There are tons of great ways to create beautiful walk ways, but when you can’t afford the high costs of some of the flat stones you find at many of the home improvement centers, it’s time to get creative.
Nature can provide many great stones for walking, but don’t always rely on it for your creative work. There are some fun and creative ways to make your own paving stones. Here is one way to add some fun and creativity to your new paving stones.
1) Determine how many feet you want to have laid out for a walk way.
2) At your nearest home improvement center, you can find make-your-own kits for paving stones. The kit typically runs around $10.00 then of course you need to purchase cement. You can buy a bag of cement mix for around $5.00 a bag.
3) Determine how thick you would like to make your stones. You don’t have to fill the form up with the cement per their instructions, you can make the stones thinner depending on the look you are going for.
4) In a bucket or some other vessel, mix the cement according to directions.
5) Collect up a bunch of old stone plates, glass bobbles etc. These items can be placed in the wet cement to create great color to your paving stones. You will want to place them on the tops of the stones and in deep enough to not fall out or cause issues when stepping on the stones. Or, if you rather, have kids have them add their touch of creativity as well, with foot prints or hand prints in the cement or how about their names, using a stick you can write names or words into the stones to get even more creative.
6) Let the stones dry then place in their appropriate places. If you have soft sandy soil, they should be pushed in easily enough, if not, you may want to take a shovel and dig into the soil a bit for each stone to help make them a bit more stable and level. Throw in some grass seed between the stones or see about moss, this will be a nice finishing touch. Or how about a nice ground cover plant.
Depending on the size walk you wish to create, you can create one for around $100.00, this does not include the cost of the stones or any other creative bobble you wish to add into the mix for your paving stones. Have fun with it. There have even been some stones created with old silk flowers to add a touch of color. To this, you may wish to cover the stones with a sealer to help preserve the material.
If this type of walk way isn’t what you are looking for, then its time to get even more creative for your path way. Although, this method may take you time, you may not have to spend anything on it.
For years many people when traveling to different regions like to collect treasures, in many cases these treasures are in the forms of different types of stones to maybe create a rock garden with. However, you can do the same, instead try and find flat rocks that can be used in creating a walk way. Each stone of course would bring about a different memory of travel. You could even paint on the stones, the places they were collected and the date. Again you can get creative with kids and have them create rock pets, painting something fun on each stone. Flowers, funny faces, animals and much more to add to the charm of your walk way. You can also paint on the cement stones that you create. This is a good way to use up old paint you may have been holding on to from house projects. Check with neighbors to see if they have some odd colors to throw in the mix.
