Your driveway can set the tone for your whole front yard. Sprucing it up will help enhance your home’s curbside appeal – plus its value…
1 Many modern homes have cement driveways – a look which lends itself to low-maintenance ‘decoration’ such as rocks, gravel and drought-resistant plants bordering the driveway and separating it neatly from the lawn area.
2 Still on the topic of cement, a driveway doesn’t have to be a single slab of concrete. Oversized square pavers can be laid with small gaps in-between, which can in turn be filled with grass, a colourful groundcover or even small pebbles.
3 If you have a circular driveway, make the centre a focal point with a large fountain or water feature, for instance, or a beautiful landscaped garden area complete with manicured lawn and flowering plants. Continue the lush garden theme with a walkway leading to your home’s front entrance.
4 Cobblestone driveways often lend themselves to a regal-like theme, where wrought-iron gates, landscaped hedges, stone walls and sculptures are quite at home.
5 Line your driveway’s edges with identical containers for a neat, uniform look. Fill the containers with colourful blooms or ornamental trees and run them along the length of the driveway. The style of containers you buy will help set the overall tone or theme. You can also chop and change your choice of blooms seasonally for added interest.
6 If you don’t have the time, space or budget for landscaped borders, lights can also do the trick. Think solar solutions, which will not only add some flair to your driveway, but also help light the way when you pull in late at night. Surround them with flowering groundcovers.
7 Establishing a clear line between paved and unpaved surfaces can help anchor the driveway and enhance the garden area around it. So plant a hedge to border your driveway and define its edges. Think low, evergreen shrubs or small flowering plants and keep them shaped and manicured. Or create a raised bed with elevated plantings in bright colours.
8 Give your driveway a solid border using pavers in a secondary – but still complementary – colour. Choose a paver that enhances your home’s architecture and landscaping.
9 If you want to avoid too many straight lines, vary the shape and width of the flowerbeds bordering your driveway, so they seem less rigid and structured and have more flow.
10 If your driveway curves around and disappears to the back of your house, plant beds or borders that draw a visitor’s eye in that direction.
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