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.

a path needs to be wide enough to function, - say to be able to roll a garden cart, or a wheel barrow, or the trash cans down it. yours manages that handily  and when you say Â4-5 feet I take it you mean that the path has an organic (ie not ruler-straight) layout, so a person coming down the path can step out of your way without having to stand on the hostas, which is a nice feature. The path, I think, looks Âfat because the space is long and fairly narrow  and itÂs bare. Nothing has crept over the corners yet, thereÂs no hensbane colonizing things, no striped hostas leaning over the stones, no ferns leaning over the hostas I would say that you have planned well, in leaving humans a fair swath down the center of what will be a dense little jungle in a few short years  it will save you from having to keep pushing the plants back ever year, lest the overrun things. And trust me  they will.

Common on todays sofas seems to be 23" to 24" per person, or 69" to 72" between the arms.

I have an area that is about 4' x 2' that I want to put off the main surface of the deck as an entry way to what we call a 'Turtle Garden". This area will be parallel to the ground and about 8 inches off of it. What I want to do is make the pad surface like a non-standard parquet - not standard widths or lengths or patterns. Some parallel, some angle, etc. Something to do with all the 'scrap' I have and something to keep me busy before the wife expands her Honey Do List. I would build the 'frame' with 2X beams and anchor bolt them to the band board, but am uncertain what would happen if I placed 6/5 horizontal every few inches to act as anchor points. This area will get little or no traffic. Hard to describe, but basically I am thinking about building a 3 or 4 inch 'grid' with 6/5's as joists and then securing decking board of varying lengths and widths to the top of this grid. Do they need to be 2X as well or will 6/5 work with such small grids? Is this nuts?