TEN TIPS ON PAVER WALKWAY DESIGN FOR HOMES IN SANTA ROSA
If you’re thinking of adding style, functionality, and curb appeal to your home, consider hardscaping with pavers. Whether your home is a quaint seaside cottage, a gleaming modern contemporary, or a mansion pavers offer you endless options for hardscaping like paver walkways that will add to your homes beauty, value, functionality, and safety.
With pavers, it’s easy to add a garden path, build a connector walkway from the house to the pool, update your entryway, or transform a short utility path into something special. Today, modern manufacturing techniques have given us a wide range of natural and manmade materials to fit into any budget, and any style home.
Here are some tips and ideas to spark your creativity, help you plan your project, and get you started designing your perfect outdoor living space.
FORM AND FUNCTION: BEGIN BY ASKING YOURSELF SOME KEY QUESTIONS
Start the process by first considering how you’ll use your new paver walkway. Start with these key questions:
Is It The Primary Entrance to Your Home?
Your main entryway should have a walkway no less than four feet wide. This includes the front door, or any other main access point into your home. If you have the room, it can be wider, but keep it proportional to the scale of the home.
As a general rule, main entry walkways should be at least four feet wide, lesser-used garden paths, for example, from the driveway to the back yard can be as wide as three feet wide and minor paths, or utility paths can be two feet wide.
Is the Design A Straight Line, or Will You Create Curves?
The design of your paver walkway really depends on the space you have available. If the area will only accommodate a short path, there’s probably not enough room to use curves. Another consideration is the design style. As a general rule, straight walkways are more formal and direct, but there are other ways to add interest like lighting, landscaping, and walls.
Curved paths tend to be more informal, or casual. Add a few curves, and suddenly your walkway seems to flow in a natural and inviting way. Often, designs will use both types of walkways. For example, a walkway may run parallel to the house before curving toward the gardens.
Which Material Is Right For Your Application?
There are a wide variety of materials, shapes, sizes, colors, and textures available. Choose the material that compliments your home’s style. For example, if you have a brick house, a brick paver walkway can be too much of a good thing. Consider something like a concrete paver designed to mimic cobblestone to provide an aesthetic contrast.
Different color combinations or mixed textures can produce various looks and effects. With the right material, you can make your walkway stand out, blend in, or match another hardscape or natural element in your yard.
What About The Cost?
Thanks to the wide variety of materials available, paver walkways are popular because there are great choices at every price point. They cost more than a concrete sidewalk, but less than natural stone. This makes pavers an affordable option for many homeowners.
Your paver walkway’s cost is determined by a number of factors including the square footage, materials, and design. Elements like steps, landings and retaining walls will add to the cost of your project. There are online calculators that can help you determine a rough estimate of the cost. A better idea is to work with a reputable local hardscape company and request a free estimate.
Once you’ve answered these basic questions, it’s time to move onto the design phase. Here are some creative approaches to using pavers in your landscape.
10 CREATIVE PAVERS WALKWAY IDEAS
Why settle for boring concrete, or matching monotone stones. With pavers, you have the ability to create complex designs using color, patterns, textures, and accessories to add an aesthetically interesting element to your home’s landscape.
Here are 10 creative paver walkway ideas to help get your juices flowing!
1 – CREATE UNIQUE PATTERNS
Create a unique one-of-a-kind look by combining a mix of colors and sizes. Choose a primary color and then use contrasting stones to create a pattern inside the walkway. The images can include geometric designs, floral patterns or even animal shapes. You can even incorporate a house number or monogram for a luxurious personalized look.
2 – USE GRASS OR MULCH AS A NATURAL “GROUT” BETWEEN STONES
Oversized pavers look great when you use grass or mulch to fill the space between large stones. This will create a casual look that can be less expensive because you’ll need fewer materials. Geometric shapes in various sizes can add a cool visual interest.
3 – UNEVEN EDGES
Create a funky and fun paver walkway by arranging stones of various sizes so they randomly jut out on the sides. There’s no rule that says your walkway edges need to be even or straight!
4 – PAVER PATTERNS
There are a variety of standard patterns used to create walkways. Circular patterns or waves can suggest motion. Lead your guests down your path with implied motion!
5 – USE SCENT TO ADD INTEREST
If you used spaced pavers, instead of grass, plant fragrant flowers or herbs between the stones. Moss and tiny flowers will add another level turning your walkway into a fragrant escape!
6 – CHECKERBOARD PATTERN
Mix and match different materials, colors or textures to create a checkerboard pattern. This classic look is amazing with square pavers and green grass. This is an easy to build pattern using brick, stone or concrete pavers.
7 – CREATE A VISUAL FOCAL POINT
If you’re creating a walkway around your house, make the junction where it turns interesting by adding a circle square or rectangle where the sections meet. This can create a beautiful visual focal point which you can enhance by adding a fountain, planter or bench.
8 – ADD INTEREST WITH LANDINGS
Walkways can include steps and landings on steep grades. A landing is a perfect place to change the width, design or shape to add interest. Make your landing a “destination.”
9 – COORDINATE YOUR PATTERNS
When designing your walkway, consider other elements of your home, landscape, and existing hardscape before deciding on a pattern. You’ll want to consider how your home’s siding, adjacent walls, patios, and other walkways will look with your new hardscaping.
10 – DON’T FORGET THE DETAILS!
Enhance your new walkway with solar lighting, arbors, gates, benches, fountains, or planters. Soften the edges with interesting plantings. Think about creating seating areas and visual focal points like a garden sculpture, birdhouse, or specimen plantings.
HIRE A PROFESSIONAL TO DESIGN AND INSTALL YOUR PAVER WALKWAY
When you do a Google search for “DIY Paver Walkway,” you’ll find plenty of instruction on how to install your walkway yourself. But do you understand drainage, paving on a slope, or site preparation? Unless you’re truly experienced with DIY hardscaping, it can save you time and money to work with a professional.
A hardscaping professional has the experience, expertise, knowledge, and tools needed to design and install a paver walkway that will make your outdoor vision a reality.
If you live in Santa Rosa give the experts at Bayside Pavers a call at 1-866-287-2837 to get the answers to your paver walkway questions. Call and schedule a consultation on your project. Or, stop by our North Bay area location at 1619 4th Street Ste 12 Santa Rosa, CA.
