stone steps with a wooden porch?

2 years ago

I've been talking to a landscaper about renovating my front yard......I want to get rid of the lawn over my septic leach field and put in a new walkway from the driveway to my porch (that area is not on the leach field). My porch is about 15' long, with a railing except for the 5.5' where the 4 steps join the porch. Right now both are wood, worn but secure. There are shrubs in front of the railing.

The idea he is proposing is an interlock pathway, leading to stone steps up to the porch - I made sure it wouldn't be a brick-like interlock, but with larger pavers. He believes that stone steps leading to a wooden porch would look fine as long as the colours are complementary, because both are a natural material. I told him I'd think about it, and I know would rather put the money I could spend on a new stone porch into the ground cover and wildflowers that will replace my lawn - but I'm having trouble picturing it. I tried to do a Google image search for that combination, and don't find very many examples. Then again, I don't know if an interlock walkway to wooden steps would look any better, so somewhere I'm going to have to mix stone and wood.

Thoughts about how to mix a stone walkway with a wooden porch? Maybe adding a wood railing on the stone steps would act as a transition?

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Comments (9)

callirhoe123
2 years ago
Pictures needed.
Sherry8aNorthAL
2 years ago
Do the walk, but leave the existing steps.
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Carla Pruiett
2 years ago
I have a similar situation, I believe, but installed pavers and kept the wooden steps and porch as is. Including a pic.
Carla Pruiett
2 years ago
Pavers leading to wooden steps/porch
Sigrid
2 years ago
I have flagstone pavers leading to my wooden porch. I also have stone steps at the other end of my walkway from the driveway. I also have a brick path from the garage to steps to the porch on the side. I've never noticed a problem with either. I have Trex steps in front and wood steps painted the same color in the side porch. If you watch a lot of HGTV, nitpick, focus on trivia and navel gaze, you might decide a paver path to wood steps is a faux pas of ginormous importance, but otherwise, you'll never notice. In my neighborhood, just about everyone has a brick, flagstone or paver path to their porch steps (lots of porches in my neighborhood).

It's the norm by far.

My experience with planting native wildflowers is that seeds are hard and plugs make a good middle ground between seeds and plants from the nursery. If you can't get plugs wholesale through your landscaper, I like the Pollen Nation. The price is right, the quality is high.
Toronto Veterinarian
Original Author
2 years ago
Here's a photo I took this morning, showing the current porch and steps.

The driveway is off to the right of the photo, and the walkway would go from there to where the stairs are. You're right - I'm probably overthinking it.
Sherry8aNorthAL
2 years ago
keep the current steps, but add a rail to the ground.
ShadyWillowFarm
2 years ago
Love the house! Really nice. I would hesitate to add yet another pattern to a house that already has multiple patters - roof shingles, cedar shingles, board and batten siding, railing pattern….and you will add a pattern sidewalk and pattern steps. Maybe come up with a whole house plan to bring everything together cohesively. Your front entry, porch, walkway and landscaping could use updating, and a good overall plan can bring the house up to Wow.🙂
Sigrid
2 years ago
I'd put a paver path to the steps and paint the steps to match the pavers chosen. I'm not sure that shade of brown is the best choice with your black and white house. I would not worry about another pattern --- you aren't going to see the pattern on the ground at the same time as the pattern on the side of the house.