​You might love to host family birthdays or barbeques, but perhaps the current state of your brick patio is preventing you from sending out any invites lately. The last thing you want is for your grandmother to stumble while hanging out in your Hinsdale, IL, landscape. The time to repair or replace those broken and missing bricks could be now.

A Crumbling Patio
If you worry when guests visit that the a missing brick could cause a twisted ankle or worse, then repairing the patio problems can help you not to stress over accidental injuries. Maybe even you forget to step around the broken pieces and stumble as you try to water your flowers. Eliminating potential accidents by replacing the missing or fractured bricks can ease your mind.

​Standing Water on the Patio 
If your poorly installed patio has sunken places where the water collects from a rainstorm, this can bring about mold, which can make the bricks slippery and hazardous. At times the rain can run across the patio and wash out all of the landscaping that you have worked so hard to install. There is not much more discouraging than seeing your mulch and flowers strewn down the path that the water takes. 
Water that does not drain properly can cause the bricks in the patio to sink and when this happens, you can end up with potholes. Water that does not drain well from the brick patio can also cause damage to the foundation of your home. When the water has nowhere to go, it will just sit beside the foundation and seep into your crawl space or basement, potentially leading to mold and other costly damage. 
Frustrating Weeds in Your Brick Patio
Any cracked or missing mortar leaves a place for weeds to grow in the patio bricks. Once this happens, the integrity of the rest of the bricks are threatened because weeds and vines are persistent and find their way into the smallest of cracks. It is certainly a frustrating process to try to battle the weeds that always seem to find their way into any opening between the bricks. 
Patio That Is Not Level 
When the bricks settle and begin to slant, the entire structure of the patio can be threatened. Not only can this cause damage to your yard when the rain runs off, but the slanting of the bricks makes the patio virtually unusable. When the rest of your yard is well-groomed and lush, a non-functional patio can be an eyesore. 
What Happens When You Correct the Problems
When you correct the problems with your patio bricks by replacing the broken ones or renovating the entire patio, you have the opportunity to correct any water problems that exist. Imagine no more gullies through the yard during a rainstorm, or no more standing puddles on the patio, or no more navigating your way around the patio to attend to your flowers. When you repair or replace problematic pavers in your patio with quality materials that are installed correctly, you won’t have to worry about repairs—you can simply enjoy your new patio.

​You know you want to create a crisp and inviting patio, but you may not know exactly how you want the finished product to look. If you have brick pavers in mind, it may be confusing to know which laying pattern would work best for your needs. Read on for choosing a pattern design that’s perfect for your new brick patio at your Naperville, IL, home.

Classic and Sophisticated
If your tastes tend to gravitate toward dark woods, beautiful chandeliers, and luxurious upholstered finishes, you like classic and sophisticated designs. For an older home or if you simply want to inject a classic style into your paved areas, then these options for a sleek and sophisticated look may best fit with your style:

• Herringbone pattern: For this pattern, bricks are typically laid at a 45- or 90-degree angle to create a cool zigzag effect. With the right color bricks, this pattern could also look at home in a cool and contemporary setting.
• Running bond pattern: The quintessential brick pattern design, this running pattern is what people tend to think of when they hear “brick wall.” It’s one of the more popular designs you will encounter when it comes to decor. You don’t have to choose classic red brick to get the timeless look you crave, so pick a brick color that suits your exterior décor.

Related: Bring a Traditional Look to Your Wheaton, IL, Backyard With a Brick Patio
Country Charm
Do you lean toward shabby chic and farmhouse style in your home décor? Is stark and modern not in your home décor vocabulary? Then you probably love a home that reflects a little country charm. The following patterns can be the perfect complement to country style homes, or any kind of home that is looking to add a bit of warmth to the atmosphere.

• Basket weave pattern: As you might expect, this pattern looks like a woven basket. Rows of stacked multi-color bricks come together to create a wonderful woven effect that goes well with a variety of spaces.
• Grid brick pattern: This pattern consists of adding a horizontal and vertical grid to your chosen pattern, say a basket weave, to create an intricate and highlighted design.
  

Related: 4 Aesthetic Themes That Suit a Brick Patio in Naperville, IL
Cool and Contemporary
If “new” is your preferred aesthetic, then you’ll want to focus on modern colors, unique materials, and interesting shapes for your patio. In your search for a design that’s sleek and of-the-moment for your paved areas, check out these pattern suggestions:

• Pinwheel pattern: This interesting pattern offers a cool geometric effect. True to its name, the pinwheel shape features a square of bricks and a cut half brick in the center for a finished look that’s sure to add interest.
• Whirled pattern: This intricate and circular motif reflects lot of brick cutting and labor. Circular rows of rectangular and cut triangular bricks create a stunning finish that is sure to make an impact in a large showcased area.  
  
  

No matter which pattern you choose to have your brick patio laid in, you’re sure to love the finished look. Have fun dreaming up colors and pattern schemes for your new outdoor oasis.

​Creating a dream backyard is exciting, but it can be a challenge to visualize the end result and fully explain your vision to your landscape designer. In order to communicate your vision accurately—and to bring your vision to life as close to your budget and timeline as possible—you may want to take advantage of technology. Here are the benefits of 3D design for your Naperville, IL, landscaping.


What Is 3D Design?
A two-dimensional drawing (such as a floor plan) only gives you a partial picture of what’s possible and how your finished landscape will look. This matters quite a bit when you’re considering a multi-level living space. Using to-scale renderings of your house and landscape, a landscape designer can create a 3D model that shows how new plants and backyard features such as a pool, pond, fire pit, or outdoor kitchen will appear in relation to everything else. It’s ideal to see how each individual element appears in context, how design elements come together, and how any tweaks you make will affect the final outcome.

Related:  4 Aesthetic Themes That Suit a Brick Patio in Naperville, IL

The Benefits of 3D Design
The benefits of using 3D design help to create more excitement and relief during the planning process. It’s incredibly fun to see your vision come to life! It’s also helpful to see for yourself whether your ideas are feasible, and it’s also helpful to avoid any misunderstandings. An interpretation of your vision may not translate in the design—the 3D design process can bring clarity if the designer thought you meant one thing when you actually meant something else.

Also, 3D design makes decision-making easier. When you can see your finished project from multiple perspectives—from the “street view” as well as a bird’s-eye view—you can make instant decisions about the placement of specific elements, the size of your outdoor rooms, and their relationships to each other. For example, you may notice that your dream outdoor fireplace is too massive for the space and that it completely obliterates the view, or that short pillars just don’t seem right at your entryway and should be elongated. These are design details that a 2D rendering cannot adequately convey. Your landscape designer can present various design options, which significantly simplifies your ability to make confident choices.

Related: 7 Landscape Design Ideas for Your Paver Driveway in Hinsdale, IL

Another plus: 3D design also delivers greater accuracy, especially when it comes to vertical elements such as retaining walls, a pergola, waterfall, or stairs. There is no question, once a 3D rendering is approved, whether the pergola will be 8’ tall or 10’ tall, or whether the retaining wall will be low enough to serve as a seating wall. This accuracy is essential in finalizing cost estimates, purchasing the right quantities of materials, and avoiding the need to implement last-minute changes.

In short, nothing is overlooked when you use 3D design. Clear communication between you and the landscape designer will ensure that you get exactly what you want—and if it turns out you can’t get “exactly” what you want, you will clearly see the reasons why. And when you are able to tweak the design before construction starts, you can accelerate the timeline and enjoy your dream backyard sooner rather than later.

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Brick is one of the oldest building materials. People have been using bricks to build roads, courtyards, walls, and plazas for millennia. If you want to enhance the feel of your outdoor space, here is how you can bring a traditional look to your Wheaton, IL, backyard with a brick patio.

Why Use Brick?
A brick patio is beautiful, durable, beautiful, filled with character, and can complement virtually any design style. Indeed, a brick patio can work equally well in an ultramodern or traditional setting—no matter what the style you have in place, the look of brick will add stately charm to your home!

Related: 4 Aesthetic Themes That Suit a Brick Patio in Naperville, IL

A Traditional Appearance
Traditional doesn’t necessarily mean formal. Brick inherently adds a time-worn look to your outdoor space. The feel that you will achieve depends on the colors you use, the size of the material, and the laying patterns. Ultimately, the hardscape features that include the look of brick possess a sophisticated aesthetic.

Colors
If you don’t love “brick red” as a landscaping theme, you can opt for lighter buff-colored bricks, sophisticated light grays, chocolate brown, or charcoal. When choosing a color, consider matching the roof of your home. If your home already has brick siding, it may be difficult to match the color exactly, in which case match the roof, or make a bold statement by going with a contrasting color.
Adding contrasting borders or accents adds visual interest while still retaining a traditional feel. Since the choice of brick can make a project seem already somewhat busy due to each brick’s small size and the many joint lines that will be created, you can minimize a visually cluttered feel by choosing no more than three colors for your outdoor space: a primary field color, plus one or two accent colors that you can use on borders or as special shapes within the field.
However, don’t feel that you must add a contrasting border or accents. Brick is so interesting in itself, that simply altering the laying pattern (such as when transitioning from a walkway to a patio) creates variety and character.

Sizes and Shapes
To achieve an old-world brick feel (think Amsterdam), opt for traditional brick shapes. These come in a variety of sizes, which is an important design consideration. Smaller bricks can help make a huge space feel more human-sized while larger bricks make a driveway or patio feel more substantial.

Related: ​3 Trending Landscaping Ideas for Your Wheaton, IL Backyard

Laying Patterns
On old European roads and plazas, bricks are typically laid in a running bond or herringbone pattern. But you aren’t restricted to these two standbys. A basket weave pattern also gives you the old-world and a visually more substantial feel. Bricks laid in linear patterns must be carefully positioned since outdoor living spaces rarely feature perfectly straight lines. You can avoid this challenge by laying the brick at a 45-degree angle to your home.
Circular or fan-shaped laying patterns are also commonly used in ancient European cities and while more difficult to lay (since bricks must be cut and precisely positioned) they could give your outdoor space a panache that linear laying patterns just can’t match.
A good border enhances the look of your brick patio, and it also prevents bricks from shifting. The simplest borders involve laying border bricks at a 90- or 45-degree angle to the field bricks, but bricks give you many options to create interesting and functional borders.

A paver driveway instantly adds sophistication to your home. With so many choices in materials, styles and colors, where do you start? Here are 7 ideas for your Hinsdale, IL paver driveway.

First… why should you choose pavers?
​Aside from appearance and superior curb appeal, paver driveways are:
Easier to repair than concrete or asphalt (replace individual pavers or sections without redoing the entire driveway)
More durable than poured concrete or asphalt  
Cooler on bare feet than asphalt
Eco-friendly: permeable pavers allow rain/snowmelt to seep through, preventing  runoff

Related: Why Choose Pavers over Asphalt for Your Naperville, IL, Driveway

Paver materials, shapes, sizes, and textures
Driveway design begins with choosing the right pavers to get the look you want. Choose from:
Traditional clay brick pavers develop a gorgeous timeworn patina over time. 
Concrete pavers offer a huge selection of styles, shapes, textures and colors to suit any decor.
Natural quarried stone: cobblestone or flagstone (including reclaimed) is durable and timeless.

Design elements for driveway pavers include:
Shapes. Driveway pavers typically come in two standard shapes: square, or rectangular, as well as irregular flagstone shapes. 
Sizes range from cobblestone to large, irregular flagstone. Thickness is most important: choose pavers around 3” thick to withstand vehicle traffic.
Textures: new pavers can be smooth, or textured and weathered. 
Color ties the driveway in with the home. Concrete pavers offer the greatest color variety.

Design Ideas
Make a great first impression with a paver driveway. 

Patterns
Herringbone: the most durable pattern for high traffic, pavers are set at a 45 degree angle to the garage. Not only does it look great, it also minimizes shifting. This is the brick pattern most recommended for permeable pavers due to their larger joints.
Running bond: the classic “brick” look complements the home’s brickwork. Pavers can be set either with the narrow edge or the broad edge toward the garage, and bordered with pavers set perpendicular to the field pavers.
Basketweave: a more relaxed look, this pattern looks more substantial due to the optical illusion of squares, and looks great with more contemporary homes. 
Ashlar: a more random, modern look that mixes different sizes of square and rectangular pavers.
Artistic layouts including circles and fan/fishtail shapes add lots of personality. 

Runners and Borders
Give a nod to tradition with a contrasting border or runners (narrow strips that run the length of the driveway, to mimic the look of centuries-old tire tracks).

Reclaimed brick and cobblestone
For unparalleled old-world charm, use reclaimed bricks or cobblestones as field pavers, accents, or borders.  

Grass driveways
A growing trend is to set pavers in two continuous rows with grass between, to mimic the look of ancient roads. This helps minimize a large driveway and allows for rainwater and snowmelt to seep into the ground easily. Careful installation will prevent shifting under load.

Match the roof
A current trend is to match the color of the roof, either as the main paver field color, or as a border, runner, or embellishment.

Double borders
Double borders add a sophisticated and substantial look to a paver driveway. 

Circles and other embellishments
Create a focal point and artistic flair with circles, fans/fishtails, or random free-form shapes. These embellishments can be done with field pavers for a more subtle look, or contrasting pavers for a bold look.

​When you think of landscape design, it is easy to focus on the big things like an outdoor kitchen or a swimming pool, but the softscape can make or break the appearance of the landscape. Don’t forget that softscapes are an essential part of your Hinsdale, IL, design when thinking about making changes to your backyard.

What Are Softscapes?
The softscape is all of the living parts of your yard such as trees, shrubs, plants, flowers, grass, mulch, and more. You want to have a mixture of textures, colors, and heights in the plants and other materials used in these parts of your landscape. 
In contrast, the hardscape entails all of the non-living parts of the landscape such as patios, retaining walls, and outdoor kitchens. While the materials used for these features are beautiful in their own right, their purpose is largely functional for achieving the types activities that you enjoy. Softscapes add to the beauty effect and bring in more nature to offset the more manufactured areas of your backyard. Both are necessary for a well-designed and balanced landscape. 

Related: 3 Beautiful Focal Point Ideas to Boost Your Hinsdale, IL, Landscape Design


Considerations for Softscapes 
Once new hardscape features have been built or installed, that is the time for the new softscape elements to be planted. It is not uncommon for a focal tree or flowering bushes with a wonderful aroma to steal the show. A showy flower bed or symmetrical row of shrubs in a particular shade of green causes the eye to travel around the entire landscape. 
Unlike hardscape elements, softscape features change with the seasons, from the pansies of late fall and winter, to the petunias and flowering bulbs of spring and summer. You want to ensure a variety of green colors in the plants and trees, along with the colors of the blossoms. 
Think about how gorgeous ivy can be climbing over a retaining wall or clematis with its yellow flowers looks trailing over the top of a pergola. The softscape is what gives a landscape its personality.

Related: Highlighting Trees and Plants with Outdoor Lighting in Hinsdale, IL


Softscape Elements
Trees are an essential feature of most well-planned yards. You want not only the height that trees provide but also the shade from the heat of the summer days. Trees can also be a dramatic focal point of a landscape bed, especially an unusual variety of specimen tree. 
Hedges are shrubs planted close together to function as a border or natural fence for your property. They can create a sense of privacy without hindering the breeze or being visually less than attractive the way some fences can. A hedge can also be a wind blocker to protect your property during storms.
Shrubs can be large or medium sized, depending on where they are placed and how they should function. Many shrubs stay green all year, which helps the landscape retain some color in the winter months.
Flowers have the most impact in a landscape, and bring color and liveliness to your yard. If you want to improve your Hinsdale, IL, curb appeal, colorful flower beds would add to the beauty of your yard and home.
If you are contemplating an upgrade to your landscape, don’t forget about the impact that carefully chosen and implemented softscape elements can bring to your landscape.

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Any patio that you consider for your Naperville, IL, landscape should complement the style of your home and seamlessly extend your living space. Brick can bring out the best in your home’s exterior and provide years of reliable, durable use. Here’s how to create a brick patio that’s goes well with the rest of where you spend your time.

Contemporary
For your modern home, you might initially want smooth, large stones to form the center of a patio—however, you’ll find the look of brick can achieve a similar aesthetic yet in a more classic way. Brick patios are not just crafted with the clay red color that is familiar and traditional, but brick materials come in all shades of gray and tan. Buff or even white brick pavers can keep the urban, monochromatic aesthetic that you love in your home’s appearance. If you are feeling edgy, you could choose a pink-hued brick that would make the patio a focal point of the landscape. 

Related: Integrate Sustainability Into Your Naperville, IL, Landscape Design


Rustic
If your home is more on the rustic side, you might think about a patio that utilizes brick pavers featuring more unique edges. Without the clean rectangular edge of a traditional brick, a more natural, weathered brick aesthetic can continue the woodsy, earthy appearance of your home and landscape. A more rustic brick paver can take on the look of weathered cobblestone.

Farmhouse
The modern, open farmhouse is so popular, and with good reason because of its traditional lines and open floor plan. It relies on wood, brick, and stone for its gorgeous, approachable look. Brick has been part of the farmhouse look for many years, and continues to complement the beauty of this home style. Because the current farmhouse relies on the addition of stone to the outside, a gray or tan brick patio could add contrasting texture while continuing the colors in the stone. 

Cottage or Bungalow
In a cottage or bungalow style home, small details make a crucial difference. Simplicity can be reflected in timeworn brick materials in multiple shades of red, tan and gray. This homestyle often makes heavy use of symmetry in the home structure and in the landscape, so continuing the symmetry in a brick patio would cause it to blend seamlessly with the other exterior elements. The same colors incorporated in a band around the edge of the patio keeps the even appearance. Or you could opt for a unique patio with what appears to be mirror images of brick patterns. 

Related: 3 Ways to Boost Your Downers Grove, IL, Landscape Design with Natural Stone


Laying Patterns
While the choice of brick is central to the overall aesthetic of your patio, laying patterns will transform the style. The running bond pattern consists of pavers laid end to end with the joint of the pavers on either side aligned with the center. This simple and traditional pattern is timeless and won’t ever go out of style. The herringbone pattern has so much visual interest with its zigzag appearance. Laid in a circular pattern, brick pavers can create a central focus for a patio that might be accented with contrasting paving stones. 
When considering all of the brick options and paying patterns for a patio, it is best to consult a landscape professional who has the expertise to recommend the choices that will bring the most functional, but eye-catching look, for your particular home. 
Integrate Sustainability Into Your Naperville, IL, Landscape Design