Deb and I shared this DIY sidewalk by the cottage over on social media several weeks ago.  It wasn’t until now that I had time to share it here.  I have stated before that we want everything to look like it’s been here forever – including little things like sidewalks.  We love to use items like recycled concrete to create sidewalks so that they look old.  Which is what we did with the sidewalk by the little garage. But we had different needs for this area.  This is where we store our grill and our large trash bin, so we needed a landing type area that would be flat enough for both of those items.

DIY Sidewalk by the Cottage

We both had the idea of adding a few large concrete patio stones for the landing parts where both items would set.  And then adding packing stone as a pathway to that area from the driveway.  But once we started working on this project, there was a huge height difference in the land.  So it only made sense to add a few more patio stones and make a few small steps coming down toward the driveway.

We had several extra old street bricks left over from the pergola swing project that were always in our way.  I think we moved them 10 times.  So, we decided to use them around each patio stone on each step.  They added a little bit of definition and a different color to the sidewalk.  

And Deb, of course, went extra as always.  She bought a large step to place in front of the garage door to give it a little bit different look.  There was quite a bit of a drop so that was a perfect idea.  And then, of course, added all of the stone to complete the sidewalk.  This works perfectly for what we needed it for.  And I love the randomness of it.  

I really feel like that is what makes a difference when planning spaces like this.  Adding different random things together and not having everything perfectly done is what helps it look like it’s been here for awhile.