Wondering how to choose the right patio pavers to complement retaining walls in Harrisburg, PA? With this handy guide, you’ll create an eye-catching outdoor space that will beautifully complement your home and make sure you can live your best life outdoors.
Related: HOW YOUR CHOICE OF PAVERS CAN BRING OUT THE BEAUTY OF RETAINING WALLS IN HARRISBURG, PA
To Complement, or to Contrast?
First, some decisions need to be made with regard to materials. Do you want to complement or contrast with your material choices?
Often, the most pleasing results come from using complementary materials. This way, each element has its own character, while working together to create a visually pleasing space.
Most retaining walls, whether they’re new or existing, will be a close match or a complement to any other vertical elements: the home’s siding or foundation, an outdoor kitchen, a fire feature, etc. This strategy means you may want your choice of patio pavers to complement these elements as well, to create a cohesive appearance throughout your outdoor living spaces.
However, modern design can also favor the use of opposites. For example, a smooth-textured concrete retaining wall provides a beautiful contrast to textured pavers. Or a stacked-flagstone or tumbled block retaining wall could be a gorgeous contrast with smooth pavers.
Color Choices
Color choices also serve to complement or contrast. In general, you want to stay within a color family for the most pleasing effect (i.e., cool tones like grays or warm tones like tans and browns). Neutrals are where you can create contrast and interest. These could be bright, light creamy colors, or on the other end of the spectrum, charcoal grays.
A retaining wall could be a couple of shades lighter or darker than your patio, and it’ll look great as long as you stay within a color family.
If you’re going for a bold modern look and want contrast, one solution is to put light-colored pavers such as sandstone-inspired pavers next to a darker retaining wall made with rust-colored or dark brown wall units.
The Beauty of Simplicity
Another good rule to go by when choosing patio pavers to complement a retaining wall is to keep things simple. This would involve avoiding the use of more than three colors in total in your outdoor space: a wall color, a paver color, and a contrasting border.
However, in some cases, even three colors are too much. For example, a buff-colored stacked-flagstone retaining wall could look amazing next to a slightly darker weathered brick patio. But if this patio had a contrasting border, it could be considered a very busy space that wouldn’t work as well. Why? Because both stacked flagstone and brick are highly textural (brick has a strong visual texture, while stacked flagstone is physically highly textured).
The more texture your wall and pavers have, the less busy-ness you probably want to add to the space in the form of extra colors.
Seeing the Combinations in Person
Your best bet could be to browse our supply yard, pick out some good patio paver candidates, and see how they actually look next to a retaining wall. Be sure to observe the combination in sunny weather, along with overcast and rainy days since colors can change dramatically in different weather conditions.
Our friendly experts are happy to assist you in choosing pavers that can work well with an existing or new retaining wall. Come browse our large selection today, and get started on a very satisfying project that you’ll enjoy for decades to come.
Related: CHOOSING THE RIGHT MATERIALS FOR A RETAINING WALL PROJECT AT A MASONRY SUPPLY NEAR LANCASTER, PA
Photo courtesy of Unilock
