A Jeff Doubet Spanish-style driveway design developed in a tasteful composition of common red brick, installed in uncommon ways. Installation photos + advice shared by a Spanish home designer. Driveways are often overlooked as potential design upgrades when developing a new Spanish landscape design.
Welcome to the Spanish home design blog. This is where I continue to share concept design renderings, sketches, photos and direct info on a wide variety of subjects relating to Spanish home design and construction. Today I am teaching about Spanish-style driveway designs. These are my personal insights and pro tips I believe will be helpful to homeowners and landscaping contractors, alike.
Direct links to Spanish home and landscape product recommendations and installations.
Benefits of a Red Brick Spanish-style Driveway
A well designed red brick Spanish-style driveway will build upon the quality you have been investing in your home. The square footage of a driveway is often equal to that of your roof.
Brick driveways can be designed with a variety of patterns within them. It is more costly to install, but it will blend beautifully with your Spanish-style home and landscape design.
The ideas and design principles I share for brick driveways can also be applied to patios, courtyards, and sun room projects. See another local Santa Barbara home with red brick patios, walkways and driveway photos.
A Jeff Doubét recommended product for designing and building your charming, high-quality Spanish style home +landscape. A 240 page, full color Coffee Table Book.
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Jeff Doubet Spanish-style Driveway Designs
An original Jeff Doubet hand-drawn rendering for a Spanish-style landscape design with brick driveway and pathways.
The highest priority for this Santa Barbara homeowner was to create an attractive driveway. They also wanted a complete vision for a new front yard landscape plan. Something they could develop over time.
The BEFORE photo above shows how the homeowner wanted to expand the driveway to two parking spaces in front of their garage.
The homeowners and their talented landscape crew appreciated the design ideas, and it wasn’t long before work began. Here they begin the task of removing grass and the old concrete driveway.
Within a day or two they were installing road base. The pallets of red brick had arrived, and placed at convenient locations.
Brick Layout Patterns and Advice For Spanish-style Driveways
Here is a layout drawing of suggested brick patterns. Multiple combinations can be used to make a special driveway.
Transitions in brick pattern layouts also make an interesting surface texture.
ABOVE: A close up photo of a Running Bond border that frames a Herringbone pattern. A cast iron strip drain was also installed.
ABOVE: Another close up photo of the multi-layered brick border. The outer row is splayed slightly, and the next row of bricks anchor the subtle gaps.
ABOVE: A close up photo illustrating how combinations of brick patterns can enhance the overall look and feel of your new driveway.
More Classic Ideas For Special Santa Barbara Style Driveways
Santa Barbara is well known for Spanish-style homes and landscapes. But many driveways are beautiful, as well.
Walk or drive through the Upper State, Upper East and Old Mission neighborhoods. I could spend a day shooting other examples of high quality driveways made of sandstone, brick, flagstone and Cherokee Creek cobble.
In the future I will share additional Spanish-style driveway design + build projects. In the meantime, here are more red brick design layouts I photographed in Spain.
As a driveway design, I regularly recommend common red brick installed in unique and special ways. Brick is a quality permeable surface easily leveraged as an artistic Spanish-style driveway.
Here, more installation photos of the road base prep going in.
Here is an image of a pallet of the wire cut, chipped and tumbled common Mission red brick installed on this project.
A Jeff Doubet Spanish-Style Driveway Consultations
Jeff Doubét consults on Spanish-style driveway designs in Santa Barbara and Montecito, CA. During Initial Consultations, I meet with clients to discuss their wish list items. Below is a close up section of the driveway design I created for my client. An easy to understand infographic.
A simple way for you to see how the overall red brick driveway layout was organized and installed.
Above: Another close up photo of how a Herringbone pattern was incorporated into the first section of this Santa Barbara driveway.
Here are a couple of photos of an existing wrought iron double gate. A welcoming entrance to a quaint Spanish courtyard beyond.
At the Initial Consult I noticed them, and began thinking about how to sketch a matching pair as driveway gates. A feature I hope the homeowners will one day incorporate into Phase 2 or 3 of their landscape project.
Consider bringing the beauty of your own courtyard entrance out to the street. It is a way to add “estate-like qualities” to your home and landscape, no matter what size of lot you own.
More Santa Barbara Style Brick Driveway Details To Study
Above: A close up of how different brick patterns can be combined to create rich, interesting textures and surfaces.
On this recent winter morning in Santa Barbara, the natural light was just right. I took lots of photos that day.
Here is how the brick was installed around a cast iron strip drain. The drain runs the full length of the garage door.
Recommended Spanish-style Brick Driveway Colors
Southern California brick manufacturers make specific brick colors and textures that coordinate nicely with Spanish red clay tile roofing. Mission Red is a classic, and I prefer the wire cut, tumbled option for an older more historic appearance.
Above: A Herringbone pattern is framed with Running Bond brick borders. This bump out pad was designed as a small decorative entrance into a newly installed citrus orchard.
Here is another perspective for how a red brick driveway will coordinate nicely with a high-end Spanish-style home renovation.
