retaining wall update: section one is complete!

It's time to reveal the first completed section of the retaining walls! To help, jog your memory, here's what it was looking like before we started:

And here's where it was at when I last posted a pic:

It took longer than I thought to choose a paint colour, and longer still to complete the two coats of paint required, because we've had many a rainy day this winter! I used a large brush for the first coat, on recommendation from Bunnings staff, but decided to use a 'fluffy roller' for the second coat to save time (and because with all the arguing about fluffy roller's on The Block, I figured there must be some good to it). Apart from a couple of tricky bits, I think the roller provided better coverage, so next time I think I'll just use that for the bulk of the painting.

Without further ado, here's my one and only after pic:

I talked about how I chose the paint colour in this post, and I must reiterate again what a good decision it was to buy a couple of sample pots. Doing this meant I was confident with my choice, so when it came to purchasing the paint, I bought a 10L can (much cheaper per litre than smaller cans), knowing I'd be using it for all the retaining walls (there are a LOT of them), and for when we updated the painting around the house (trim, gutters etc).

The best thing about Dulux Namadji is the way it changes colour with the light. On overcast days, it picks up on the grey tones in the sky (as in the photo above), while on sunny days, it picks up on earthy browns in the garden (in some lights it's almost a 'sepia' hue).

You might also notice we've got a new letterbox. After living with a rusting (and flood-prone) one for five years, our excitement for our new one might actually be on par with the completed retaining walls behind it! Kym bought it on ebay, and it was delivered straight to our door within a week. We concreted the post into the ground, screwed the box on top a few days later and it was done!

Sometime in the next couple of weeks, we'll buy some new bushes (I'm thinking banksias or bottlebrushes) to go along the front for privacy, at which point we'll also level out the mounds of dirt!

We're well on our way in tackling the next retaining wall, on the other side of the garage, I'll chose some pics of that one soon!

Over to you: What's your latest home-project?