The thing about landscape improvements is that most people who buy a house expect it to have at least some landscaping, and certainly expect a sidewalk, so they will not pay extra for it. Kind of like a roof. They expect a serviceable roof, so while they may deduct for the cost of replacing a bad roof, it doesn't necessarily mean you can add the replacement cost to the sale price if you do it ahead of time. In addition, a new owner will probably have her own ideas about what kind of landscaping is suitable, and tear out and replace much of what you've done, unless you are putting in a really spectacular, high end job that's so wonderful that they wouldn't want to change it. You don't give any hints as to your location, but zone 6 gets snow, and you'll have to be able to clear the walk in winter. Stepping stones are OK for a casual secondary path through a garden, but the approach to the house, especially for strangers to the layout, should be as direct and clear as possible, and hazard free. The minimum width for walkway should be 4 feet, IMO, and 5 is better if you have the space. It's unpleasant to have to go to the door in single file, and a problem if Aunt Bessie needs someone offer her an arm on the way in. You end up looking something like a conga line. I would forget about a flower bed against the house, and either plant groundcover or a few annuals at most. Anything tall will fall over onto the walk, especially as it leans out for more light. Shrubs will require constant trimming and will end up looking nasty. The cost of installing a new walkway depends on materials you choose, the size of the project, how much grading/prep work is required, demolition of the old walk, and the skill level of the installer. An experience artisan will cost more than a guy with a pickup truck and an account at Dome Heapo. Add the cost, if any, for dumping the waste you break up. You must be young folks, because I wouldn't want to demolish a concrete walk and install a new one without outside help.

I have an old brick house and put in a concrete brick walkway (is that an oxymoron?). It is not that great looking. It's better than what I had. First thing I would say is do not let these contractors and guys who are pushing to sell their product lines push you. I know you want to get the project finished and sometimes these guys can be so impatient. But if you don't like what they are suggesting, if you don't feel good about it, stop right now. Step back. If they can't accomodate you, find someone else. I just had my couch recovered and I must have looked at 50 fabric books. I felt very guilty about going back so many times to the upholstery studio. But it was not a cheap item and I expect to live with it for many years. I finally found the right fabric, and I can't believe how perfect it is compared to all the other options I was considering. I knew it was right the minute I saw it, and have no regrets, which is a good thing since I'll be living with the results for a long time. When it's right it's right, and if it's not right, it's never going to get right. Better to be a little b!tchy now than live for years with something you hate. I had a red brick house and was worried about matching for my pathway and patio. I also had to consider cost, I couldn't afford mottled pavers or the varied size ones. I thought red would just be too much red in my yard. I chose grey. If I had to do it again I would pick a sandstone color, to match the mortar between my bricks. My neighbors have a fence that color and it looks good against their house. BUT, if I really could do it over again I would either pick much larger pavers in some type of other style than the ubiquitous stuff MacLandscapers use. I think those cement pavers look OK on a wood sided or vinyl sided house, but not with brick. You need flagstone, crushed gravel whatever that mats down, wood, trex, even well designed poured concrete. There must be more options but I'm no expert. I was on the coolest crushed gravel path the other day, lined with treated lumber.

Thank you so for your response, I appreciate it! I'm new to this form of communication, hope I didn't do anything wrong!! Checked out your photos and really enjoyed viewing them. Several years ago we tackled a front patio and steps and I must say, we did and outstanding job for a couple of novices! We didn't need to go quite as deep as you went, only went 14". That comprised of 10" of crushed limestone put down in layers and compacting between each 3-5 inches. We then put a layer of sand, compacting well. Measured the depth to sand to be what was needed according to the thickness of the brick. Leveled and graded for a slope, laid the brick then a layer of sand over the top, swept into the cracks. It turned out gorgeous! My concern for the pathway from the house to the barn was the actual path it took from point A to B. Our back door is dead center to the middle of the porch on the barn. So how do I go west 15 ft from back door, go north around this huge boulder, then immediately go south for 4 ft around a tree then meander west to the barn? I know, sounds confusing to me, too! Just want it to look out of proportion or symmetry. By the way, my poor husband dug it all out by hand! I do thank you for your response and will have to look for new 'thread', Pam

I'm a second generation mason taught by my 86 year old father who has (and still does) devoted his entire life to masonry. Matching is probably the one thing that he has spent most of his time trying to master. My two cents (and what I typically tell my customers) is that matching brick and mortar is impossible. Then I explain that there are companies that will make bricks to match but the cost is typically not practical on the small jobs that I do. I also explain to them that even that "match" may not be perfect after they pay a lot of money to get a match. As far as mortar color goes, there are so many factors involved that getting a "match" is impossible. A mason can look at the mortar and see what color was used but he can't determine things like sand, cement and the ratios. Not to mention other factors that affect color such as weathering, curing time i.e. outside temp, direct sunlight etc. If you walk around a building you'll see slight color variations even now that we use pretty exact ratios. So, the best that a mason can do is toss in a bit of the color that he see's and hope for the best! I always conclude by saying that the level of match all depends on how much you are willing to spend. But, if we're talking about a 5-10K job, you probably don't want to add another 30-40% to pay me to jump through all of the hoops to find that match. If you have a 100K job, it might be worth the effort because the cost to find a match is basically fixed. Same cost for a 5K job as it is for a 100K job. But, you will never have an exact match. The reason I explain all of this, and put it in writing in my contracts, is because a "match" is very relative. What I think is a match may not look like a match to you and we won't know this until a lot of time and money has already been spent. This makes it difficult for a mason to even estimate these jobs. My first thought is: after I jump through all of the extra hoops to find this match, will I even get the job? In my experience, the typical home owner is not willing to pay for this. Unfortunately, they often go with the low bidder thinking that they will get something other than what they actually end up with. We (masons) are just like everyone else. We want/need to be paid for our time. If a guy claims that he can do something for much less then there is a real good chance that he is leaving something out. As far as brick matching goes, it never hurts to ask every mason that you can find. Most masons have a stock pile of old bricks and they just might have yours!