Selecting the right paving stones for your walkways is a big decision that can affect your Rochester Hills, MI, curb appeal. What should you look for when considering concrete pavers or natural stone for your walkway? You’ll want to keep style, color, and the pros and cons of the material in mind.
Style
Take design cues from your home, the surrounding landscape, and existing hardscapes. You want pavers to harmonize with the style of your home, but there is some creative leeway.
You can use pavers to modernize a traditional or rustic home, to make a formal home feel more relaxed, to add a sense of luxury to a simple home, or to add a sense of tranquility to a busy landscape.
For example, to modernize a traditional or rustic home, use sleek large-format pavers in a neutral or earthy color. These large pavers can be laid alongside each other for a more formal look, or separated by gravel or decorative pebbles for an artistic aesthetic.
To make a formal home feel more relaxed, use natural stone or pavers that mimic the look of flagstone or bluestone. Don’t try to match the home’s color exactly. Choose a shade or two lighter if you want to make the space feel brighter, or a shade or two darker if you want the home to feel more grounded in its surroundings.
To add a sense of luxury to a simple home, use techniques like borders, or use natural stone such as bluestone, brick laid in a herringbone pattern, or pavers that feature blended colors. Give your walkway its own personality and flair, which will be a nice contrast to the simplicity of the home.
To make a busy space feel more tranquil, consider neutral pavers in a large format that minimize joint lines. Cool colors like light gray can help the convey the sense of serenity.
Related Article: Spruce Up Your Walkways With Brick Pavers for Added Character
Colors
Generally, you’d want to avoid trying to perfectly match the colors of your home with your walkway (i.e. avoid red brick walkways when your home has a red brick facade). A cool steel gray slate or granite walkway could look stunning next to a brick home as it tones down the red. Sand-colored pavers next to a brick home keep the look warm but offer enough contrast to be interesting.
Darker colors tend to make a walkway feel more intimate, and lighter colors can make it feel spacious. But what’s more important is how a paver will look in all weather. You could compare samples side by side with your home and compare them dry and wet. When natural stone or concrete pavers get wet, their colors darken and deepen—sometimes dramatically. A buff-colored flagstone may appear too orange next to your red brick home after it’s been doused by heavy rains. But that same paver can could look absolutely stunning next to a white home.
Related Article: 3 Uses of Brick Pavers for Improving Your Landscape
Materials
Some people want the unique character of natural stone such as bluestone. Others like the nearly endless style choices of concrete pavers. Both are great options for walkways, but be sure that your paving stones feature a non-slip surface for safety. Also, think about the ability to purchase extra materials in case you want to expand the space in the future. For natural stone, this can be a challenge unless you purchase additional materials upfront, since there is no way to guarantee a color match from stones quarried a few years from today, even from the same quarry.
