Enhance Your Driveway’s Curb Appeal With These Landscaping Concepts
When you design your home, the driveway usually gets the least bit of your attention. However, your driveway makes up a big part of your curb appeal that makes the first impression on guests and potential buyers. You can’t afford to ignore it.
Now there are several driveway curb appeal ideas. You can upgrade your driveway with higher-quality materials or simply tweak the driveway design with landscaping to enhance the curb appeal. Choosing the latter option isn’t just more cost-effective but is a much better beautifying option.
Best driveway landscaping strategies to enhance your curb appeal:
1. Make The Most of Your Lighting
Driveways are foremost functional. That’s why you need to add proper lighting to make it visible after dark. Fortunately, this also unlocks an aesthetic opportunity to add to the overall driveway entrance curb appeal. For instance, you can decorate the edge of the driveway with short ground-level shrubs or plants and add lighting fixtures between them to light up the path white creating elegant layers with shadows. This concept works flawlessly as a circle driveway landscaping idea or with any kind of driveway that winds and curves around.
2. Split Your Driveway in Two
Beautiful driveways crafted with the best materials have the potential to transform your property. However, when you need to go a step further to enhance the curb appeal, you must think out of the box. For instance, you can make your driveway pop by splitting it in two and filling up the mid-section with perennials or local shrubs. The same holds for the edges. This creates a beautiful symmetry, and the colorful or green landscaping adds great contrast against the dark or grey driveway. On top of that, this also makes your driveway look longer and adds to the long driveway curb appeal.
3. Add Water Features
Unique driveway landscape ideas have the potential to make your space truly stand out and nothing is more unique than water features. Water features are expensive and come with maintenance hassles. However, they are worth that extra cost and trouble since they make your property stand out like a peacock amidst suburban mediocrity.
So, which water feature should you go for? Well, it depends on your aesthetic taste and the path your driveway takes. For instance, if you have a long and narrow driveway, consider adding narrow strips of landscaping pools on either side. Have enough room for a circular driveway? A grand two-tier fountain fits right in as a driveway entrance landscaping idea to wow your guests.
4. Add a Splash of Colors with Flowers
Flowers have the power to elevate your mood and infuse you with cheery energy. Harness the power of flowers for your driveway with thoughtful design. For instance, if you have a beautiful gravel driveway that creates a circular path in front of your home, break the monotony with bright-colored flowers in a paved enclosure.
Looking for interesting driveway border landscaping ideas? Make a statement with ornamental grass or flowering herbs that are easy to maintain and can tolerate harsh weather changes. Here are a few options to consider:
- Silver feather maiden grass
- Blue fescue
- Silver thyme
- Mexican bush sage
5. Swap Out Your Driveway with Natural Stone
When you look for traditional driveway paving materials, you land on:
- Concrete
- Asphalt
- Gravel
Unfortunately, these cheap materials can’t compare to the elegance of natural stones. When you pave your driveway with slate, cobblestones, or other types of natural stones, the driveway looks like an extension of your landscape. While natural stones increase your driveway budget significantly, they justify the cost by increasing your home’s value. You can also make do with a limited budget by paving the borders with gravel, which helps enhance the gravel driveway curb appeal.
6. Opt For A Gated Entryway
A regular driveway looks boring even if you choose to decorate it. If you want a movie-like appeal, install a driveway gate with stone-etched pillars on both sides to transform the look of your driveway completely!
This enclosure adds a touch of fairy-tale charm to your property! Imagine yourself experiencing a beautiful entrance every time you drive along the path! To further decorate the driveway, install light fixtures on the pillars, as well as along the entire path to enhance the curb appeal substantially.
7. Go For Oyster Shells
Gravels and natural stones are the perfect driveway elements that can help enhance the overall curb appeal. However, have you ever thought of going for oyster shells instead?!
If not, then that’s something that you definitely want to try! Crushed oyster shells add to the driveway-decor, and can be a beautiful addition to your home, especially if you live in the coastal region. Along with it, these get better with age. The more you drive upon it, the more the shells break and spread evenly along the surface, thereby making it a good space to walk on as well.
There are several factors that affect your home’s appeal, and the driveway is a very important component. You can turn it into a splendid focal point to welcome your guests and leave a lasting impression on them as they drive through your property.
As a lifelong DIY enthusiast, Alex Barton is never afraid to go the extra mile to save a few bucks! From seamless interior decor hacks to effective DIY home renovation tips, he shares a myriad of his experiences for you to unleash your creativity.
