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This stunning white house features urns up on the roofline, along with an embellished pair of white urns which decorate the entrance pediments on either side of the driveway.
Living in tropical Palm Beach, I continue to be mesmerized and bedazzled daily by the ever-present lush greenery, multi-level hedges, and colorful floral landscape designs! Another aspect contributing to the enchanting and inviting aura of the private houses on the island are the handsomely embellished driveways, which feature varying pillar designs with unique decorative elements. The decorative elements range from traditional to sophisticated whimsy, setting the scene and individuality of a house.
A lovely pair of quietly understated decorative elements are featured on top of the plinth bases that are on either side of this driveway entrance.
When we purchased our house, Fox Hall c. 1803 in Farmington, CT, we immediately set out to design an appropriate fence to replace the old, sad-looking stockade fence which stretched along Main Street. Two notable historic fences, the Peirce Nichols c. 1757 house in Salem, MA, and the “Old First Church” c. 1763 in Bennington, VT, inspired my husband and me. Both were a proper fit for the age and architecture of our house. The urns atop the pillars were elegant, an aspect I fell in love with immediately! We knew that the addition of the urns would be integral, contributing to the stately, historic appearance of our bespoke fence.
The pillars at the entrance to our driveway at Fox Hall are taller, and the urns are larger than the other fence pediments.
Decorative elements can vary from architectural garden urns, statuaries, cannonballs, Southern pineapple sculptures, Georgian urns, stone baskets of flowers, and gilded eagles, to name just a few. As with any aspect of design, it is paramount to keep in mind the scale and design of the house and pillar when adding a decorative element on top. Strive to complement the size of the driveway and the architecture of your house. The two posts that flank the entrance to our driveway are slightly larger than the rest of the fence pillars, so the urns were enlarged to be in proportion with them.
A clever frog that hopped on this driveway entrance ball. The frogs, appearing on the pillars on either side of the driveway, possess a sassy attitude, while also having a whimsical presence!
I hope to inspire you to contemplate adding a decorative element to distinguish your driveway entrance if you haven’t already. Do you have one that you particularly admire? I offer many charming examples that grace the driveways in Palm Beach for you to view on my Instagram Reels and IGTV.
Lanterns and coach lights are another decorative aspect found on driveway entrance pillars, along with splendidly designed entrance gates, both of which I will feature at another time.
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