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Landscape Design Gardening with Stone Porches & Decks

stone steps with a wooden porch?

Toronto Veterinarian

last month

I've been talking to a landscaper about renovating my front yard......I want to get rid of the lawn over my septic leach field and put in a new walkway from the driveway to my porch (that area is not on the leach field). My porch is about 15' long, with a railing except for the 5.5' where the 4 steps join the porch. Right now both are wood, worn but secure. There are shrubs in front of the railing.

The idea he is proposing is an interlock pathway, leading to stone steps up to the porch - I made sure it wouldn't be a brick-like interlock, but with larger pavers. He believes that stone steps leading to a wooden porch would look fine as long as the colours are complementary, because both are a natural material. I told him I'd think about it, and I know would rather put the money I could spend on a new stone porch into the ground cover and wildflowers that will replace my lawn - but I'm having trouble picturing it. I tried to do a Google image search for that combination, and don't find very many examples. Then again, I don't know if an interlock walkway to wooden steps would look any better, so somewhere I'm going to have to mix stone and wood.

Thoughts about how to mix a stone walkway with a wooden porch? Maybe adding a wood railing on the stone steps would act as a transition?

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Comments (9)

callirhoe123
last month
Pictures needed.
Sherry8aNorthAL
last month
Do the walk, but leave the existing steps.
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There's a lot you can do with the front yard and steps depending on your cost. Like others have suggested, you might want to put in wider steps, maybe do stone steps with a paver pathway out to the driveway. I would encourage planting some grasses off to the right of the steps if your facing the house, not to close to the steps, and maybe put some small flowers in a bed around the grasses. It also could look good to run a flower bed from near the step across the front of your home and along the retaining wall. As for the large open space in the front and side of your yard there are so many options. You can do a few different flower beds to break up the area, including one farther out towards the curb with a tree in it to add some closure to your yard if you want. You could do planter boxes along the side of the house if you like gardening to help get some elevation away from critters. There even looks like enough space to do a small circle patio with firepit if you really want out in the middle area 45 degrees and 30-40 ft out from the retaining wall if you want though it would lack some privacy being in the front yard. So many options. Ultimately I'd check out some local landscape design firms or contractors portfolios to get some more visual ideas.
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Thanks so much for your generous suggestions and advice. I forgot to mention that there will be a black metal and glass railing on both sides of the steps as well as a dark frame/smoked fiberglass fixed type awning above the front door. Would that make a difference in colour choice? I was thinking all light with some texture. So the railing and awning are the darker accents. We plan to put a couple of chairs and a few potted plants on the "patio" portion. In which case would light steps and super dark(saw a lovely carbon slate or dark wood textured outdoor tile) work? Or all light?
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Carla Pruiett
last month
I have a similar situation, I believe, but installed pavers and kept the wooden steps and porch as is. Including a pic.
Carla Pruiett
last month
Pavers leading to wooden steps/porch
Sigrid
last month
I have flagstone pavers leading to my wooden porch. I also have stone steps at the other end of my walkway from the driveway. I also have a brick path from the garage to steps to the porch on the side. I've never noticed a problem with either. I have Trex steps in front and wood steps painted the same color in the side porch. If you watch a lot of HGTV, nitpick, focus on trivia and navel gaze, you might decide a paver path to wood steps is a faux pas of ginormous importance, but otherwise, you'll never notice. In my neighborhood, just about everyone has a brick, flagstone or paver path to their porch steps (lots of porches in my neighborhood).

It's the norm by far.

My experience with planting native wildflowers is that seeds are hard and plugs make a good middle ground between seeds and plants from the nursery. If you can't get plugs wholesale through your landscaper, I like the Pollen Nation. The price is right, the quality is high.
Toronto Veterinarian
Original Author
last month
Here's a photo I took this morning, showing the current porch and steps.

The driveway is off to the right of the photo, and the walkway would go from there to where the stairs are. You're right - I'm probably overthinking it.
Sherry8aNorthAL
last month
keep the current steps, but add a rail to the ground.
ShadyWillowFarm
last month
Love the house! Really nice. I would hesitate to add yet another pattern to a house that already has multiple patters - roof shingles, cedar shingles, board and batten siding, railing pattern….and you will add a pattern sidewalk and pattern steps. Maybe come up with a whole house plan to bring everything together cohesively. Your front entry, porch, walkway and landscaping could use updating, and a good overall plan can bring the house up to Wow.🙂
Sigrid
last month
I'd put a paver path to the steps and paint the steps to match the pavers chosen. I'm not sure that shade of brown is the best choice with your black and white house. I would not worry about another pattern --- you aren't going to see the pattern on the ground at the same time as the pattern on the side of the house.

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