I should say this is in Pensacola FL and this area gets a lot of sun. I look forward to your suggestions to re-do the bottom of the driveway and make this look as attractive as possible.

Both of those driveways together look about 25‘ wide. My driveway is about that wide and its enough to park cars side by side and open the doors comfortably. I think that you may be limited in your options. If you add any shrubs, trees,or really anything to the curb end, it looks like it will make the driveway too narrow. If by chance you can squeeze something in there, it will need constant trimming. What if anything did the neighbor say, are they ok w it and its you with an issue? I mean, your homes pretty much face each other, maybe theres someone out there that sees something I dont. I hope they are the best neighbors (Truly) and good luck.

maybe pull up the curb area (all of it) and use pavers with a different colored paver in the center for the illusion of separation, I think practically, making that pad smaller and separate is a mistake. I m interested in hearing other ideas. I hope a pro chimes in.

Grass, you have a pretty big truck parked back there. You need to manuver coming and going.

It might be nice to continue the white fence between the driveway to give it separation. Not that it matters now but if HOA is upset why did they approve a design where both driveways were together

To answer what you asked I would just chip out the space between driveways at bottom so it matches the space above it. You can plant a strip of grass between the two driveways and if you can afford it I would make your driveway solid concrete or pavers

I would do the tapered thing like you show in other pictures.

"Not that it matters now but if HOA is upset why did they approve a design where both driveways were together" My thoughts exactly!

Can you afford to repour your drive to be all one piece? Then redo the street landing so that it comes to the point like most of your inspiration pictures. Make sure the hoa approves the plans.

It seems to me that your new neighbor is the one that should fix it.

They might can cut the landing to look like the inspiration photos without redoing your drive.

You had a new apron poured for your driveway when the adjacent house was done. Who did that and who paid for that, you or the neighbor? So then who decided to connect the 2 aprons, and who also decided to not continue the sidewalk through (separated by expansion material and different control joint spacing than the apron)?

It appears you cannot change the driveways because of the distance of the houses to the property line, only the apron to have a split and grassy "island." It also appears that the distance between your driveway and theirs, if you use larger plantings, will require them to be on the prop line and shared in cost and upkeep (assuming the prop line is close to the middle of the grass patch). What is the HOA specifically asking to happen (to fix a violation of it's rules), and why do you not consider grass "attractive?"

If I had to fix this, I would not remove the new apron. I'd have it cut so that sidewalk that crosses it looked like a sidewalk again. As far as the hell strip between your 2 driveways, choose a tough, drought-resistant, traffic-resistant ground cover because people will drive on it even if they are careful.

But before I did any of that, I'd tell the HOA to come up with a list of options that are acceptable to them. No point throwing good money after bad.

I think one aspect is that you have a ribbon driveway and the separation is also similar? I dunno, I like ribbon driveways and I think it suits your house.

This is one of the things that made me never want to live in an HOA again. They are picking apart the shape of your driveway, but it's not exactly like the cracked, patched and coated asphalt that is the street is either pristine or attractive. There frequently seems to be no rhyme nor reason about what they will enforce and what they don't.

The HOA did not approve this new apron. That is their complaint, as it should be. I did not approve it either. We are required to have the ribbon driveways. No other driveways in our neighborhood are as close together as ours are so I had to look outside of the neighborhood to find examples.

I did agree to contribute financially as my apron had sunken over 20 years and if the concrete contractor would fix that when he poured the new neighbor's driveway then I would pay him for that. I was looking forward to that. I came back from vacation and it was done this way. However, we are supposed to be getting together to come up with a way to make this apron more attractive and I do believe that will mean cutting some to show more separation.

So....you are all thinking just grass and possibly putting pavers in my ribbon to look different? Is that correct?

"We are required to have the ribbon driveways." If that is so, you do not need to fill yours in any way at all. Keep it grass. You neighbor will have to have their driveway cut to be a ribbon. Also have the point put in the apron, possibly.

Get approval from the HOA in writing! It does sound like either the neighbor or the contractor did not do due diligence.

If you’re required to have a ribbon driveway how does the new owner have a solid driveway. There appears to be more information to gather. If the neighbors driveway is not in code and the HOA hasn’t approved the apron I would do absolutely nothing like some earlier suggestions until you have received direction from both your neighbors and the HOA. You only want to fix this one time and you want this to be a comprehensive fix that includes everyone on the same page and in agreement

This sounds like it is entirely your neighbour's problem as they created the issue.

Jennifer is correct. I'd stay out of it.

What a bummer that they didn't flip the layout of the house so their driveway was on the other side of the house. Hopefully, one day you and your neighbor will be able to laugh about this and it doesn't end in a permanent mutual dislike of each other.

The new neighbor does not have a solid driveway. Ours has grass in the ribbon. The neighbor's ribbon has a grey rock that is close in color to concrete so probably hard to see, especially since there are worker's trucks on it. The angle of my picture does not show it well, but there is a ribbon.

We are getting letters from the HOA too, so I am afraid it is not just the neighbor's problem to correct. I can't stay out of it. We need to work together to agree on something as part of the land in between the driveways is ours. For example, if any is to be cut out to define the separate aprons choosing to do so and what to fill it in with is something I hope we can agree on and we need to make sure the HOA is good with our preference before just doing something.

We could possibly use the same pavers that we are required to use for our sidewalks if we cut out area of the now solidly combined driveway aprons to try to give them some distinction from one another.

I don't think this is going to be a incredibly divisive problem. I don't like it and the HOA does not like it. I don't know anyone that finds it to be aesthetically pleasing. I hope to figure this out as neighborly as possible. I just want to come up with some potential solutions, thankfully with your help, before we meet so I can hopefully have at least one that will be something that sounds agreeable to my neighbor or gets us on our way to something agreeable, so we can bring in the HOA and see if they too will approve of it before going forward. Yes. We need to propose and get approval in writing. This is a strict HOA. I've been on the board. In this case I do think they are right. I would not have approved of it either. The driveway apron area is just unlike any other. I know the tight property lines makes is difficult, but I hope we figure something out!

Thank you all for the comments. Keep them coming!

What a bummer that they didn't flip the layout of the house so their driveway was on the other side of the house. Yes of course!

Sounds like the HOA cared too late. I hate HOAs and that's why I moved out of one!

I think the tapered grass suggestion is probably the most attractive one, or the one with the Belgian Block between the pads.

On a side note, I just want to say how charming I find your house--I would love the front porch and the overall proportion of the house looks very good.

I would plant cypress or palm tress in the middle.

The more I look at this...how are you supposed to divide the apron into two, have a sidewalk traverse it, and then the driveway divide into four, (two ribbons each) and actually look like something other than what it looks like? There will be a tiny little triangle of division of some sort in the apron. Is this what they want? Is there actually anyone who has any design qualifications on the board or are they just box checkers?

If you HOA wants it changed... what do they want it changed to? If they are just sending letters of "fix it", without stating what the issue is that needs to be fixed, or what they want or even will allow as a fix... that's kind of on them to let you know.

Maybe you and your neighbor needs to sit down with the HOA as soon as possible to address this. You need to know from them what they want, and they need to know you are trying to comply and just don't know what they want.

I wouldn't start with the contractors or changing things till after settling out a plan, preferrably in writing, with the HOA. They get to say what you do with your property- and if you decide this one wrong they will probably come back after you to change it again.

The sidewalk I pretty much understand. This house being built by mine is one of the last in the neighborhood before it is built out so by looking around the neighborhood and reading the guidelines I can understand the intent. We are supposed to put pavers in front of our homes and inside ribbons just the width of a sidewalk so that there is a constant hard surface for a person to walk on. Entire driveways are not ever crossed by a sidewalk of pavers. My house is in the bend of a pretty tight curve with very little road frontage so, for some reason, 20 years ago when we built our house, our builder was told we only needed to have 3 rows of pavers inside our ribbon right where the apron met the grass instead of a full sidewalk width. I'm happy to widen that now if it is needed to make it look right with the new house next door. I'm not sure the neighbor is happy to do so, but I plan to ask what they are agreeable to. It can't cost much to have a sidewalk width strip of pavers in our ribbon, even if it means we need to cut the ribbon further down to do so.

The HOA has not given direct orders. They have indicated in writing they want there to be a sidewalk portion, not all concrete, but otherwise have been left with the knowledge that we are not completely happy with it as it is either and we are working on a proposal to make it look as good as possible. Our board is all volunteer. No one has any residential design experience.

If you can, you need to haul the HOA out to both your houses and get them to cough up what they want or do not like. They probably do not know themselves.... If everyone is there, you can hopefully get an agreement.

I have the same question as palimpsest- only the little red triangle can be removed while still maintaining the apron and the sidewalk- I don't see what this accomplishes. You certainly can't plant anything meaningful in that triangle, so you would end up filling it with crushed rock or brick. In hindsight I would have probably broken up that front apron with a brick border and two squares of concrete on the apron to visually separate them but hard to do now... I would show the HOA the drawing and ask if this is what they want.

I bought a home with a similar driveway issue though not as narrow and no hoa. it had very large shrubs, limelight hydrangeas and lilacs etc. on my side of the property so anytime we wanted to get out of the car we would hit our heads on the shrubs or scratch the car doors. i tore everything out and planted grass. i would keep it simple and do grass in between, nothing higher.

Hallett & Co. I may not understand 100% what you are proposing. It would be easy to have the concrete cutter remove a section of concrete and insert pavers between the driveways. The neighbor is having him come out for something else, but while he is out here we could get him to make some cuts in the giant concrete apron, remove some of the concrete and then we could replace with pavers, or grass for that matter.

Also, I'm not really concerned with planting something special in between our driveway and the neighbor's. I would be happy with just grass to define the border a little bit. I agree to keep it simple, like Stephanie said she did.

I can't help feeling like it looks like a big parking pad or patio has been poured roadside in front of our homes. It does nothing for curb appeal for certain.

If we cut the concrete and added pavers for definition that surface could be driven on when people steer off of the concrete. Do you think pavers helping to define or give the illusion of 2 separate driveway aprons at least half the distance to the road would be a better choice than grass? @palimpsest @Stephanie @HALLETT & Co. @Sherry8aNorthAL @beesneeds @Celery. Visualization, Rendering images @Anna (6B/7A in MD) @Kathy Harrington

Here is a neighbor’s driveway with sidewalk that was done correctly. You can see the pavers are only inside the ribbons. This neighbor chose to fill the rest of their ribbon with red lava rock. Many different kinds of rock have been approved for inside the ribbons as have pavers.

@palimpsest - Does this help to picture what the driveways throughout the neighborhood and the sidewalks look like? It's not the greatest, but this is what the standard is.

Your apron is a complete demo and repour to do it right. Sawcutting will leave a sharp edge, and that will chip and lead to larger spalling when those cut edges are (surely) run over continuously by vehicles. You may need to verify the depth the scheduled sawcut machine will go (walk-behind typical <=4", aprons should be >4"thick)

Also the proper way to do an apron is not to follow undulations in a deteriorated street asphalt (though could be the picture perspective) that may allow standing water. You would remove say 12" or 24" of at least the surface course in front and relay asphalt after the concrete is poured.

Was the right side of your apron on their property before?

Or is their driveway on your property now?

I would want a survey mark to know exactly where the split should be at the front.

The neighbor could have avoided all this by curving their driveway just a bit more to the right to give a bit more separation between driveways. Your driveway curves and theirs should have been that way too. Didn't they have to get their driveway design approved by the HOA?

@Kathy Harrington No one with the HOA was ever given a proposal with the driveway aprons combined like this into one large one. To be fair, this neighbor has done a few, less in your face things, without asking and the HOA has not done anything about it so "why not try one more thing and see if the HOA cares" might have been thought. I don't know. I've reached out to them, but they have not replied yet. We knew they were going to be close and that they might have to touch near the road, but not all the way down the apron. That was never proposed to the HOA or to me. It was a surprise for me when I came home from vacation. Concrete was still wet then. I couldn't get in the driveway or see what was under what was covering it. I had agreed to pay the concrete man to re-pour my apron and lift it where it was sunken. I was never asked if I wanted anything like this. That would have been a fast no. When I came home and saw the concrete man I told him then that the HOA would never allow this. He said he would come back if needed.

It sounds like everyone is being reasonable. It's not fun to return to an unexpected problem, but hopefully working together, you can come up with a solution that everyone likes. Again, whatever solution you agree to, I would get the HOA to sign off on so there are no future problems. You have received a lot of good suggestions. The one other thing I would do is speak with the HOA about latitude for driveways that are within 5 feet of each other. Obviously, you and your neighbor are the first and maybe only ones with this issue but the overall goal is an aesthetically pleasing driveway and being able to access the sidewalk. I quite like the image Houssaon posted. Maybe that could be utilized with the addition of a sidewalk. Good luck and post a picture when complete.

Your brick is dark red, your neighbor's appears to be light brown. You can consider color coding your driveways inside the ribbons using a mixture of brick and rocks which will help differentiate them and tie them to your respective homes. Pavers with your home numbers can also be inserted.

What if you fill in your green ribbon with a similar stone to the new neighbors, and then do the triangle cut out? That makes the two driveways each look like driveways with the green area separating them...

IMHO the sidewalk should remain consistent the whole way across with no change in material to delineate it as public ROW. This was what I was thinking for the apron- using the brick to visually break up the expanse of concrete. I think the little wedge of grass will just always look silly and not survive.

@Jean and @palimpsest - Would you please tell me what you use to draw driveway plans with? I am a fairly new Mac user and I would love to be able to draw up something for the HOA close to what you have drawn. Thank you!

Sure. For this one, I just used plain old Windows paint. Generally I use Photoshop; I'm a website developer and its pretty much essential.

I also use Paint.