Design Ideas for Paving Stones
- You've seen paving stones made of broken mosaic tiles in round shapes, but you can forgo these common garden path steps and designs by making your own. Make a square 1-foot frame from pine wood, and carve out a design, a shape or a pattern on it that fits your interests (flowers or sailboats, for example). Place the frame on a plastic cover and in an area where you can work with concrete without fear of contaminating other surfaces. Pour concrete over the frame. Before the concrete dries, add marbles, mosaic stones or other materials to outline and fill in your design on the created paving stone. Place designed dry paving stones in your garden, along with other created stones, or space created stone designs ever so often between purchased stones without unusual designs.
- Make the path to your outdoor entertaining area an entertaining area of its own. Arrange stones to branch off from the path, much like a flower's petals, with moss or grass placed between the path stone and between each of the stones you set in the shape of a leaf or flower. You can also lead guests down a solitary stone path instead, breaking up the long walk halfway to your patio or swimming pool destination by creating a mini resting area with stones. Make a circle shape of connected stones on your garden path floor, replete with a wooden bench on one side of the circle enclosure so guests can sit and rest (see References). You can add an arbor nearby and even use water to make the area more tranquil (see Resources).
- Tie in your garden path paving stone look to that of your flower planters on the garden path. Cover outdoor planters with materials used in your path paving stones. If your stone path is comprised of travertine and slate, break travertine and slate into pieces that can be glued to pots along the same path, or cover a watering can with them.
- Your steep garden grade needs runoff water to be drained away from the flat land below, especially if it will land on your garden path walkway. Aid runoff water drainage with an attractive solution. Create a Japanese drain with pipes, gravel and the stone type you used in your outdoor path. After digging the trench and laying the pipe, cover the drain with the paving stones, helping it to match your outdoor landscape design.
