What to Do With a Long Wall

Outdoors: Trellises

• Vertical trellises in a variety of heights placed near a wall can lead plants, and the eye, up and down a once empty space. From short to tall and back again, trellises can create a dynamic up-and-down sculpture of heat-tolerant climbing roses and flowering vines, such as bougainvillea, black-eyed Susan, trumpet vine and morning glory. Or a twisting, twining expanse of leafy grapes vines can be trained along a horizontal trellis. Small fruit trees can also be trained to stretch out their branches symmetrically in a nearly flat plane along a horizontal trellis. This practice, called espalier, likely goes back to ancient Egypt where pictures of espaliered fig trees were painted on Egyptian tombs.

Outdoors: Cinder Blocks

• Concrete blocks, also sometimes called cinder blocks, can form a sculptural planter when stacked artistically in an up-and-down outline along an empty wall. Most of the blocks should be stacked flat against the wall while others can be turned to project outward. Although all the blocks should be the same height and depth, the design can be further varied by using blocks of different lengths. One garden designer, Jenny Peterson, suggests supporting potting soil in the block's hollow centers and allowing drainage by wedging chicken wire at the bottom of the holes. Low-growing, shallow-rooted plants, such as succulents and ground covers do well in the planting holes.

Indoors: Changeable Murals

• Sometimes, especially in rental situations, it isn't wise to put a lot of nails in the wall, change paint colors or apply wallpaper. Or, it may be that the decorator or the main occupant of a room likes to switch wall art frequently. In such an instance, large, sticker murals made of easily removable vinyl may be the answer. Some are simple black silhouettes of trees, animals, street scenes, athletes in motion and shapes of continents. Others are full-color pop art images of flowers and geometrical shapes or blackboard stickers on which teens and kids can scribble.

Indoors: Wall Collages

• Unexpected objects, such as woven baskets, bowls or old floppy disks, clustered on a long wall, can create a collage effect. Other ideas include groupings of framed photographs arranged to flow down a long bare wall next to a staircase and large maps of the world used like wallpaper.