Did you ever notice how plain your driveway looks?

Don’t you think it could use some decorations?

Or am I the only one who thinks like that?

Well, if you have the mosaic supplies, what doth hinder you?

It all started out innocently enough. I thought it would be fun to put little mosaic flowers over some of the holes in the cement in my driveway.

You might remember reading “Gems on the Sidewalk” a few years ago. This is kind of the same concept, because it involves filling in cracks in cement.

As with most of my mosaic ideas, one thing led to another.

This was going to be really cool, I could just tell.

Gradually the design started to take shape.

Of course, I had to use my favorite, Liquid Nails. Every now and then I would add gray grout.

It’s always a little hard to get good photos of something like this. It’s partly because of the lighting, and partly because of the angles. I guess it could also be partly because you know you might look funny photographing the cement on your driveway. You have to be somewhat furtive about it. From far away, a mosaic like this doesn’t show up very well.

I mostly work on this when the area is in the shade. But I like the way the sun reflects off of the glass gems.

This is just a freehand, mosaic-as-you-go project. No need to decide on a design before you start.

One day the mailman came by while I was outside working on my mosaic and asked if I was going to do the entire driveway. Of course I said “No”…but inside I was thinking, “Don’t tempt me!”

You’ll notice I’m also doing the crack in the sidewalk between the driveway and the inside of the garage.

Shortly after talking with the mailman, I decided to try some swirls that would be sort of independent from the solid part of the mosaic.

I did try to incorporate the flowers that were farther away from the main design. I’m not sure I’m crazy about the way that turned out, but it is, after all, a driveway. Who’s really going to notice?

You always want to use your paintbrush to remove excess grout and dust. This way you can pretend you are an archaeologist without leaving the comfort and safety of your own home.

For more on my archaeological aspirations, see “The Long and Winding Curb”.

I had gotten these iridescent beads at the craft store awhile back. The Liquid Nails dries pretty clear, but I do plan on putting grout on them. Just hoping the shiny surface doesn’t rub off after grouting!

For the swirls, I grouted each one individually without filling in between them. This is how it looked before wiping off the excess grout.

You can see here that some extra grout still shows on the sidewalk, but I’m pretty sure it will wash or scrape off when it’s finished.

The same goes for the excess Liquid Nails. I’ll have to try scraping it off without chipping the grout, but I’ll think about that later.

Still experimenting with the iridescent beads, I tried making some half-flowers along the edges of the swirls.

The bigger picture.

This is how it looks from the opposite direction, when you are looking from the driveway to the garage.

A random close-up, because I really like random close-ups.

Another random close-up.

This is how far I am now. I took this one at night with the outside light on, and I like the way it looks shinier than it does in the daylight.

How far this mosaic will go remains to be seen. But if I really do the whole driveway, you’ll be the first to hear about it!