Popular Year-Round Walkway Materials

Whether your yard is brand new or well-established, the addition of outdoor structures and walkways can greatly increase your pleasure in your private space. With the right designs and lighting, you can quickly turn a plain expanse of grass into an eye-catching feature of your home that you'll enjoy for years.

Add brick pavers for an old-fashioned touch

Brick pavers are a lovely way to add an old-world feel to a new yard. Because bricks tend to be a dark red, consider adding solar lights along your walkway to reduce the risk of a stumble or fall. 

Experts such as VRS Landscapes can help you arrange a pathway that will be both useful and visually interesting. Once you know where your pergola, pool house or hobby shed will be placed, go ahead and bring in a landscaping expert to determine your pathways. If too many people cross that stretch of ground, they may have to deal with dead grass and compacted earth.

Do your best to get these projects scheduled during the dry time and before the risk of a hard freeze. You want your new brick pathway laid out and sanded on stable soil.

Cobblestones add charm

A true cobblestone street can actually be hard to walk on. Real cobblestones can be quite uneven and lead to tripping. Hardscaping authorities, such as those at Archadeck Outdoor Living can help you find a faux cobblestone walkway made of stamped concrete or pavers that will be easy to walk on. 

In addition to adding lighting to your walkway, consider adding light stones to fill in around your cobbles or along the edge of your walkway. White pea gravel will reflect moonlight and make the path across your yard much easier to manage.

Consider also adding solar-powered motion sensor lights to your home and to your outbuildings. As long as the incorporated solar panel gets good exposure, you can be sure that anyone using one of your new pathways will have well-lit access across your yard. You can also add downcast lights to the edges of your walking path. 

Decorative pavers: From patio to pathway

If your current patio is made of decorative pavers, consider power washing the surface to brighten the stones, and then, extend the pattern into a walkway that will look as though it's always been there. Once you've got access to a power washer, you will find plenty of items on your property that you can update with a simple scrub.

Every walkway project will require some preparation of the ground. Sod may have to be removed and a bed of sand put down. The area must be completely level before installation. Once the pavers, cobblestones or bricks are in place, these stones will likely need to be sanded in place. 

Walkways are an excellent way to customize your yard. You'll find photos and more ideas from The Home Mag on our Facebook and Instagram pages.