Unique by Design l Helen Weis
This is an example of a traditional front yard full sun driveway for summer in Oklahoma City.

Architect: Blaine Bonadies, Bonadies Architect Photography By: Jean Allsopp Photography “Just as described, there is an edgy, irreverent vibe here, but the result has an appropriate stature and seriousness. Love the overscale windows. And the outdoor spaces are so great.” Situated atop an old Civil War battle site, this new residence was conceived for a couple with southern values and a rock-and-roll attitude. The project consists of a house, a pool with a pool house and a renovated music studio. A marriage of modern and traditional design, this project used a combination of California redwood siding, stone and a slate roof with flat-seam lead overhangs. Intimate and well planned, there is no space wasted in this home. The execution of the detail work, such as handmade railings, metal awnings and custom windows jambs, made this project mesmerizing. Cues from the client and how they use their space helped inspire and develop the initial floor plan, making it live at a human scale but with dramatic elements. Their varying taste then inspired the theme of traditional with an edge. The lines and rhythm of the house were simplified, and then complemented with some key details that made the house a juxtaposition of styles. The wood Ultimate Casement windows were all standard sizes. However, there was a desire to make the windows have a “deep pocket” look to create a break in the facade and add a dramatic shadow line. Marvin was able to customize the jambs by extruding them to the exterior. They added a very thin exterior profile, which negated the need for exterior casing. The same detail was in the stone veneers and walls, as well as the horizontal siding walls, with no need for any modification. This resulted in a very sleek look. MARVIN PRODUCTS USED: Marvin Ultimate Casement Window

Front Entrance Landscape Design and Construction by Arrow. Marco Romani, RLA Landscape Architect
This is an example of a traditional front yard partial sun driveway in Chicago with concrete pavers and a garden path.

Inspiration for a mid-sized transitional front yard driveway in New York.

Design ideas for a large traditional front yard driveway in New York with natural stone pavers.

TRU Landscape Services
This is an example of a mid-sized traditional front yard driveway in Orange County with a retaining wall and concrete pavers.

Landscape and design by Jpm Landscape
Design ideas for a large traditional front yard driveway in San Francisco with concrete pavers.

Ribbon style driveway in the city.
Mid-sized traditional front yard full sun driveway in DC Metro with concrete pavers.

Inspiration for a traditional front yard driveway in Toronto.

Looking up the new driveway towards the street. 'Green Giant' Arborvitae screen the neighbor's property from view and will mature to conceal the utility lines overhead. Boulders found on site were utilized to make walls for a larger parking area. Photo by Susan Sotera

For functional and esthetic reasons, pavers are the best fit for the driveway. Techo-Bloc pavers are made to withstand automobile traffic. They will not fade because they are made with color, through and through. Unlike asphalt, our pavers will never crack. They are also resistant to de-icing salt and come with a lifetime warranty. Techo-Bloc offers a wide variety of paver shapes, finishes and colors to create perfect harmony with your home's architecture and color.

custom lighted address In the woods zen home http://ZenArchitect.com
Mid-sized modern front yard full sun driveway in Orange County with a garden path and decking.

Landscape Architect: Howard Cohen
Photo of a mid-sized transitional front yard driveway in DC Metro.

This is an example of a large traditional front yard driveway in Chicago with a garden path and brick pavers.

In 2003, we received a call from John and Jennifer Randall of West Houston. They had decided to build a French-style home just off of Piney Point near Memorial Drive. Jennifer wanted a modern French landscape design that reflected the symmetry, balance, and patterns of Old World estates. French landscapes like this are popular because of their uniquely proportioned partier gardens, formal garden and constructions, and tightly clipped hedges. John also wanted the French landscape design because of his passion for his heritage (he originally came to Houston from Louisiana), as well as the obvious aesthetic benefits of creating a natural complement to the architecture of the new house. The first thing we designed was a motor court driveway/parking area in the front of the home. While you may not think that a paved element would have anything at all do with landscape design, in reality it is truly apropos to the theme. French homes almost always have paving that extends all the way to the house. In the case of the Randall home, we used interlocking concrete pavers to create a surface that looks much older than it really is. This prevented the property from looking too much like a new construction and better lent itself to the elegance and stateliness characteristic of French landscape designs in general. Further blending of practical function with the aesthetic elements of French landscaping was accomplished in an area to the left of the driveway. John loved fishing, and he requested that we design a convenient parking area to temporarily store his boat while he waited for a slip at the marina to become available. Knowing that this area would function only for temporary storage, we came up with the idea of integrating this special parking area into the green space of a parterre garden. We laid down a graveled area in the shape of a horseshoe that would easily allow John back up his truck and unload his boat. We then surrounded this graveled area with a scalloped hedge characterized by a very bright, light green color. Planting boxwoods and Holly trees beyond the hedge, we then extended them throughout the yard. This created a contrast of light and green ground cover that is characteristic of French landscape designs. By establishing alternating light and dark shades of color, it helps establish an unconscious sense of movement which the eye finds it hard to resist following Parterre gardens like this are also keynote elements to French landscape designs, and the combination of such a green space with the functional element of a paved area serves to elevate the mundane purpose of a temporary parking and storage area into an aesthetic in its own right. Also, we deliberately chose the horseshoe design because we knew this space could later be transformed into a decorative center for the entire garden. This is the main reason we used small stones to cover the area, rather than concrete or pavers. When the boat was eventually relocated, the darkly colored stones surrounded by a brightly colored hedge gave us an excellent place to mount an outdoor sculpture. The elegance of the home and surrounding French landscape design warranted attention at all hours so we contracted a lighting design company to ensure that all important elements of the house and property were fully visible at night. With mercury vapor lights concealed in trees, we created artificial moonlight that shone down on the garden and front porch. For accent lighting, we used a combination of up lights and down lights to differentiate architectural features, and we installed façade lights to emphasize the face of the home itself. Although a new construction, this residence achieved such an aura of stateliness that it earned fame throughout the neighborhood almost overnight, and it remains a favorite in the Piney Point area to this day. For more the 20 years Exterior Worlds has specialized in servicing many of Houston's fine neighborhoods.

This soft, pastel planting along a driveway draws influence from cottage gardens, although its plant palette was driven largely by voracious deer. This garden was featured in the March/April 2013 issue of Fine Gardening and pictured in the May 2012 issue of Sunset. See more photos of this garden at our website, mosaic-gardens.com. photo: Buell Steelman, Mosaic Gardens

Traditional driveway in New York.

Landscape and design by Jpm Landscape
Inspiration for a large traditional front yard driveway in San Francisco with concrete pavers.

Cannes
Photo of an expansive mediterranean driveway in Nice with natural stone pavers and a container garden.