If you are thinking about improving your landscape in York and Lancaster, PA, consider these nine designs for patio pavers. Choosing the right paver for your outdoor living space is something you want to do carefully to ensure you get the look you want—there are many choices to be made, from color and texture to style and laying patterns.

Related: IMPROVE THE LOOK OF RETAINING WALLS WITH THESE IDEAS FOR PATIO PAVERS IN YORK, PA

Where to Find Inspiration

You could start by taking inspiration from the aesthetics of your home to help narrow your choice of pavers to pavers that will complement your home’s style. For example, a brick-sided home could rule out the use of brick as the main field of your patio (the look would likely be extremely busy), but you could choose simple, large format pavers along with brick accents to tie the home and patio together.

Ideas for Pavers Based on Style Preferences

When it comes to textures, choices include the look of tumbled stone, brick, flagstone or bluestone, granite, or cobblestone as well as completely modern pavers that embrace the look of concrete in a variety of finishes and colors. Casual spaces are ideal for pavers with a more pronounced flagstone texture and warm, earthy colors. Formal spaces could be enhanced by choosing smoother pavers in neutral greys.

1. For modern spaces with linear designs and sleek surfaces, some good choices could be plank-style pavers inspired by wood or concrete, or large-format minimally textured pavers.

2. For rustic spaces that focus on a naturalistic look, good choices could be pavers inspired by natural flagstone, bluestone, or granite.

3. For elegant and sophisticated spaces, you could choose pavers inspired by old-world brick, or granite, with cobblestone accents.

4. Pavers in random bundles of three or more shapes/sizes can be used to create interesting laying patterns. Use this laying pattern to add visual interest to a very large patio space, or to create a more relaxed look without obvious repeating patterns.

5. To increase the feeling of spaciousness (especially if your patio space is on the small side), choose large-format pavers that minimize joint lines for a clean, simple look. You would likely want to use jointing sand that is the same color as the pavers to achieve this expansive feeling.

6. Use smaller, visually textured pavers such as brick to create a feeling of intimacy (this works well on a large patio that could otherwise look too big). For example, a basket weave or herringbone pattern can make for an exquisite tiny patio with elegant historic flair.

7. Choose tumbled-look pavers for a space that’s meant to look as though it’s always been there—a casual, carefree space where the focus is on friends and family. Choose a random laying pattern for an even more easygoing look.

8. For a modern effect, you may want to avoid the use of accents or borders that use contrasting or different pavers. If you want the look of a border, you could use the same pavers as in the main field but lay them in a different pattern. The look will be subtle and very elegant.

9. You could achieve the most realistic natural stone look by randomly blending two or three paver color choices on site. For example, bluestone (a variety of flagstone with a dramatic and unique steel-gray color) is often found with a fairly broad range of colors and patterns, even within the same batch from the same quarry. The look is deliberately imperfect. Blending three paver colors randomly onsite will achieve this same look.

Related: 7 PATIO PAVERS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER FOR A NEW HARDSCAPE DESIGN PROJECT IN HARRISBURG, PA

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