If I had a wall like that in my back yard and didn’t have to worry about what my husband thought, I would paint it a southwestern orange sunset color.

You have done a very good job with your planting design. The wall is fine unpainted, a nice neutral background color. No to the Creeping Fig. The plants are going to grow! The Confederate jasmine alone can be trained to cover the entire wall with the right support. Painting it would be perfectly fine too. Stucco? Not worth it.

You have the stingy neighbor with the avocado right?

I’d paint, but suggest looking into how difficult and the maintenance/longevity. Plants will take some time to grow to be large to enough to make a difference, so important to weigh your decision.

I'd paint a nice forest green so that it provides a background that will blend in easily with the greenery. Years ago, I saw this done and thought it looked gorgeous. It visually extended the yard because you could no longer see the fence unless you looked specifically for it.

it would depend on maintenance and upkeep for me. if you paint it, do you have to repaint every (how many years?) to keep it looking nice? As poster above said, your plants are going to grow and fill out space.

Can you post a picture of the house so we can see how it relates to the wall?

This is what it looks like. The bars are gonna go eventually and so are the ones on the door and sliding door when we put in new windows/ doors. First I want to put in a wrought iron door from Pinky’s (in picture) in place of the one that’s covered by the bars at the moment. (Current Front door is wrought iron from pinky’s and I love the way wrought iron doors look. I want to do the windows with them as well but I think it would be very expensive) and also the dining area still needs chairs, a rug, and that ac unit is either going to get moved or covered with a table cloth. But i feel that moving it could make the space feel a lot bigger.

And thank you all for your suggestions! I like the bold color Ideas. however, it’s not going to fly with dw lol

And hi Christopher, yes that’s me! As you can see on the new pictures, they did end up cutting everything that was hanging over to our side lol

And thanks for the compliment! I tried my best, and it wasn’t easy, as I’m probably one of the most indecisive people on the planet. But I’m hoping it will all turn out how I envision it when the plants get bigger

I did a stucco smooth coat on mine (I have a similar block wall) but did it over the koi pond in the front courtyard. my house is a spanish style, so it works. but you're right, it's not cheap. I'd love to do all my bricks (not necessarily this color though)

You could try a lime wash by Romabio. It's meant for masory. (don't paint that stone w/regular paint) The good thing about the lime wash is that it will hose off within 72 hours if you don't like it. Try a small container and see how you like it.

this classico is a natural lime product and will wear naturally. it can last well up to 20 years w/o much maintenance.

Plants grow very quickly and can cover most of the wall. Plant a few bougainvillea on the back wall to fill in. The star jasmine will cover everything in one season. I think you'd draw attention to the wall if painted, and it will become a maintenance issue over time. Then you 'd have to cut back all the grown plants to get at the peeling paint.

Thanks for sharing the pictures. Without seeing the house my initial thought was that paint would be a bad choice, but now I can see why it would look nice to cover the natural color of the block. I have never painted brick, but I'd look into @Beth H. :'s suggestion since I'd want to minimize the maintenance concerns. It does seem like either stucco or paint would make the block more cohesive with your Spanish style house. Adding plants will help too. Cute house.

my favorite blogger painted hers black. she hasn't been able to spend much time on her yard (yet), but even though the landscaping is a little plain, the painted wall was an instant improvement.

this is what it looked like before:

You don't want black in a warm climate.

If it were fencing I would say black or dark green, but I really like the look of what you have.

Love the paver under the bird bath. O K if I copy?

I have cherry laurels and autumn clematis on our cedar, naturally weathered pool fence and a sundial on a granite post which came with our 60’s downsize. Love it and planted around it.

NICKERSON HOUSE AFTER · More Info

As for your issues with growing grass, look into a product by Dupont, forever lawn. It looks and feels like real grass, drains; we are doing it around our pool. Priced by the sq ft

I would not paint the block wall, about the time your planting will be beautifully grown in, it will need to be repainted...:(

Just scrolled down to your yard photos…now don’t laugh…it is an amazing product by Dupont. We will replace our pool surround next month with it.

I think this one in white would look great if it had plants in front of it like yours does. I wonder if it would be way too bright though?

this one looks like they stained it rather than painting. with or without the mural, it's gorgeous:

I know this is different from your style, but I love this charcoal grey painted brick with a simple mural. what if you did something like that, but chose imagery that goes with your own style?

one more example of stain. I like it.

Light colors advance and dark colors recede. If you want the yard to appear larger, paint the block a dark gray and plant in front of the wall.

Love that wall for tour pond, Beth H!

I helped my neighbour with a wall project. We got large free pieces of bathroom mirror and put very fine lattice panels over the mirrors and added a simple one by two inch frame on the edges. The key is fine lattice so it doesn’t hurt birds, they aren’t attracted thinking their image is another bird and they don’t think they can fly through. They add sparkle and light, and you think you are looking through, especially if they reflect plantings.

Thank you guys for your suggestions. I’m thinking that maybe the white of the jasmine will be enough to not make it look so bad. And with all of the greenery starting to grow from the trees, it doesn’t look so bad. However, now I have another issue. The grass is not really coming back anytime soon in the areas where it’s gone. Do you guys think it would look better if I did some new grass in areas where it needs it, or should I just do all gravel? I’m not too worried about maintenance, but about which would look nicer. Thanks!

The gravel would replace the grass, or I would simply put down new grass where it needs it

If you aren’t worried about maintenance, then I’d say grass. If you do gravel (assuming white or grey color), you will lose your contrast. You will have grey wall, grey ground, and grey patio floor. ??? I think the green ground looks like a better option to me.

Would not stain or paint the block wall. Anything painted or stained will, inevitably, need to be redone and can get to looking really tacky as it gets to that point -- and, as you mentioned, cost is a factor -- a professional painting job can be expensive. the point of block or brick is low maintenance and paint or stain defeats that purpose.

You might add to the ideas you're considering:

Add rectangle planters to add more lattice.

Add some vertical boards / posts with brackets by or against the wall for hanging baskets.

Add pressed metal exterior wall art that is removable.

https://www.google.com/search?q=large+pressed+metal+stainless+steel+exterior+wall+art+for+garden+patio&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjn2vqK5J_wAhVTM1kFHZejA3wQ_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=1366&bih=626

Living in Phoenix, everything is stucco beige. Our back wall needed some pizazz too, so we painted it a very light olive green, and it made all the trees and plants pop. You need to do something, it looks too unfinished, and paint is always the easiest and cheapest.

Instead of just painting you could have it parge coated or stuccoed.

Put down new grass. It will look fresher and is cooler than gravel. If you don't want the maintenance or water cost, you could consider faux grass.

Yes, consider artificial turf.

We painted ours a beige color, to blend in with the house, but we also have a creeping fig that has now covered most of the wall - they do this fairly quickly.

We've had Carolina jasmine in the past and it was very high maintenance. I'm not sure how that would compare to star jasmine, which may not be a true jasmine. Anyway, I am terribly allergic to Carolina jasmine, and the vine produced huge amounts of dead leaves that got moldy very quickly, and that was not good either. We also had a passion vine that covered a 20 foot wall and made massive amounts of passion fruit, but it was almost as much maintenance as the jasmine, with regard to removing dead leaves. The flowers were gorgeous, however, and I got enough fruit to make lots of passion fruit sorbet.

I would definitely paint the wall to cover it until plants can cover it.

Lars, you are making me drool. I adore passion fruit beyond measure and I am considering putting that in. Those flowers and that fruit make any work worthwhile!