Looking for a way to bring colour and interest to your outdoor walls? Quickly and easily, and without spending a fortune? That may be more possible than you might think. Modern wall-covering technology has produced some outstanding solutions, and they’re available to you today. Let’s take a look at some great external feature wall ideas.
BetaBoard Has What You Need
BetaBoard is a leading supplier of plasterboard and building materials in the Brisbane area. Browse our products and organise a quote online, take advantage of our online ordering and our delivery service. Visit one of our stores, or get in touch with us online.
What Kind of Wall Will You Be Dealing With?
Before you start, consider what kind of wall you already have. Your options will be different in addressing a concrete surface versus a board and batten wall, for example. You can do anything you want by removing the wall and starting over, of course, but the idea here is to work with what’s there – to save time and cost, and to make the transformation as foolproof as possible. Your approach may be as simple as a new surface treatment or may involve surface removal and replacement. When considering removing an existing external surface on traditional balloon-wall construction, be aware that older houses may have insulation that incorporates asbestos inside the wall. Call in an expert builder/renovator to determine what lies beneath.
Just Paint It (or not)
Sometimes a light touch can be the best expression of external feature wall ideas. Visualise what other design elements you’ll be using to liven up the space. If you’re planning on new garden furniture, plantings, and maybe some lighting as well, there’s going to be a lot going on, and your wall may do best in a supporting role, with a fresh coat of paint that supports and complements the colour scheme of the foreground pieces.
If you have a masonry or rendered wall in good condition, it may not really need much more than a cleaning. Everyone knows how attractive a simple brick wall can look – the same can even be true of concrete. These can be turned into excellent external feature walls. You can texture-paint concrete very lightly and touch up brick to bring out their best visual qualities. It’s all about the context and what else you’re doing with the space.
Cladding for Quick and Easy Visual Complexity
At the other end of the wall treatment spectrum is cladding, also known as weatherboard. These amazing products can present the look of everything from stone and weathered boards to lapped siding, or even metallised surfaces. The look is very convincing – your guests will be touching the surface to see if it really is what it looks like, or they’ll just accept that of course it is. External cladding sheets can have a considerable amount of depth, with raised strakes and recessed joining seams, bringing texture to flat walls as the sun moves during the day and with accent lighting at night.
Among all the looks available, there is sure to be more than one that fits your plans – the biggest problem would be choosing which one to use. Among the easiest surface treatments to install, cladding sheets can be screwed or nailed into place, and will take any kind of paint. Some sheets are even available pre-primed, to make your project as easy as possible. The higher quality products of this type are a compressed fibre-cement composite – very durable, immune to termites, rot-proof, and requiring little maintenance, they’ll outlast wood and timber products by a big margin and keep looking great for a long time in our challenging Australian climate.
Do You Have a Difficult Wall?
Sometimes the best external feature wall ideas bump into troublesome reality. If your wall seems like it might be a trouble to work with – maybe it is older and a bit rough, or it has water pipes or an electrical box in an inconvenient spot – you can transform its look by leaving it pretty much alone and creating a living wall of climbers and leafy plantings just in front. You can paint the difficult wall a dark colour to fade back and provide contrast for your plantings – or maybe choose soft shades of light green, fading from darker to lighter from bottom to top, to increase the visual effect.
Rather than waiting years for your living wall to fill in, specialty greenhouses can supply plantings that are already mature enough to cover the space, and they’ll know which ones will do best in your local climate. Plant species that like walls are generally hardy and low maintenance, so upkeep should be reasonable. For the ultimate in low maintenance, use artificial vines and climbers in corners and dark or hard-to-reach areas – they’ll blend right in.
BetaBoard – Inspiring Creativity
These are just some of the ideas that may inspire you to create a feature wall that you’ll enjoy for years to come. BetaBoard has many more for you to consider and choose from. We’re ready with everything you’ll need for your external feature walls project. Browse our wide-ranging products online, contact us for a quote – or come and visit us at one of our conveniently-located stores. We look forward to seeing you soon.
