Hi Wellspring/Charlotte! Lots of good things to think about in your comments... While everyone's experience is going to be different, I generally find the input from someone who deals with the issues themselves everyday particularly useful in highlighting details to think about. It did finally occur to me on the weekend to search on the Accessible Gardening forum here but I didn't find much. 'Introducing' my friend to her garden by walking around it and giving her a running commentary on it is definitely something we'll need to do. She's probably still in the early stages of developing those mapping skills you have so it'll be good practice for her to get very familiar with the garden space. She's still in the process of 'mapping' the inside of the house. She does have the depth perception problem (as do I...) so we're both somewhat used to dealing with that - but have the bruises to show that one can never let down one's guard! My friend just about knocked herself out last week when she mis-judged where the bathroom door was in the middle of the night apparently! (She was still following her old 'map' from the condo when she was half asleep...) I do need to get a better sense of what a garden means for her. Other than scented things, I'm not really sure. I know my garden preferences are largely formed by the gardens I grew up with as a child. I have no idea what gardens in her original part of the world look like and what expectations she might have with respect to things like foliage shapes, flower colors etc. We'll have to explore all that. There may be some unrealistic expectations to deal with too - I remember a girl from Guyana in my university days being baffled by the fact that tomatoes had to be planted again each year! And there's lots of new language issues for us to work out together I'm sure. The garden that's at the house now largely follows the foundation and the fence line. The path to the front door has garden beds on both sides. The path itself worries me. It's narrow at the driveway end - made with ~2' paving stones - and there's a 4-6" drop to the driveway at the end. At the front door end, the path widens to a landing area made with 3-4' patio stones - which are not level! There are 2 steps to the front door and then a step up into the front hall. The steps to the door are also not level and there is no handrail to provide support. It strikes me as dangerous - but is it something that she will just learn to navigate easily/safely from habit or should they be making a new entrance a priority? Is a trench edge also a hazard - i.e. if you step into it, it's easy to fall. (That's one of the reasons I spent a good part of last summer and fall replacing all my trench edging with brick... I was thinking that would be a good idea for her for areas she's likely to be walking frequently...?) Overhead obstacles are, I think, a big future issue at my friend's house. In this TINY backyard, the previous owner planted 3 (!!) pine trees of some sort. At the moment they're still only about 4' tall but in a few years they will totally eat up the yard! I think they should get rid of them now before they become an issue, but I sense it's going to be hard to convince a pair of non-gardeners to cut down these seemingly small green things! The previous owners planted quite a few roses up against the house. I've been wondering if they're likely to be an issue at all. I've seen my friend reach out her hand to the house wall for support, fairly near the roses. How often do do entangle yourself in rose thorns?! Should the roses be moved to places where she is unlikely to accidentally reach into or fall against them? I like the idea of brightly colored pots at the end of a bench that is easily reached. We haven't actually ventured out to the backyard yet so I don't have a very good sense of the space out there yet. From indoors, it looks a bit sloped and uneven and greatly in need of a level place for sitting etc. We'll probably have to wait another 6 weeks or so to really check things out. Probably some people are thinking this discussion doesn't belong here. I don't know how to switch the discussion to e-mail... But, since designing for accessibility is an issue these days in many situations, I thought this discussion might provide some insights into practical aspects from a 'user' perspective :-) There are certainly lots of well-meaning 'accessible' alterations out there that drive me nuts - and I'm sure you find the same sort of thing. As much as possible, I want to avoid inadvertently causing problems for my friend so I value your perspective on all this. Woody/Susan

I thought I was odd for taking photos of random disem"bodied" architectural elements, but floors and sidewalks, that is cool. A few to add, but I dont have photos. Rio b/w undulating sidewalks, and they sell flipflops to match Lisbon sidewalks (no accident Rio and Lisbon!) - just saw an article in the NYT travel section, which I didnt read but noticed a photo. Hope the city is better, was there 10+ yrs ago and it had the distinction of having the worst Four Seasons in the world! Biejing - carved dragon steps in Forbidden city Portland - has diamond pattern sidewalks in places I love the pebble ones! I was going to do pebble in one of our showers, but didnt like standing on it. I ended up doing a honed/polished white thassos paisley mosaic. Very cool what they can do with CAD today! I showed them a paisley, et Voila!

This sounds like a project where you are expecting the installer to do the design -- create the layout, grade and details -- and then you just pick the color and end up with a fantastic driveway. If that's the case, I would absolutely be worrying about the layout, grade and details first, as any of those things are capable of bringing as much or more remorse than the wrong color paver. Hopefully, you are improving the layout over the existing one. I would consider heat absorption to be of relatively minor consequence in the big scheme of things. People will probably not walk on the driveway in their bare feet. But what will affect you every day, especially in summer is glare. If the color is too light, you may be barely able to stand it. If I were you, I'd pick a bright, sunny day and walk onto a large area of fresh "white" concrete, without sunglasses, and see what you think. Then find some dark paving and make a comparison. I find paving that is light to be quite annoying, such that I can't wait to get into the shade. (I'm in the Tampa area.) Other than that, I find colors that lean orange, beige, yellow, etc. to be less likable than those leaning red or grey. But there are so many degrees of color that one must choose based on actual details and characteristics, not verbal descriptions. How are you viewing samples? Hopefully, you are laying them out and viewing from a distance with the house in the background so all can be appraised as a single scene. You could even photograph this so we could see it and offer an opinion. If you are looking at samples independent of the house or in artificial light, that is worthless. Keep in mind that there may be several nice colors .... no just one perfect color.

I like the choice of a brick sized close to brick size of house because your roof is also a hard surface but different shape. It’s tile, correct? I think it works to not add another stone type texture to the existing two. Also agree not to have a color in the brick too close to house color. I was drawn to the colors shown in Granite Council Paving pictures 3 through 20. Those colors would pull in your roof color. Some have an almost white wash effect which might make your white door pop out nicely too. I’d want to see a mock-up of the patio with a photo visualizer before I landed on a final choice. Have you considered the layout pattern or did you plan to incorporate a design into the layout since you’re creating a new patio almost twice the depth of old one?