Things You'll Need:
- Rope or garden hose
- Carpet squares
- Stepping stones
- Trowel
- Sand
- Hand rake
- Level
- Small stones
- Decorative gravel or mulch
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Step 1
Walk through the area where you want a walkway and decide what path it should follow. Mark its boundaries with lengths of rope or garden hose.
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Step 2
Use a couple of carpet squares--remnants are usually free or very cheap at any carpet store--cut into the desired shape and size of stepping stones to map out where the stones will go and how many you'll need. The center of each stone should be 18 inches away from the center of the next stone.
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Step 3
Purchase the stones if you don't already have them. Lay them out along the path to make sure you're happy with their placement. You might even leave them in place overnight and see if you still like the arrangement in the morning.
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Step 4
You're ready to start digging. Use a trowel to outline each stone's placement. Then move the stone to the side and dig a shallow hole, as deep as the stone is thick, for the stone to sit in. Repeat this for all the stones.
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Step 5
Pour about an inch of sand into the bottom of each hole. Smooth the sand out so it's level, using a trowel or hand rake. Place the stones back in the holes over the sand. Each stone should protrude up from the ground by about an inch.
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Step 6
Place a carpenter's level across the top of each stone to make sure the stone is reasonably level. Scoop away or add sand beneath the stone, as necessary, to level it. Do this for all the stones, then hop on all of them to make sure they're stable. If they rock or wobble, add sand as necessary to stabilize them.
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Step 7
Fill in any gaps around the stones with sand or soil. Stamp back and forth on the stones a few times to tamp them down, then sweep any debris off the walkway into the cracks between stones.
