How We Built DIY Driveway Entrance Pillars with Stone Veneer (In One Weekend!)
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Looking to upgrade your curb appeal without breaking the bank? We built these DIY driveway entrance pillars using Airstone stone veneer, and the transformation was instant.
These easy-to-build columns not only elevate your home’s exterior but also double as a sturdy base for solar lights or a future gate.
Here’s exactly how we built ours in just one weekend on a budget and with serious wow factor!
DIY Stone Driveway Columns
Driveway pillars are one of those small upgrades that make a big impact.
They’re usually placed at the entrance of your driveway. Sometimes they hold a gate or a fence, and sometimes they stand on their own.
We used stone for ours, but brick is a popular option too. No matter the material, they help define the start of your driveway and instantly boost curb appeal.
Here is our front yard and driveway before we built the stone columns.
It was a family affair making these columns and working with Airstone as my dad, son, Jim and I worked together to get the project done.
It was fun!
Driveway Stone Driveway Entrance
We decided to add two columns set off the driveway about a foot (so the plow has space to clear the driveway) to enhance our entrance.
This project only took one weekend!
A day to construct the columns and a day to add the Airstone product.
How tall should a driveway column be?
The size of your columns is personal preference but typically driveway columns are between 3 and 4 feet high.
Our DIY columns are 42 x 28 x 28.
The Airstone Veneer color we used was called (Spring Creek buy here) which is a variety of neutral gray and light brown undertones.
Stone Column Project Supplies Needed:
4 boxes Airstone Primary Wall Stone – Spring Creek color blend (buy here)
4 boxes Airstone Corner/Finished End Stone – Spring Creek color blend (buy here)
Pressure treated 2×4’s (for the frame)
3″ exterior screws (for the frame)
Durock Cement board (for the walls)
Durock screws (to fasten the cement board to the frame)
6 large tubes (28 ounces) Loctite PL Premium Construction Adhesive (to fasten the Airstone Veneer to cement board walls)
12 bags of Quikrete (optional cement base)
3″ granite 30 x 30 stone cap (for the top of column)
4″ Diamond blade grinder (to cut the stones)
Once the columns were framed, we screwed the cement board to the frame to create the walls and placed the finished column on the cement base.
The 30×30 cement base was a last minute decision.
We originally intended to place the columns directly on top of the lawn.
I think the cement base adds a custom look and gives the columns stability (screw the column to the dried cement).
The stone is very easy to apply and cut. The directions are self explanatory and once we got organized with the flat and corner pieces, the process moved quickly.
The columns are fairly large so it took two of us about 3 hours to complete each column.
How To Cut Airstone Flat Stones and Corners
Appling The Stone Tip:
- Lay out your flat stones and corners separately so you can see what you have to work with. You can create any kind of design you want but we found it easiest to create a random pattern.
- We used Loctite PL Premium Construction Adhesive to adhere the stone.
You can either apply the adhesive directly to the stone or run long strips along the cement board.
Driveway Entrance Ideas
The stone cap (top piece of column) is a 3″ thick granite 30 x 30 piece that we purchased from a local Landscaping supply store.
Here are the finished Airstone Spring Creek driveway entrance columns sporting pretty Christmas wreaths.
Here is the driveway during the Fall before the columns.
The Spring Creek stone features a variety of neutral colors and coordinates perfectly with the natural gray retaining wall making these diy driveway pillars blend right in!
Adding Airstone driveway pillars is a simple project that can completely transform your curb appeal. With just a weekend of work, you’ll have a beautiful, welcoming entrance to your home.
If you’re working your way through entrance updates this season, we also modernized the inside entryway with our split-level entry remodel, and swapped our narrow 1960s front door for a wider one with sidelights in our front door makeover with sidelights.
FAQs about Driveway Pillars
Driveway columns are typically between 3 and 4 feet tall.
Whether you’re using stone or brick, start with a pressure-treated 2×4 frame and a concrete base or platform. Veneer stone or brick is a cost-effective way to cover the frame, creating an eye-catching driveway entrance for a fraction of the cost of solid masonry.
Lights aren’t required, but they’re a popular add-on. Solar-powered cap lights are the easiest option since they sit right on top of the stone cap with no wiring, though a hardwired low-voltage landscape light gives a steadier glow after dark. We left ours unlit initially and are planning solar cap lights as our next addition.
Yes, stone and brick pillars are a common way to anchor a driveway gate. If a gate is part of your plan, decide on it before you frame your columns so your spacing and footings can account for the gate’s width and hardware. We built ours without a gate, spaced for looks rather than hardware.
Building your own from a 2×4 frame, cement board, and adhered stone veneer costs less in materials and lets you match any exterior. Prefab column kits cost more per pillar and limit you to their stock finishes, but they skip the framing and cement work entirely. See our supply list above for exactly what we used to build ours.
Airstone is a lightweight faux stone veneer, so it’s easier to cut and install than natural stone or brick veneer. We used the Spring Creek color blend, a mix of neutral grays and light browns.
Our house number is difficult to see from the driveway so in the Spring we will purchase an address plaque for the center of one of the columns and may add lights for driveway columns.
We are also going to add a couple flower beds (see diy planter bowls on top of columns) with smaller scaled shrubs as well in the Spring which will complete the look.
If you want another simple weekend build using this same basic frame-and-cover method, check out our budget DIY lattice privacy screen — same idea, different project.
Meet Jessica
What started as a hobby, Jessica’s blog now has millions of people visit yearly and while many of the projects and posts look and sound perfect, life hasn’t always been easy. Read Jessica’s story and how overcoming death, divorce and dementia was one of her biggest life lessons to date.
Great looking entrance columns. Good lookin’ family !
very pretty
Very nicely done! They add a lot of curb appeal and complement the retaining wall and the house.
Thank you Marie!
I’m wondering how the wreaths are attached to the column. Looks nice.
we used crafting wire and wrapped around the entire column and attached to the wreath in the front.
Is this strong enough to support a gate?
Ours is definitely strong enough because we created a cement foundation/slab for the column to sit on. It will depend on how you construct your base if it’s strong enough.
Can you give me an example of how much you spent on building them with this method my fabricator is wanting $500 each. So I was thinking of doing it myself.
We built them ourselves (the wood frame underneath and then applied the stones ourselves). I would price out the materials to build the wood frame, cost of cement board and stone. Then factor in the labor (it took us an entire weekend (about 16 hours) to do. $500 each (if that includes materials) doesn’t seem like a lot.
Did you only use one cement board that allowed for both columns walls?
We had 3 cement board pieces b/c of the excess but you could probably get away with 2 if you wanted to “piece” together smaller pieces.
How wide and tall are these columns?
Our DIY columns are 42 x 28 x 28.Â
Nice build are you in the South ? Here in Canada frost is a problem so i was planning to dig down 3 feet add gravel and rebar and at surface level add a base paver . The rest of the column would have pavers creating the shape but the core would be packed with gravel and the top finished off with a capping stone. Not sure which approach is more cost effective.
We are in New England with very cold winters