16 Gorgeous Gravel Patio Ideas

Old World Foundations

Gravel patios work especially well with European-inspired homes and Mediterranean landscapes. This tiny seating area, conveniently situated one step down from bright blue doors, provides space for a bistro table and chairs meant for enjoying morning coffee and evening cocktails.

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Desert Oasis

You'll find gravel in shades of brown, gray, white, gold, rust, and as color mixtures. For a naturally pleasing look, select lighter-hued pebbles that coordinate with your home's exterior color palette.

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Mosaic Magic

Use gravel to tailor-make a patio that complements your home and lifestyle. Build a gridlike framework from weather-resistant boards and shovel gravel into alternating squares. Complete the alfresco artwork by inserting flagstones, concrete stepping-stones, and planting beds around the gravel-filled squares.

Room Defined

Even a novice do-it-yourselfer can easily change the lay of the land using a little elbow grease and gravel. Wheel in barrows of gravel to create sitting areas in outlying gardens. Want to keep the gravel out of lawns and plants? Outline the patio's shape with edging and then fill in the outline with gravel.

Patio Design Tips

Enjoy your patio even more with these tips for designing and furnishing your patio.

Party Paradise

Laying a gravel floor beneath a tree's shading branches expanded hospitable homeowners' daytime and after-dark dining options. Set away from the house, this patio dining table seats eight or more.

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Indoor-Outdoor Pleasures

Gravel beds stretch the utility of a ground-level deck. While the deck supplies a stable surface for an outdoor living area, the gravel borders accommodate a room's finishing touches, including colorfully planted containers and garden areas for drought-tolerant plants.

Asian-Inspired

Serenity reigns in this meditative garden built around a patio floor crafted from a multicolor gravel mix. Concrete stepping-stones nestled into the rocky gravel bed ensure safe passage to seats on a cushioned concrete wall and a level deck platform.

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Budget-Savvy Expansion

Need more outdoor entertaining space but short on cash? Extend existing patios with gravel-floored additions sized to suit your needs. This gravel patio made way for an island that provides buffet serving surfaces and bar seating close to the outdoor dining room.

Regional Reference

Look to your surroundings and furnishings for color inspiration when selecting a gravel mix. This rooftop gravel patio takes its color cue from nearby steel and concrete skyscrapers but also boasts brownish tones that echo the earthy tones of the furniture fabric and finishes.

Comfort Considerations

Think about maintenance and foot traffic when selecting gravel for your patio. Gravel is commonly available as pebbles or stones with 1/4-inch, 1/2-inch, and 5/8-inch diameters. Smaller pebbles and round pea gravels give way to your weight and are most comfortable to walk on. The irregular edges on larger stones lock together, which prevents rocks from spilling outside a patio's edging.

Charmingly Contained

A sunken design and rustic flagstone walls ensure that gravel doesn't spill into the adjoining gardens and lawn. The smallish gravel mimics the various colors seen in the stacked stones and the fireplace to generate a pleasingly cohesive composition.

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Fetching Forms

Stepping-stones inset in a gravel base carry foot traffic from the concrete walk to a strategically placed garden bench. The gravel and circular stones create a captivating design that's especially agreeable when viewed from the deck above.

Rock of Ages

Crushed gravel and decomposed granite fashion handsome floors that feel good underfoot. In this backyard haven, a gray-tone floor offers a soft counterpoint to the caged-boulder border, a stone-ringed fire pit, and a glass-topped table crafted from fencing and rocks.

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In Concert

Gravel patios and pathways pair beautifully with Tuscan villas, Spanish haciendas, and modern desert homes. Plain and pliant, gravel floors nicely balance these homes' stucco exteriors and stone details, while referencing sandy and gravelly elements found in arid regions.

Chic Environs

Amplifying alfresco living opportunities in a most stylish way, a raised framework topped with gravel creates a bonus sitting room a few steps up from this home's main patio. The gravel foundation supplies a rough-textured base that showcases straight-lined furniture, color-bright fabrics, and high-gloss accessories.

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