A Path Worth Taking
Walkways form the backbone of garden's landscape.

By Debra Smith, Herald Writer
Photos by Dan Bates, Herald Photographer

When Mark and Sandi Mount moved into their Lynnwood rambler, the front yard was typical and tired: a patch of sloping lawn, a narrow concrete walkway and an overgrown juniper hedge.
Though the years they tried to improve the look of the front yard by adding pots brimming with plants and expanding the meager flowerbeds.

But those efforts didn’t solve the constricted walkway or cover up the cracked concrete and asphalt driveway.

What the Mounts really wanted in front of their home was a peaceful, private area to relax, sit, eat and talk.

“We want to use our yard as an expansion of living space and for it to be beautiful, colorful and comfortable,” she said.

Their front yard needed more than a cosmetic nip and tuck – it needed a facelift, a complete overhaul of the yard’s structure.

With planning and the help of Land Hoe! Owner Bruce Gaudette, the Mounts decided to get rid of the lawn and concrete and level the yard. They added a host of features including a private patio and a large raised planting bed the Mounts fill with lots of lush, colorful plants in the warmer months.

Now, pavers in a patterned design lead up the drive and flow into a wide pathway. A rounded step at the front door gives the entryway a more inviting feel. A long graceful path made of slabs leading around the side of the home entices visitors to peek in the back yard.

“It feels open and inviting,” she said.

The new design is more functional too. The hard pavers make it easier to pull the recycling bin to the curb or cart a wheelbarrow around.

The walkway is wide enough for two and the pavers can be removed if work needs to be done on the gas line running below the driveway.

The Mounts’ yard is an example of how changing the hardscape – the inanimate features of a landscape such as patios, walls and walkways – can make an outdoor space more usable and attractive.

Walkways, in particular, are one of the most important hardscape elements, Gaudette said. More than a simple avenue from one point to another, walkways set the tone for a garden, and provide color and visual interest during the drab winter months.

Walkways are the first thing homeowners should consider before adding plants.

It’s the skeleton and basic structure of your garden,” said Brian Grunkemeier, owner of Sunset Landscape & Design Inc. “If you cheat on it and don’t do it right, you’re going to look out in the winter and it’s going to look bleak.”

Both landscapers have been involved with the design and construction of dozens of walkways.

They both agreed homeowners need to first consider how the path will be used before adding or adapting a walkway.

“Is it going to be a garden or yard path or something leading to an entrance?” Gaudette said.

“Those choices affect how practically and comfortably it’s going to function.”

Pavers, for instance, create a uniform, clean surface that’s similar to poured concrete in durability and function. They’re a better choice for high-traffic areas like the front walk.

Rough, jagged sections of natural stone casually arranged into a path require more attention to walk on. They encourage visitors to slow down and take notice.

Curving pathways have a more natural, fanciful presentation than those that are straight. A path curving off into the distance can create the illusion of depth.

“A curve is romantic,” Grunkemeier said. “You can break up your journey or make it more of an adventure and slow down by curving it.”

“If you want to get the groceries to the front door quickly and get into watch television, you might want to go with something functional and straight.”

The materials chosen need to fit with the style of the home. A bold geometric pattern might work beautifully with a formal, modern home and look dreadful in front of a 1920s Craftsman design.

Pathways need to remain in proportion to the home and its surroundings. Grunkemeier would regularly drive by a house in Snohomish where a homeowner installed too narrow of a pathway through some shrubbery.

“It looked cool when they first put it in. The next year it was overgrown and by the third year, you could hardly see it.”

Even in drab January when planting beds can be empty, walkways can provide visual interest and color.
At Pacific Stone Co. Inc. in Everett, a rainbow of colorful natural stone – from earthy reds and browns to purples and blues – is stacked in the parking lot.

Manufactured products such as pavers and slabs come in an array of textures and colors.

If homeowners want to improve the look of a walkway but don’t want to tear it out, they can consider framing the sides of the path with river rock or fieldstone, Grunkemeier said.

Do-it-yourselfers need to take care when blending a new walkway with an old; adding an element that’s too exotic may make the existing walkway look too simplistic.

Homeowners with good construction skills are capable of building a pathway themselves, Grunkemeier said. Companies like Pacific Stone and Mutual Materials that sell the materials can provide tips and suggestions.

But he cautioned that working with stone is an art form that requires precision, time and special equipment. In the past, homeowners have hired him to fix projects gone wrong.

“The other consideration is physical ability,” he said. “You might start this and pull a back muscle.”

The cost of adding or adapting walkways varies depending on the type of materials used, the size of the project and how easy it is to access the work site. Other costs include dirt and sod removal and correcting drainage problems.

The Mounts said that their project cost “a lot of money.” They declined to say how much.

Grunkemeier said that excluding prep work, consumers could expect to pay a quality contractor $10 to $20 a square foot to install flagstone and $9 to $14 a square foot to install pavers.

Although not cheap, for the Mounts, having a peaceful spot all their own was worth it. And they’re not finished yet.

They plan to replace a back patio with pavers and add arbors for shade.

“It turned out exactly as we wanted,” Sandi Mount said.

Brian Grunkemeier of Sunset Landscape and Design created these walkways for a home in Shoreline.  He used large slabs of stone (above left) to make steps leading to a walkway.  A river rock pathway (top) crisscrosses a center island in the driveway.  Below, ivy grows through the back of a wooden bench along one of the inviting paths.

January 27, 2005, Herald writer Debra Smith; 425-339-3197;dsmith@heraldnet.com