Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jul 30, 2013 7:34 pm Separate from your driveway? We are trying to figure out our front yard landscaping and it's been suggested that we get a small path of concrete to branch off the driveway and lead up to the porch. I'm just not sure about this. It means visitors have to head up the driveway initially which isn't particularly nice, I would have thought a dedicated path to the front door would be nicest. The landscaper seems to think that because it's a fairly small front yard (6m setback) that a different paving material leading to the front door would look too busy and messy. Any suggestions about this? Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Do you have a path to your front door? 2Jul 30, 2013 7:38 pm with us we have a large driveway which leads directly yo the portico. when finished we will have steps leading up to the front door i think being a small yard it would be fine having the path leading from the driveway. i have seen others and it looks good Re: Do you have a path to your front door? 3Jul 30, 2013 7:53 pm We will have the driveway that curves across to the patio. What kind of fencing will you have at the front, if any? You'll have to think about gates (now or for the future) and where/how many you would want. - MrsT Brought first house in 2008. Renovated...a LOT. Built in 2013. Our thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=67954 Re: Do you have a path to your front door? 5Jul 31, 2013 9:07 pm We will probably do something similar to this with decking Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66238&p=1053710#p1053710 Re: Do you have a path to your front door? 7Aug 05, 2013 9:03 pm I will also have a short driveway ( 5.5 m ) leading to a double garage. The maximum width of my drive at the point it intersects with the front boundary is 4.5m. If two cars are parked on the drive then there will not be much space for someone to get past, particularly if there is landscaping / shrubbery on the edge of the drive. I think for these reasons it is better to have a separate path. Also think carefully about where your letterbox is placed. Build thread: here Land Nov 12, Contract 6/07/13, Consent 15/08/13, Start 20/09/13, Slab 25/09/13, Frame 4/10/13, Brick 21/10/13, Roof 2/11/13, Lock-up 17/12/13, Handover 3/3/14 Re: Do you have a path to your front door? 8Aug 06, 2013 1:52 pm Thanks for all the replies and ideas! I know the driveway/front path combined thing is quite common and practical but for some reason I can't get past wanting a separate path to the front door. Gootza I do really like the look of the timber decking alongside the driveway but as we're not having timber anywhere in the house façade (hubby and I not a fan of the look or maintenance) then it wouldn't really go unfortunately. Travis that path of yours looks good and I think it's because the end line was incorporated into the garden bed lining. Around here there are some aggregate pathways to the front door that just stop dead (obviously at the land boundary line) and look quite odd ending suddenly in the middle of nowhere like that. Yours avoids that which is great. I don't think we'd be able to do a garden bed like yours there. I think we've found a possible solution. We quite like the look of a stepping stone path to the front door like the picture below. This way it will still match the driveway, so not look too busy. And hopefully because it's broken up with grass it will avoid the strange look of a solid path ending suddenly in no man's land. (although it WILL end obviously at the land border, just hoping it won't look so severe). Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ driveway path by Em_Brisbane, on Flickr Any thoughts on this idea? Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=65085 Re: Do you have a path to your front door? 9Aug 06, 2013 2:09 pm Looks good EmyN! I am having those done out of pre-fab concrete blocks (600*600) with then a single tile put on each as stepping stones between my alfresco and stairs to my pool. I'll post a pic in a week or three when it's done if you want. Will have grass etc around it too . Re: Do you have a path to your front door? 10Aug 06, 2013 3:59 pm If you don't have a foot path in your nature strip for your yard path to connect to then I don't see the point of having a separate path. Because if you have a visitor they are going to have to walk across the nature strip with no path to get to your path anyway. Seems like a waste of money. Especially if the yard is small, would look silly and over the top in my opinion. That photo you've posted looks good, because of the fence, it would look weird without the fence. Re: Do you have a path to your front door? 11Aug 06, 2013 8:51 pm We are having a seperate path, and we only have a 3m set back. Our front door is in the middle of the property, and drive to the right side, we are fencing right around the front lawn leaving the driveway open to traffic ... ie/ you will not be able to walk directly from the drive to the front door, you will have to walk thru the front gate and use the path. For security reasons we wanted to be able to lock a gate, but council made it difficult for us to gate the driveway. In our current home we have a path off the driveway, personally I am not a fan of it. I don't like people (children) walking close to my car. And I don't want to give anybody (strangers) any reason to walk near our cars or those of our guests. Re: Do you have a path to your front door? 12Aug 06, 2013 9:58 pm joshnjacqui If you don't have a foot path in your nature strip for your yard path to connect to then I don't see the point of having a separate path. Because if you have a visitor they are going to have to walk across the nature strip with no path to get to your path anyway. Seems like a waste of money. Especially if the yard is small, would look silly and over the top in my opinion. That photo you've posted looks good, because of the fence, it would look weird without the fence. I've seen seperate paths that look good and seperate paths that look silly. There's a bunch of factors that make the difference and I'm not sure I can always tell what it is, I just sometimes think ooh nice or other times nah, that looks wrong. But I think joshnjacqui has said something important. What is your "no mans land" going to be made of? And another thing is where are people who've come by car and parked in the driveway gonna walk? And will people coming from the kerb be faced with a choice of crossing the lawn to reach one path or walking up the driveway to reach the other path? Thanks mate. Yeah good points! Leaning towards Option 3 to get a bit extra space in the cabinets but not going too crazy high (and expensive). Would require a mini… 13 39767 Hello everyone, After some suggestions and ideas about how to put a concrete path around the drop edge beam area on our new build. We are required to have a concrete path… 0 12878 Thank you so much for your response. I have drawn a pedestrian gate in - for curb appeal, let's see how much costs come in at. I think you're right - if we decide to… 2 6551 |