Gone are the days when the driveway was just considered as a simple passage to the house; a means of entrance to the main building. Nowadays, the driveway is considered to be a focal point for landscaping opportunities when you’re looking to improve the aesthetics of your home. Some driveway designs can be elaborate enough to turn them into miniature parks, while others follow a more basic but nevertheless attractive passageway for you and your guests.
The basic driveway design as commonly used in countless of homes is simply a driveway leading from the road straight to the garage. You may use grey resin driveways here, and I would suggest that you take into account the turning radius into the garage when you start planning the driveway design. A radius of 10 to 15 feet should be enough for most, and you should also plan to give around 30 feet of backing space from the garage.
One of the more popular choices for driveway designs would be the circular driveway. This one basically forms a loop, where the driveway starts from the road, goes around and near to the front door, and ends up on the road again. Some circular driveway designs travel to the garage instead of the front door, although I have not seen it often enough to be considered as common.
A wide turning radius is required for this driveway design; the wider, the better. I would suggest giving out a minimum turning radius of at least 20 feet along the curves. If you lack enough space, you could go with 15 feet, but lesser than that is unacceptable.
I personally like the courtyard driveway designs that look as if they belong to old estates in France or Germany, or in any other European country, for that matter. In the United States, homeowners have managed to build courtyard driveways with a contemporary style that look good as well.
The central area for the circular driveway should be paved and can be shaped either in a square or circular design. A lot of people love to include a fountain in the middle of their courtyard, as well. If you’re going tor a circular design for the central area, you should go for a diameter of 70 feet. This may seem a bit huge at first glance, but believe me, it makes maneuvering vehicles a lot easier this way. Square designs, on the other hand, need to be around 55 feet in width and length.
When you’re done with the design, you should start considering the actual width of the driveway. I would recommend laying out space for 9 to 12 feet. Actually, 10 feet would be good enough for a small truck, let alone a car, so you really don’t have to go for 12 feet of paved space. Now, if you have a two-car garage or more (lucky you!), you might as well go for double the width of the two cars.
Remember, since the driveway can be both functional and decorative at the same time, you need to think carefully about what you mostly need it to be. This will save you money, time, and stress when you start building your driveway.
