Good soil + strawberries and herbs + pig face + myoporum purpureum + succulent/cacti + paint a beautiful colour (with excellent surface preparation). All and any of those will take interesting but ordinary, which you currently have, to gorgeous and eyecatching. Go for it! May the force be with you! ;-)

As much as I like DIY, I think I would get a professional landscaper to put in steps/path and any retaining walls needed to create a lovely garden. They could give you a planting guide to help you do the rest yourself if you are that way inclined.i like the idea of natural stone stepped pathway but that might not suit your needs.

Hi all, Sorry for the slow replies and thanks for the input so far. From what I've read online a re-inforced besser block wall should be about $600 p/sqm including footings in Sydney (Hornsby shire council area). Given the wall is 1m x 10m it should be let's say $7k including design and DA or am I way off? I'd also need to dispose of the current wall + footings but I could probably give the blocks away. The paved area is about 40sqm. Would it be safe to assume $200 p/sqm for concrete base, paver supply (travertine) and install (coping and surrounds)? So the wall and and paving would cost let's say $16k + fencing + cladding. This isn't too bad considering how much better it would look and the value it would add to the house. I like the flexibility the besser would give - render, cladding etc are all options. I'm not sure how bad it is structurally it just has a couple of spots where I can see the blocks have pulled apart over time. Below are some pictures of the bad spots. Also looking at the Amber website it says the maximum courses is maximum non reinforced wall height of 972mm (6 courses). It looks like my wall is actually 7 courses un-reinforced. The wall and pool was built back in 2003. I definitely think planting in front of the wall would help, as would removing the lights but I'm in two minds about whether to bite the bullet and do it properly or just hide it.

Hi Amy, couple of things to consider. Is your fence predominantly for security, a barrier to keep the littlies safe, to spruce up the street appeal….? And do you live in an area with a high rainfall, where termites are a problem, with high winds or very rocky/sandy/clay soil. All those things will impact your options. There are literally dozens of choices and each one can be modified by the garden you match with it. One of the best methods, if you haven’t already, is to drive around your neighbourhood and see what appeals, or search online in the real estate apps. Don’t get too caught up in the style of your house. While a 3 metre dark brick Italianate wall would look a bit strange with a 2 bedroom Bali inspired beach house, house and fence combinations are generally very forgiving. Tasmania has many houses of a similar style to yours and a huge range of fence styles and almost never does someone comment on them being odd or inappropriate. So define your practical needs, check out the costs and maintenance issues of your options, look at the alternatives, speak to some suppliers and installers as Julie suggested, and then choose what appeals to you. I’d like to send you a photo of the concrete and metal fence with a kind of art nouveau fence that a neighbour has recently built on his 1960s one storey weatherboard, but I feel uncomfortable sharing someone else’s property details, so here’s a couple of more generic options