Rustoleum a couple of years ago about a new product they have out called Restore and they sent me a gift card to buy it with, so I’m just getting to this project now. Â Last major project on the outside of my house.
Project Sprucing Up the Wall
First, I began by pressure washing the wall. It was peeling and flaky and mildewed in places. Â Most of the chipped paint and mildew came off with the pressure washing.
Close up of the Before wall. Â Not a pretty sight.
After pressure washing it was at least better with the flaky paint gone and the mildew too. Â With the shifting of the wall, a large crack developed on the right side.
My handyman dad and I decided to patch the cracks with ready mix concrete and go from there. Â We did a little more scraping on the wall after the pressure washing to get the last bit of flakes off.
Then, we mixed up the concrete mix for patching. Â It won’t be a perfect thing, but it will be better than it is now.
Dad filled in all the cracks at the top and anchored the block back in place. Â It has shifted so that it’s not level along the top anymore, but I’m just going to live with that.
Little by little we added concrete in the cracks and filled them all up.
Dad has done this before.
Filling those cracks to seal them up.
Setting that top block back into place as best we can.
We moved down the crack, filling each one and smoothing it out.
Dad sat in a chair and kept going. Â I got down in that far right corner and began filling from the bottom up.
And then we met in the middle.
Dad then took a big brush he had and smoothed out the concrete patch. Â We let it dry really well for a week and I left for the beach. We would paint it when I returned, last week.
It’s still wet in this photo, but once it dried, it was pretty smooth and ready to paint.
I bought a 5 gallon bucket of Rustoleum Restore for Concrete and Decks. Â This one is 4 times thicker than regular paint. They also have a 2x and 10x paint in Restore. Â I decided that 4 was good for this wall.
The texture is sort of like pudding, very thick, so it fills in the cracks really well. Â I also bought a special roller that was textured plastic type material to roll on the paint and it worked really well. The roller was sold along side the paint. Â I decided to go darker than my house color and chose Carbon. They can mix up either gallons or this 5 gallon paint bucket. Â I ended up buying way too much and could have bought 2 or 3 gallons and been fine. Â I may go back and do another coat later, since I do have plenty of paint and another coat won’t hurt.
My friend, Beth, was still in town and we all 3 worked on the project. She wanted to help, so I gave her some paint clothes.
Dad started cutting in with a brush by the garage, Beth started rolling, and I cut in on the far right corner of the wall.
Rolling on the thick paint made a difference and this paint covers well. Â With concrete blocks and cracks, we did have to work the brushes too to get the paint into all the crevices and cracks. Â The roller was textured and made sort of a stucco effect when rolled.
Dad cutting in.
Me cutting in along the bottom of the wall and in the corner. Â I like this dark gray.
I took over the roller and kept going.  One of us would take a paint brush and go back and dab paint into all the crevices and then use the roller over it to get rid of the brush marks and give it all a uniform stucco look from the roller.
Dad working away. Â It only took us about 1 and 1/2 hours to get it all done.
Dad and I rolling and painting, getting to the finish line.
And here is it all done. Â It’s still not a beautiful wall, but much better than before and I don’t have to hide it anymore.
Now at least it’s presentable and looks SO much better.
You can see where we patched the cracks and it’s not perfect, but much, much better. Â I can live with this. Â It may end up cracking again, but if it does I’ll deal with it then. Â When we landscaped the front yard, they added a French drain behind the wall to try to drain some of the water that collects in this area and the black pipe comes around the wall on the right, so I’m hoping this helps protect the wall from further deterioration.
And my next plan will be to plant some pretty evergreen vines, like vinca over the top of the wall. Â I know that is a good one, but if you have other ideas, I’m all ears. Â I think some vines cascading over the wall will make it look so much better too and it will blend in more with the backyard. Â There is already ivy coming over from the neighbor’s yard that I have to combat, so I don’t want to do ivy since it is so invasive.
Overall, I loved the Rustoleum product and it worked great for my purpose. Â It’s made for exterior concrete projects and goes on nice and thick, so I would definitely recommend it. I’ll see how it holds up to moisture and weather in the future, but for now, I’m thrilled with how much better THE WALL looks now! Â Now it’s not so much an eyesore.
Note: Â Thanks to Rustoleum for sponsoring this project, I think it’s a wonderful product to work with. Â
What a difference. The wall looks so much better now and with some green growing along it…perfect. I so ejoy seeing your dad help with your projects. You are so lucky to have him there with you working side by side…precious memories..
What a difference ! The wall looks great now and I think some vines cascading down next spring will look fantastic. That Daddy of yours ! He’s the best – what an inspiration to us all !
Oh the wall looks MUCH better now. Big difference!
I have the same problem at my house. An ugly concrete block retaining wall. I bought the Restore product as well and painting that wall is on my “to do” list. I’m just going to paint it to match the stucco house. My job is going to be a bit more of a pain because there are shrubs all along the front of the wall that I don’t want to cut back because they help hide the wall. Great job! I’m glad to see it turned out so well.
You could just cut them on the back side to have better access.
Wow! That wall looks so much better. Do you know if the Rustoleum paint would work on a wood porch floor?
Terri, unfortunately I’ve read some bad reviews for the Restore on decking. So I don’t think I can recommend it. I don’t know how my concrete will hold up, so time will tell.
I was thinking the same thing about my back covered patio, Terri! It’s so ugly and I want to do something to pretty it up. Rhoda, you have done wonders with that house of yours. I love watching your updates! Please don’t forget to link one of my posts about ovarian cancer during the month of September. I posted an article about ovarian cancer a few days ago that’s really good.
Yep, we did the Restore on our deck last year, before we read the reviews. The first bit of snow came, and the paint came up with it. I did complain to Rustoleum, sent pictures, etc. They did refund my money, thank goodness. But that didn’t cover the hours of labor it took to put it down, then scrape & sand it back off!
Looks great & the 3 trees behind the wall look really nice with it. I love Vinca & if you go with that, it will provide some nice color. Looks like you have a large back yard & I don’t think I’ve ever seen a full picture of it.
What about Carolina Jasmine? Like its ‘Confederate’ counterpart, it stays green, and the yellow blooms are just heavenly. Also, clematis and morning glories (can be invasive though). There are also dwarf honeysuckle as the old fashioned has to be maintained in order for it not to take over the world. If you could rig up a very…study support, wisteria would be lovely there. If you get a lot of sun there, a Ballerina Musk Rose would be pretty as well.
WOW! That looks great! What a difference. Love it when you and your sweet dad work on a project together.
That looks really good. How about adding some trailing rosemary to the wall? I d it at a previous house over a rock retaining wall and I really liked how it looked. This isn’t mine, but a googled pic.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/474x/64/2f/0e/642f0ebf073ed542bca9a7c89d26b03c.jpg
Oh, Lena, I like that look!
Wow! What a difference. I hope the drain works to prevent further damage.
Trailing plants would look lovely.
Vinca minor IS a lovely and well0behave vine. You might also consider a creeping phlox that give color in the spring and a dense green the rest of the year. the wall looks great. I’ve used a pastry bag set-up for fault lines like that which givea a very neat appearance, but mainly for tuck-pointing. You did a great job and it’s a vast improvement. Kudos!!!
Well that looks amazingly better. Good job. The vinca sounds like a great idea. How about a big pot in the corner with a trellis in it and something pretty. Since it is shady there I am not sure what would work. Or a large pot and a small evergreen in it.
Do your research on vinca vine. It is also very invasive. Someone had planted it in one of my flower beds before I moved here, and it has taken over the whole bed. I gets cut out, pulled out by the roots, etc., and it still comes back.
There are various varieties of vinca. Vinca minor is not invasive and can be easily kept in bounds. I t doesn’t grow up tree or stick with sucker as does ivy, etc.
This was a fun project to do with Rhoda and her Dad! The paint cleaned up easily with water! Loved it!!!!
THAT is way cool. Always remember we love the old of Italy and France!
There is a flowering vine with a Gerber Daisy look; called something like
Gallardia. It grows great in Houston – know it will fl9urish there. Lookin good mama!
Evergreen clematis is a lovely vine that stays green all winter and blooms in the spring. We’ve mixed it with Carolina jasmine for our pergola and they are lovely together.
The wall looks great!
Wall looks great and I think your “handyman” did a terrific job!
As for the Rustoleum Restore… it “might” work okay in weather where it doesn’t rain that often. But, for places where it rains, it’s a waste of time, effort and money!
We used it on our patio and there are pockets where the stuff just didn’t adhere! It bubbles and doesn’t adhere to the concrete below!
As I said, waste of time, effort and money!
Good luck with yours!
PS: Donna, how did you remove the coating from your deck? I can’t imagine it was a very easy job!
I really like the contrasting color you chose! My parents have two retaining walls on their property. One isn’t really visible unless you go to a side portion of their back yard. The other, however, is easily seen from the street. My mom is always telling me how much she hates the wall. I think that if I helped her do something like this with it she would be extremely pleased with the outcome! Thanks for so many pictures to really illustrate the work you did.
Rhoda, can you please give an update of how the Restore paint held up? Appreciate your reply.
HI, Elle, it hasn’t been quite a year yet, but so far it is holding up fine. I don’t see any flaking or chipping at all!