Brighten Up Your Driveway With These 5 Landscape Design Trends in Wheaton, IL
Most homeowners consider the driveway to be purely utilitarian, but it’s actually an opportunity for creative expression. Day or night, you can brighten up your driveway with these 5 landscape design trends in Wheaton, IL and make it not only a functional place to park your vehicles, but an eye-catching focal point that will boost your home’s curb appeal.
Pavers
Asphalt and poured concrete just don’t have the curb appeal or the durability of pavers. With pavers, you have many design choices that complement your home and landscaping. Your driveway could become an important focal point. With so many style, color, texture, and finish choices you’re sure to find a paver that’s just perfect for your design theme. As well, the driveway surface could be made permeable to allow surface water to seep into the ground instead of running off onto the landscaping after a heavy rain.
While pavers are a bigger upfront investment, you’ll get a much more satisfactory return on your investment over the years: when poured concrete and asphalt have begun crumbling and are showing their age, pavers still look great and perform just like they did on the day they were installed.
You can express your personality with a paver driveway. Borders, inlays, and decorative features such as contrasting aprons at the end of the driveway ensure that your driveway is completely unique.
Worried about snowplows or deicing salts ruining your pavers and landscaping? Pavers are compatible with driveway heating systems, which can almost completely eliminate the need to plow, shovel, or use deicers.
Layers
Many suburban homes feature a large expanse of lawn and some foundation plantings. As the driveway typically goes through the lawn area, it’s a relatively featureless space. Make it more interesting with a layered effect. Instead of landscaping the entire length of the driveway, you could create a series of “planting pockets” that contain a variety of trees, shrubs, and other plants. Be sure to consider the mature size of the plants you choose along your driveway, so plants don’t impede traffic once they’re fully grown. This adds dimension and interest to your driveway.
A few landscape lights could be “randomly” positioned throughout these planting pockets to add dimension and depth to the landscape at night.
A Retaining Wall
Even on a perfectly flat property, a low wall along the driveway adds a touch of elegance. It’s also an opportunity to house solar-powered or hard-wired LED light fixtures to bring soft illumination to the entire driveway, not just the space at the garage.
A Series of Pots
Place large containers that are easy to see along the length of the driveway. Fill them with colorful seasonal flowers in summer and a variety of holiday decorations later in the year. You can even place solar light fixtures into each container to add ambient light and interest.
Consider Overflow Parking
If you entertain frequently and don’t want your guests to park on the street, consider overflow parking along the driveway on one side. This area could range from a section of lawn, a gravel area, or you could opt for a wider paver driveway large enough to house several additional vehicles.
Add Symmetry
If your home and landscape are formal, you could consider and elegant symmetrical landscape design along the driveway such as a matching pair of entry pillars with welcoming lights.
