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Expert Advice: Greet your guests with a welcoming walkway

 
Published Jan. 23, 2015

A walkway that leads from your driveway to your front entry can take many forms. In the setting in this photograph, this Federal-style home originally had a sidewalk that led straight out from the front porch to the street and sidewalk, but none from the driveway to the entry. The addition of this paved path has now created a quick and comfortable way to get from the driveway parking to the door. Though, by nature, Federal style is very angular and symmetrical, here the walkway was designed as a more organic feature, gently curving its way around the plant beds as it approaches the covered porch. This sort of serpentine walkway is slightly more relaxed and gives guests a friendlier feeling than an angular walk would. Though this walk is new brick, as it ages it will take on more of the patina of the brick home and porch. Other options to pave this walk might have been old-brick, granite, flagstone or even a stone and gravel combination. A poured concrete walk could also have been used, but would have seemed much less natural and appropriate. Making a home more welcoming is a goal of many homeowners. Remember, the welcoming begins even before people arrive at your front door.