Front Walkway Landscaping Ideas to Increase Your Home Curb Appeal

Walkway landscaping forms an important aspect of your front yard design. A perfectly designed, beautiful walkway shall enhance your curb appeal and lend a striking appearance to your entrance. A walkway can lead either to your main door, garden, or front porch. And with the correct execution, it will add immense aesthetic value to your property. Therefore, today, let us discuss some wonderful front walkway landscaping ideas that can be replicated with ease and speed.

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Meet and Greet

A walkway need not always be a path that only leads to your home. It can also serve multiple purposes. For example, check out the idea above. See how the architect has designed it to include a seating area at the center. Coupled with a round mini garden, that is ideal for arranging some chairs around it, this area is perfect for greeting guests outdoors. A fountain serves as the focal point and neatly maintained, sectional grass lawns are clearly defined with borders of shrub plantations. Additional elements include tall flowering trees and doors and windows with white borders. You can use this space also for relaxing on a warm summer morning or to simply unwind after a hard day at work.

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Paved Wonder

Brick pavers always work wonders when it comes to landscape design. However, if you don’t have the luxury of covering the entire walkway with pavers, then just go for the edges. In the layout above, the home owner has used matching patterns on the foundation and external walls. A white facade, complimented with woodwork, complete the entire set-up to make the property look sophisticated, grand, and aristocratic. Surrounding tall trees, propped over a huge grassy lawn, lend this house the perfect bungalow in the woods’ look.

Read more: Brick walkway maintenance tricks

Saying it with Colors

This is a great front walkway landscaping idea to showcase your love for colors. Pops of red and white shades in natural blossoms — planted along the sides of the entry path — stand in striking contrast to the plain gravel walkway, giving a garland-like look to the landscape. A huge and beautifully maintained grass lawn on either side is bordered with a mix of plants — ranging from short bushes to tall pines. This lends a reclusive look to the property and brings in the required privacy. Also, notice the similar bright color palette on the house. The whole layout gives you the impression of a cottage, straight out of a fairy tale!

Stony, Rustic Appeal

Natural stones arrive in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from rectangular to square, oblong, spherical, and triangular shapes. In the design above, the homeowner has opted for stones cut into different sizes and roughly rectangular shapes. These irregular stones give a ‘broken’ look to the walkway, which lend a perfect naturalistic effect. They are interrupted in between with visible grass/moss patches. In order to take this feel a notch up, he/she has also placed potted planters and a couple of not-so-maintained trees along the edges. Look at the similar rustic, green-colored doors and windows. Is not it the complete robust, countryside set-up?

Curvy Charm

Walkways need not be straight always. A zig zag design is perfect if you are a regular jogger. A curved pattern lends more visual interest than a straight one and also accents the garden around it. You can plant grass on either side to enhance the lush feel. Additionally, planting tall plants and blooms give a rustic vibe to the set-up.

Playing with Symmetry

Sharp symmetry and the formal choice of elements reflect the uniform inspiration behind the above front walkway landscaping idea. A minimalist design of the pathway — made from evenly placed brick pavers — extends to the plantings, which comprise neatly trimmed shrubs on either side. A couple of tall plants, that too arranged in perfect symmetry, on either side of the front door, echoes the whole layout. Fruit and flower-yielding trees —  planted  at the far corners, white rails and curtains, all which are mirror reflections of each other enhance the symmetrical layout further.

Gravel-ey Mix and Match

Did you think gravel was only for driveways? Well, not exactly. It also serves as a material of choice among DIY experts because of their warm, informal looks and low cost. You can get gravel in a myriad of shapes, shades, and sizes. Check out the idea above. Dark grey gravel stands in striking contrast to their sandy-shaded counterparts. Moreover, white stone slabs — placed at angles along the curved walkway — beautifully complement the adjacent white picket fence and windows. Circular arrangements of gravel beds, accentuated with natural greenery — that encompasses small, medium plants and tall palms — bring in a tropical vibe to this landscape.

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White-scaped Marvel

A white walkway is the perfect entry path for this wooden two-story house. The entire landscaping is simple and brings the feel of a farmhouse in the countryside. Note the extensive stretches of neatly maintained grass on both sides. A shrub bed just adjacent to the house, exposes bits of the earth underneath, to enhance the rustic, country feels. You can easily replicate this idea if you have a home with a huge lawn space.

Additional Tips for Front Walkway Landscaping

Walkways form an important part of front yard landscaping. It should not only look nice but should also be comfortable to tread upon. Here are some factors that you should keep in mind while finalizing your front walkway landscaping design.

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Width

Your walkway, which can lead from the street to the front door or from the driveway to the entrance, or from the front yard to the backyard, should be of the correct width. It should neither be too narrow or too wide. The ideal dimensions should be such that two people can easily walk side-by-side at one go. Four feet is the minimum recommended width for a front walkway, but it is better if you can extend it up to five feet.

Shape

The shape of your walkway will be governed by the size of your yard and style of your home. For example, if you have a small yard, it is best to go for a simple straight walkway and if you have a large front garden, you can go for a curved entryway. Again, if your home design features a traditional or Victorian architectural style, then a formal, straight path is the perfect choice. Additionally, if you have a lavish front door and wish to showcase it, a straight entry walkway will help to emphasize it as the focal point of your home. Next, if your house showcases a Mediterranean or ranch theme, you may opt for a curved walkway.

Read more: Introduction to circular driveways

Paving Materials

The go-to rule for choosing paving materials is to opt for one which complements the exterior of your home. If your outside is made of bricks, ask your architect to show you options of concrete highways with brick borders. Similarly, you may also select materials such as stepping stones or gravel, as per your requirement. But remember, solid paving like concrete, stone or pavers, is much safer and easier to walk on than the above materials are.

Whichever walkway type you choose, always keep in mind that with a little creativity and research, you can achieve the front walkway landscaping of your dreams. The above catalog of ideas should also help you in taking a step ahead in the right direction. So, do not forget to tell us which idea you shall be implementing in your next home improvement project!

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Written by Anisha Dutta. April 16, 2019

A wordsmith and an experienced content developer, Anisha Dutta currently writes for Kukun. She holds keen interest and knowledge about the latest, upcoming trends in the domain of home design and tries to enrich homeowners with inspirational home-improvement tips and tricks -- while breaking down jargons into simple words. An avid reader and a wanderer by habit, she is a writer by passion.