Front Yard Walkway Landscaping Ideas
Adding a walkway to your front yard may take some time and effort, but it is not a demanding job that requires any special skills. It can be a nice project for the whole family to become involved in and can help to increase everyone’s pride in their home. Where many people go wrong is in underestimating the amount of time and labor that will be required. Talk to friends who have added walkways to derive at an idea of what all is involved and using that as the benchmark, you can decide of you want to do more or less than they did.
If you do want to add a walkway to your front yard and find that the project is not something you want to undertake yourself, for whatever reason, then having it completed by a professional is the best option. You will find information of landscaping and paving experts in your area online. Contacting these professionals will ensure that you attain the walkway you want.
1.Decide on the Path
Do you want to bring visitors straight to you front door? Or would you like them to see the finer points of your garden on their way in? The path of your walkway depends on this. If the former is your choice, then a straight no nonsense walkway to the front door is what you should go in for. But if you want to take then through your yard, then a twisting or zigzag path will allow them to pass by the highlights of the yard. Be careful not to overdo it though; you don’t want visitors to feel they have been on a hike by the time they reach your front door.
2.Choose Your Material
There are 4 basic materials that can be used for a walkway – cement, brick, stone, or gravel. Cement is strong and long lasting, but it does require that you know how to work with and lay it. Bricks are easy to lay, but they can get worn out quickly and show their age if the traffic is high or if you house is in an area of extreme climatic conditions. Stone is both long lasting and attractive, but being able to lay the stones in an attractive pattern and also to create smooth surface where people will not trip and hurt themselves requires precision workmanship. Gravel is the easiest material because all that is needed is for a shallow trench to be dug and them filled with the small pebbles. But gravel can becomes scattered over the yard in time and also become dirty and discolored.
If the gravel does become dirty, you can easily clean them with just a hose by running water over them. Rain can sometimes do this for you. But if the pebbles become scattered around, certainly in the nearby grass or plants, it can be difficult to get those pebbles back onto the path.
