Create an ideabook for your next remodeling project!
Browse more than 1,000,000 photos from top designers and save your favorites
Landscape Design
Top Ideabooks
- How to Turn a Side Yard Into a Glorious Garden Room
- How Low Can Hedges Go? Discover Unusual Garden Borders
- 5 Essential Considerations for a Landscape Design Project
- See 6 Homes That Rise to the Rural Landscape
- Take Your Garden on a Rural Route With Plant-Dominant Designs
- 8 Outdoor Playspace Ideas to Nurture Kids' Imaginations
Renovation Detail: The Ribbon Driveway
Grass paired with concrete for the driveway is more than just pleasing to the eye — it's good for the environment and your home
Houzz Contributor. I'm an interior designer, homeowner and founding blogger of the before + after super-site, http://www.raenovate.com/.
Houzz Contributor. I'm an interior designer, homeowner and founding blogger... More »
This week my husband and I are presenting our ribbon driveway plans to our township zoning board. This classic driveway design features green grass running between two parallel strips of pavement. Dating back to the 1920s, the design was born before the days of paving. After long periods of parking the car in the grass driveway, ruts formed, leaving only a patch of grass down the middle. Eventually the ruts were filled in with concrete, and the ribbon driveway was born.
Nowadays the design is making a comeback due to its environmental benefits and nostalgic appeal. Environmentalists are drawn to the design for several reasons: It requires less impervious material, features additional greenery and means far less water runoff.
In Fullerton, California, the city's preservation guidelines state that residents are encouraged to have a ribbon driveway to break up the expanse of paving and to provide increased landscaping. I like the way you think, Fullerton!
Nowadays the design is making a comeback due to its environmental benefits and nostalgic appeal. Environmentalists are drawn to the design for several reasons: It requires less impervious material, features additional greenery and means far less water runoff.
In Fullerton, California, the city's preservation guidelines state that residents are encouraged to have a ribbon driveway to break up the expanse of paving and to provide increased landscaping. I like the way you think, Fullerton!
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Ribbon driveways have the ability to contour to property constraints, natural barriers or houses, as shown here. |
|
by Madson Design
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| With individual concrete pads, this modern take on the ribbon driveway has an increased amount of green space and facilitates water drainage. |
|
by Gast Architects
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Rather than the traditional concrete and grass ribbon, this California drive features pavers, slate and greenery in a grid pattern. |
|
by Brooks Ballard
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| This property's driveway pays homage to the ribbon's Craftsman roots. Additional historical characteristics include the home's gable dormer, brick porch pedestals and prairie-style window muntins. |
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
Without the landscaped portion of this ribbon driveway, water runoff would be a major concern for these property owners. However, the grass aids in alleviating water drainage toward the home.
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Plush green grass is great for climates that do not require snow removal, like this La Jolla, California, residence. |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Encouraged by The Beatles, I can't help but sing "the long and winding ribbon" while admiring this drive. |
|
by FGY Architects
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Opening up onto a carport and parking pad, the landscaped center portion of this ribbon driveway breaks up what would otherwise be a large, impervious area. |
|
by Brooks Ballard
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Leading to a two-car garage, this ribbon drive features extensive landscaping, an environmental plus. More: Great Garages: Parking, Reconsidered Patio Pavers Rock Out |
Ideabook published on April 20, 2012.
What are you working on?
News From Our Partners
Latest Ideabooks
People found the photos in this ideabook after searching for:
View over a million photos:
With that said; wishing you success in obtaining your permit.
ANd the other one, the inside of my house is allways full of little stones... plus is so dirty, i wouldn't recomend it!!!!
Maybe ground cover instead of grass