14 Driveway Ideas & Suggestions for Your Home

If you are lucky enough to have one, a driveway can be very valuable. You can get your car off the street, it is a great space to put heavy objects, such as pots and plants, and if you’re into to DIY – as we imagine you must be to be on this website – then this is where you might do much of your work.

A driveway doesn’t have to be unsightly but can be a really attractive feature of your home. In this project we are trying to give you some inspiration and ideas for your own driveway. There is a huge range of things that you can do, either yourself or by getting a tradesman to assist you, but this should be a good place to start.

We will review a range of driveway solutions and surfaces that you can consider. If you are interested in more information about specific driveway solutions and do want to have a go, follow the links to the relevant projects pages and we will tell you all about how to do it yourself.

Gravel and Dirt Driveway ideas

Find out how you can gravel your own driveway with our gravel driveway project.

Idyllic dirty driveway with gravel and grass; if only we could all have a drive like this!

Single gravel driveway with a brick edging – having a strong edging stops the gravel getting away and needing a top up quite so often;(see our edging project here to learn how to do it yourself):

Loose slate driveway – this might not be ideal for heavy traffic, but it does make an attractive feature driveway, although it can be very expensive:

12mm shingle gravel driveway – as it is so easy to get hold of shingle it makes a very popular driveway surface (calculate how much shingle you need with our volume calculator):

Block and Paved Driveway Ideas

Have a look at our block paving project to see how to pave your driveway yourself.

Block driveway created using granite setts (granite setts are effectively granite blocks that you lay to create your driveway):

"Crazy paved" style driveway – these are created using broken paving pieces that you then arrange as you see fit (broken paving can in most cases be purchased from your local builders merchants):

Herringbone pattern brick paved driveway with a dropped curb on to the road – this will be a very robust driveway and should last a long time:

Flagstone track and gravel driveway – this is quick and cheap to lay and easy to maintain, but will not sustain heavy traffic:

Double slab track driveway – Simple but effective and relatively easy to maintain:

Driveway and off street parking created using coloured paving slabs – this makes your driveway feel much more like a patio than a driveway:

This is a coloured brick paved drive for off street parking with a long drain – it gives a lovely cobbled effect:

Tarmac and Concrete Driveway Ideas

Example of a new tramac driveway allowing off street parking:

Patterned concrete driveway with drain – this is a great way to keep standing water off your driveway, however heavy the downpour:

Patterned concrete driveway – these are typically created using coloured concrete with a mould pressed into the surface as the drive is clayed to create the desired pattern. There are various types and styles of mould available:

Driveway Care and Maintenance

Driveways are not maintenance free, and they do need to be looked after. It will depend of the surface of the driveway and the conditions that it is exposed to, but after a period of time it will need some of your care and attention. Here are a few things to look out for and some suggestions to improve the life of your driveway:

1. Kill weeds in the cracks immediately.
2. Fill cracks that appear as soon as possible before water can get into them
3. Constant use and heavy vehicles can cause depressions which should be filled
4. Fill any pot holes
5. Seal your drive
6. Apply weed and moss killer where necessary
7. Use a pressure washer to clean the cracks

Here are some examples of what needs attention:

Tarmac or bitumen driveway beginning to show signs of cracking – these cracks should be filled and sealed:

Brick driveway with grass growing through – the grass should be removed or killed using weed killer before it disrupts the brick paving: