DIY Driveway Entrance Columns

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Today I am sharing our DIY driveway entrance columns featuring Airstone veneer. Driveway pillars add significant charm and curb appeal to any home and commonly feature lights or attached gates. I am going to show you how we built 2 stone driveway columns in a weekend!

Our driveway is fairly long with grass on either side. The new columns define the entrance and create a focal point when entering the driveway.

DIY Driveway Entrance Pillars

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 Entrance Stone Columns

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 took one weekend. A day to construct the columns and a day to add the Airstone product.

How Tall Should Driveway Columns Be?

Typically driveway columns are between 3 and 4 feet.

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.

Airstone product colors

Airstone has a variety of colors and only Airstone products fit precisely together which is important as you do not want gaps in between the stones. I wanted our columns to tie in with the natural stone retaining wall along the driveway and the stone accent wall on the house so the Spring Creek was the perfect mix of neutral tones. You can purchase Airstone products at you local Lowes Home Improvement Store.

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

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. Watch the installation video for further details.

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 (stone columns)

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.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love these columns.   I was hoping to get the project finished before the leaves fell off the trees but as you can see, I missed the window of pretty Fall colorful leaves. 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 with smaller scaled shrubs as well in the Spring which will complete the look. If you try out our driveway entrance stone column tutorial, be sure to send us pictures!