Driveway Pavers

Featured Pro: Carter Oosterhouse
Category: Home Decor
Time: 3:40


CARTER OOSTERHOUSE: Hey, I’m Carter Oosterhouse, and this is another GMC Trade Secret.

Now, I’ve got some professional suggestions about how you can add curb appeal to your driveway with pavers.

ERIC STROMER: Now, after that, check out my GMC Trade Secret on how to pick the right contractor for a big job like the one Carter’s about to do. I’m going to help myself to some eggs.

CARTER: All right. You do that, buddy.

Now, your driveway has to be functional, but there is no rule saying that you have to use a big concrete slab. There are a lot of things that you can do to add to the design of your home and give it great curb appeal.

Now, for a while I was having a problem with the way that the front entrance to my home was working. So a couple of weeks ago I decided to do something about it.

All right, so the pavers are in. The driveway is finished, and it looks amazing. I am super-impressed with it and happy with it. You can see on these pavers they have what is called an antique edge or a tumbled finish, which really works for the style of my home. You know, it’s a farmhouse, and so this brown look really works with the exterior of the rest of the house.

Now, Patrick here – how are you doing, my man?

PATRICK: Hey, Carter. Good to see you.

CARTER: Now, he helped me with this entire project from start to finish. And here you have some of the looks that helped me figure out what bricks I wanted to use.

PATRICK: Exactly. I’ve got my selection tool called a paver scan that we use. And I just wanted to be able to demonstrate not only some of the colors, but also some of the configurations on patterns, how the pavers actually go in the ground. And again, you want to be able to have a lot of options to be able to match up not only the color to the house and to the surroundings, but also the style.

CARTER: So a project of this size definitely should have a contractor, correct?

PATRICK: Very correct.

CARTER: I mean, that’s – obviously you don’t just lay the pavers down. You actually go and you take the soil up. You have a couple of layers, and then you put the pavers down.

PATRICK: That’s right.

CARTER: Yeah. So, I mean, it’s not something that anybody should just take on upon themselves, correct?

PATRICK: I’d say, you know, do-it-yourselfers, feel welcome to tackle a paver project, but it needs to be small. It’s got to be scaled down. You can handle a patio coming off the back of the house, but when it gets into a driveway or larger, call a contractor, someone who knows how to do it.

CARTER: Because you really, at the end of the day, want to make sure it looks good and it’s completely level.

PATRICK: Exactly.

CARTER: Yeah.

PATRICK: You want it to last forever. Done properly, it should.

CARTER: So to really finish off this brand new paver driveway, I’m going to bring in some more design elements like these pots and some plants.

All right. I love how these plants really spruce up the front entrance to the house. Now, I may add some more wood chips and some flowers for a little bit more color. But I’ll do one more thing first.

All right. So I’ve added a little greenery, a nice little bench to sit on. This becomes a great centerpiece for this brand new driveway. So now, when people pull up to the house, they’ll see the new driveway. They’ll know to enter here. And, because of the new pots, they’ll know to enter right through the front door.

So don’t let your driveway become a boring concrete slab. Add a little curb appeal, a little design, and it’s going to go a long way.

I’m Carter Oosterhouse, and that’s your GMC Trade Secret.