Here's How a Walkway Can Be a Great Welcoming Addition to Your Powell and Dublin, OH Landscaping
The landscape is one of the most important aspects of a home and definitely one of the main reasons someone falls in love with a home in the first place. People’s experiences at your home start with first impressions and one of the most important first impressions is how they are expected to move around your property. Here’s how a walkway can be a great welcoming addition to your Powell and Dublin, OH landscaping.
Related: LANDSCAPING FOR NEAT LAWNS, WALKWAYS, AND EDGING IN POWELL, OH
A Warm Welcome
We’ve all been to homes where the walkway is an uninspiring purely utilitarian feature that does nothing to enhance the home’s curb appeal. Case in point, a straight poured concrete walkway gets the job done, but it doesn’t contribute to the curb appeal. Upgrading to a paver walkway is a quick way to give your home a facelift - but more than that, it can be very practical. Choosing permeable pavers will allow any surface water to seep through the joints into the ground below, for a drier and safer walkway. While you’re installing a new paver driveway, add a snowmelt system, literally for a “warm” welcome. The snowmelt system (an electric heating grid that goes under the pavers) will virtually eliminate build-up of ice and snow, and safeguard your landscape from harmful deicing chemicals.
Making the Journey More Beautiful
Today, we are busier than ever and in such a hurry to get from here to there that we forget to appreciate the journey. Straight lines encourage us to hurry, while curves encourage us to slow down. You can encourage a slower, more meandering pace on your front entry walkway as well as any walkways in the side yards or backyard by incorporating curves into your walkway designs.
The main thing to remember with curved walkways is that they reflect how people really walk. We don’t walk in squares (we don’t move forward and then make a 90 degree turn). You can see this in action whenever there’s an opportunity to shortcut through the lawn or even plant beds, people will do it, which is why so many beautiful lawns have well-trodden paths through them. Don’t make curved walkways so winding that people are tempted to shortcut. Just give them enough of a curve for a softer look.
And while people slow their pace a bit, give them something to look at. Patio pavers and natural stone slabs come in a huge array of styles, patterns, sizes, and finishes; and the materials can be laid in a number of interesting ways.
Design Continuity
Continuity of materials feels soothing. It’s a less visually cluttered look than if each space features different materials - and this can include the transitional spaces, too. The “rule of three” is a good one to follow in landscape design. That is to say, to create a visually soothing landscape, limit your choices to three materials throughout: one type of patio paver or natural stone as the main field on walking surfaces; one type of paver or stone as a border; and one material on vertical elements. Continue this theme throughout your landscape, inducing the front yard, for a unified theme.
Integrated Lighting
Integrating light fixtures directly into the borders of any walkway makes for safer passage at night and a less visually cluttered landscape during the day.