How To Lay A Budget Friendly Gravel Path

Sharing our step by step tips for installing this budget savvy walkway. Using traditional materials like gravel, mulch or crushed brick, makes this project affordable and beginner friendly.

During my parent’s home renovation, one of my biggest goals was to add inviting curb appeal and to spruce up the front exterior. Oddly, there was never a path to the front door. We are on a tight timeline and a budget, so a gravel path is the perfect solution. This simple little project made a HUGE difference!

Gravel walkway under $100 diy project. Gravel walkway flanked with larger light gray stones leading to porch railing. Small plantings in mulch and grass flabk walkway.

Contents show

Gravel Walkway Ideas

In about a weekend’s time, you’ll have a natural-looking, weed-free way to walk through your perfect landscape. These installs are great ways to cover unsightly high-traffic areas where grass just won’t grow. You aren’t limited to just a path! You can use these steps to create seating areas, fire pits, or cover areas that are hard to mow. To create a rustic garden path follow these steps:

Supplies for Gravel Paths:

a mattock or shovel to dig
spray paint or string to mark the lines of the path
landscaping tarp like this (you’ll want something tough enough to stand up to the rock grinding into it while walking)
gravel (about 25-30 lbs per square foot depending on gravel size)
Edging (options discussed below)

Types of Gravel for Walkways

The size and type of gravel or crushed stone is a matter of personal choice. It really depends on your style. We chose 1 inch limestone rock chips. Gravel is most commonly made of either basalt, limestone, or sandstone. You can also purchase tumbled stone, which is rounded and smoother on the surface. You can use larger rocks or choose something like a pea gravel walkway which uses smaller, rounded stones.

Step 1: Decide the Path Shape

The cool thing about a gravel walkway is that you can create any shape you can imagine! Frolicking curves, narrow to wide, or rigidly straight. We used two garden hoses to perfect the shape we wanted and then spray painted the edge.

Installing a front walkway for house. Spay paint lines in grass mark the shape. Grass dug into earth with shovel and discarded into wheelbarrow.

Step 2: Foundation and Trench

We were working in rock-hard Tennessee clay, so the soil is already compacted enough for a great foundation. If you live in a sandy soil climate, you may consider adding some stone pack for a solid base.

The trench doesn’t need to be very deep. We dug about 4 inches down evenly throughout the whole path. This allows for enough stacking of the stone so that none of the bottom will show through. At my parents house, the area right next to the steps tends to pool water, so we dug a little less there to compensate for even drainage.

After digging the trench, we laid landscaping tarp over the area to keep weeds and grass from growing in our new path. The weight of the rocks will hold the tarp down, so there’s no need to stake it in the ground.

Shoveling gravel over landscape tarp over the pathway. Gravel is being shoveled by hand directly from a pickup truck bed.

Step 3: Add The Stone

Truth time. I’m not going to sugar coat it, this is a back breaking job if you’re laying a lot of gravel. We installed nearly 1800 lbs for this walkway. We had a local quarry load the stones into our truck, so that saved at least half of the lifting. The gravel was only $1 per 100 lbs at the quarry, so double win! Our new walkway is about 18 feet long and over 3 feet wide.

We shoveled the rock into the trench until it matched the same height as the surrounding soil and landscaping.

Quarry rock borders gray loose gravel path leading up to front porch of this log style cabin home. Small garden with young plantings and fresh dark mulch sandwiched between house and path.

Step 4: Edge the path

There are a couple of different options for edging and designing the gravel path.

For a tall edging, like these practical steel sections or these fun wooden logs, I recommend placing them before putting the gravel stone in. Most can come in both curved and straight variations or can be bent for customization.

We chose to top the edges of our path with paver stones that interlock. To complement the path, we added new landscaping on the house side. The plants look a little small for now. But in a few years, those bushes will be bursting!

Gravel path with paver stone edging affordable walkway ideas. Log style cabin home with bay window overlooks new walkway and small garden.

What do you think? Big improvement- right?!

If you’re curious about some of the other improvements we’ve been making to this craftsman log home, check out our other posts (seriously, the BEST before and afters!):