That will be such a nice solution! What about wood look stamped concrete for the walk and patio area?

Or maybe brick look?

Kathy, have you looked into the cost of concrete pavers vs stamped concrete. In my area, quality stamped concrete is fairly comparable to dry laid pavers. Believe me, there is a lot of poorly executed stamped concrete out there. If you go with pavers, you may find a product that mimics natural stone and will give you the look without the cost of natural stone. There are also retaining walls that have the look of natural stone without the cost (at least in the Mid-West). I have used Belgard, Rosetta, and Unilock products extensively. The wall pic here is Rosetta Belvedere. Using multiple colors really helps increase the natural look. The pavers are From Unilock. Excellent texture and color.

Wow, thanks to both of you! You have given me a lot to think about. I really appreciate the pictures that you both provided. It helps me know exactly what you are referencing and they look great!

I understand your concern and what you're trying to do with the the walk to the street, but I don't think it's going to work out well. Not only is it redundant having a walk a very short distance away from the drive, the walk itself is breaking a couple of art rules that devalue it, in my opinion. For one, the stark angle break in direction does not seem in concert with any other element of the front yard. For the most part, the predominant 2-D lines of the yard are curving. The patio echos 90* corners of the house. The angled walk just looks broken. Too, it ties to the city walk at an odd angle for no apparent reason. It looks sick. Sick and broken. It would be so much better if it used curves instead of the angle break. But back to my first point, I think it would look much better if it were incorporated as a broad, decorative edge to the drive, running concurrent with it. It would also be important to know what the walk is doing at the other side of the city walk, if a parking strip exists. If it does, the private walk should continue to the curb.

The bed area circled in red is not going to work. Too skinny.

What is the area I've colored in yellow? It looks too narrow to be a walk and too wide to be a mowing strip. If it's a walk, I think it needs some work.

You could benefit immensely from laying proposed elements (drive/walk/patio edges, planting beds, etc.) out in marking paint prior to building anything. It would help you to see if you needed to make adjustments or changes.

Yardvark, thank you so much for evaluating my proposed plan. I appreciate your comments and will try to address your questions as I understand them. I too had a problem with the sharp angled lines of the walkway. I think it was drawn that way to avoid the water/sewer access points that are imbedded in the flower bed. I had planned to change the sharp angles to curves, but I have to admit that I was having a hard time making a decent curve as our front yard is not too deep and the walkway would connect to the patio over a shorter distance than desired.

The front flowerbed was already executed a few years ago and is actually not as narrow as it appears on the plan. The yellow highlighted path was existing to the property (our home was built in the 1950s), and as you note, it is somewhat narrow (probably about 2’ wide). However, it has been very convenient to walk around the property. Do you propose that we make that path wider?

Other elements on the plan we did not plan to execute include the black squares on the driveway’s edge that represented large flower filled urns on black rock (and a small awning at the beginning of the front porch from the patio). The narrow flower bed that runs along the front porch would be eliminated.

My main concern is that I feared that without distinguishing the walkway/patio/front porch in some manner differently than the driveway, it would look like a massive driveway. But since the front of my house is only bedroom windows, I needed to find a way to make a more welcoming presence and an obvious path to the front door instead of weaving between cars in the driveway.

In your proposed revision, do you think the 90 degree angles of the patio/seating wall would be appropriate because the house has the same lines? I think it would look good.

What material would you propose for the walkway/patio/front porch that would run alongside the driveway? My hope was that I could do some kind of stamped concrete there that would be complimentary to the driveway but subtly different that would distinguish it as the walkway.

I am really taking your observations to heart and so appreciate that you took the time to give me your professional opinion. Your comments and suggestions are really making me rethink this. Thank you very very much! Kathy

Here is a picture from the street showing the driveway and front flowerbed.

For the purpose of merely educating, let's not call a driveway, "cement." Cement is one of its ingredients, but the driveway is: concrete. It is cement+stones+sand, mixed with water and whatever else special ingredients one uses to make it "sparkle."

Can we presume that the overriding goal is, "....we needed to make a more inviting entry to our home..."? Did the patio idea come about on account of needing an outdoor lounge area at the front of the house.... or did it come about as a solution perceived to accomplish the goal of a "more inviting entry"? If it is the former, fine. If it is the latter, I'd rethink it. Adding a patio that will not really be used is waste of money. And it's not necessary since almost no homes have this and very few home-buyers insist on such a feature. I agree that you need to make a "new" outdoor entrance that makes your home more inviting, but I don't think you need to include a patio, unless you will use it.

In looking at the existing "entrance" (which from the street point of view is the root overhang, note how there is not even a path to it!! That would be a first step in making it inviting. Another step would be to have the roof extend outward, over an entrance, signifying that you are offering protection/shelter to anyone entering. It could be dolled up some, with architectural details, so as to look more important than what exists now. The worry about a sea of concrete ..... you only need to make the driveway/walk pretty and decorative ... then, the more sea, the better. A lot of prettiness is not something to fear. :-)

If you NEED a patio at the front of the house, you would basically expand on what I just mentioned above, including whatever floor space you deemed necessary.

On my street a front patio is a common addition and is likely something many people appreciate when looking at homes. This is southern California where Sunset magazine has been promoting the idea for decades. Nice to sit and say hello to neighbors, nice for watching your kids out front, nice for greeting visitors.

I like the idea for your home. Going up the narrow dark covered walk to the front door is not very inviting but a small open area that's clearly partly closed to the public would be a lovely way to greet visitors.

"On my street a front patio is a common addition and is likely something many people appreciate when looking at homes. This is southern California"

And I think this is very much a regional thing :-) In SoCal, where one has the ability to relax outside pretty much year round, this may make sense. In my area, front yard seating areas (other than just a bench or similar) are almost unheard of and would not/could not be used much of the time. And I think that will be a similar situation in most other areas of the country - wasted space for much of the year. There is also a privacy issue to consider - do you really want to be on display in your front garden?? Personally, I'd much rather see some lush plantings.

Otherwise, I pretty much will echo Yardvaark's comments. And the gable feature decoenthusiaste illustrated is a nice way of emphasizing the walkway leading to the entry and could be repeated (at a 90 degree change) at the actual entry.

She's in Woodland, central California. I would have happily put in a front patio when I lived in the bay area. That's not far away.

In my area in Northern California, we have nice spring, summer and fall seasons, where we have plenty of nice days to enjoy the patio. I do have to admit that I don't see a lot of front yard patios in our area, but I find them very appealing. I agree very much that it would be a great idea to add a gable of some sort to the roof line edge where the front porch beginning is. I love the gable picture that decoenthusiaste posted. That is a grand feature for sure, but I wonder how I could pull that off when the width of my porch is a mere 54" wide. But, I think I will check into the possibilities as I do see how much that would help bring an inviting 'entrance' to our home. Even a 'mini-gable' would probably dress it up tremendously. I also like Yardvaark's drawing with the decorative edge to the driveway to make a walkway straight up the property, with the patio reconfigured (or no patio - as I am undecided right now).