How to Find Design Ideas for Paths and Walkways

Whether you will build them yourself or hire a landscape architect to design them, here are a few tips for finding ideas for paths and walkways.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Measuring Tapes
• Stepping Stone Kits
• Design Magazines
• Sketchbooks
• Cameras

1. Look in books and magazines about landscape architecture, gardens and travel as well as about building and masonry. Scan the photos for paths (and other details).
2. Look in books on Japanese gardens, which use an especially rich variety of paths.
3. Stroll the nearest historic district and note what pathway designs are common there. Historical sites and museum houses often have details that are appropriate for the architecture and materials of your region. These have stood the test of time in your region for various reasons - be it a sensible response to the climate or as an expression of the local heritage - and will probably employ materials and methods that can be found nearby.
4. Sketch, photograph and measure paths that you like. (See 'eHow to Record Design Ideas in the Field.")
5. Take a walk or drive through an upscale neighborhood (where the professional designers have been at work) and look at the paths and walkways instead of the houses.
6. Ask local masons to direct you to their best work in the area.
7. Hire a landscape architect to help you.

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