Driveway Design Ideas for New Driveways

Stamped Concrete Driveways

Concrete is placed, with the color integral in the mix or "dusted on" at the job, then stamped. A wide variety of patterns are available to emulate bricks, stones, pavers, or flagstone.

Stamped Concrete Paterns

Stamped Concrete Cost

Comparison Chart: Stamped Concrete versus Other Paving Materials

Colored Concrete Driveways

A wide variety of colors are available. Colors are often chosen to match stone or other elements around the home. Colors are often combined with stamped concrete. Concrete colors are either added to the concrete at the ready mix plant, or "dusted on" at the project site.

Click here to review the colors available from Davis Colors.

Click here to review colors available from Alabama Pigments (PDF file)

Concrete Contractors: Find Concrete Coloring Products and Supplies

Concrete Engraving

While concrete engraving is often done on existing driveways- it produces a look like elaborate brickwork at a fraction of the cost. So a plain gray driveway can be poured, then stained and engraved to look like brick.

Review this section on concrete engraving

Stained Concrete Driveways

Chemical stains penetrate the concrete surface to create beautiful color tones in existing concrete. Stains react directly with the concrete's minerals and produce uneven, mottled, and variegated color effects. Chemical stains can be used for both interior and exterior applications and are often used on concrete that had already been colored integrally or with the dry shake method.

Concrete Art in Newport Beach, Calif., routes designs in the concrete and then applies stains inside the routed out designs for dramatic effect. The routed out area can be stained an offsetting color for a tiled effect.

View the color chart for concrete stains.

Exposed Aggregate Finishes

³/₈" colorful pebbles are placed in the concrete at the plant or "seeded" into the concrete at the jobsite. At the right time during the finishing operation, the top layer of cement paste is washed off the surface leaving the tops of the pebbles exposed.

Review the section about exposed aggregate.

Intricately Sawed or Grooved Patterns

Concrete can be sawed into patterns with a concrete saw or grooved with a hand tool. Often different colors will be used in the different "fields" of the pattern by using concrete stains.

The driveway above was plain concrete with many cracks. Concrete Art in Newport Beach, Calif. scored the driveway in a random stone pattern then stained the fields.

Concrete Contractors: Find Concrete Cutting Tools and Products Suppliers