6 Landscape Design Ideas for Bringing Attention to Your Patio Pavers in Harrisburg, PA

Some homeowners treat patio pavers as a backdrop while others treat them as an important focal point of the backyard. If you want your patio pavers to take more of a prominent role, here are 6 landscape design ideas for bringing attention to your patio pavers in Harrisburg, PA.

Keep It Simple

The most important rule if you want to bring attention to any element of your patio (whether it’s the pavers, a fire feature, or a retaining wall) is to prevent various elements from competing with each other for your attention. You will get the most satisfying results by sticking to a rule of threes: a maximum of three colors, three textures, three sizes, and so on. Keep this rule in mind as you read about the various ways to bring attention to your pavers.

Textural Contrasts

To bring attention to any surface, it should contrast with adjacent surfaces. For example, you could have smooth-textured pavers on your patio. These would “pop” more if they are next to a more rustic textured retaining wall or fire feature, rather than a smooth-textured vertical feature. Or, a flagstone-textured paver could contrast beautifully with smooth plank-style wall units.

Even if the color is the same, mixing textures brings individual character to each element. For the best results, choose one textural theme for all horizontal elements and one textural theme for all vertical elements. This way, you won’t have too many competing textures if you use a mixed-materials approach. For example, you could install smooth pavers alongside a smooth teak hot tub deck; or a brick walkway that takes you to a flagstone-textured paver patio.

Color Contrasts

Color contrasts are even more striking than textural contrasts. A dark brown paver could look stunning next to a smooth off-white concrete retaining wall. A brick patio next to a retaining wall with a slate or bluestone facade will bring attention to both materials. A light grey granite-inspired paver could look elegant next to smooth charcoal-colored cobblestone accents. Remember not to mix no more than three colors total in your hardscape to prevent an overly busy look.

Size Contrasts

Large format pavers bring attention to the textures, colors, and patterns of the pavers while small pavers bring attention to the laying pattern. Mixing sizes is a good way to accentuate pavers. For example, you could mix large format sandstone-inspired pavers with a brick border. Or, you could pair a large format bluestone-inspired paver with a cobblestone walkway and border. In general, avoid pairing small pavers with other small pavers or wall units, which could create a busy look. However, large pavers and large wall units balance each other very well and look wonderful with small-sized accents.

Accents and Borders

Introducing accents and borders (often with a completely different paver) makes both materials the center of attention. Bricks make fantastic borders that pair well with nearly any paver style, but you could also create subtle borders using the same paver in a different laying pattern or a slightly different shade.

Light

Don’t forget to bring attention to your pavers at night! While colors won’t show much after dark, you can use light to accentuate the texture. Low-lying lighting that hits the pavers at an angle is ideal for this application. Landscape lighting could be integrated into retaining walls, or you could use stand-alone pathway lights.