Here's how to create a Mediterranean-inspired outdoor sanctuary on a budget.

A sunny colour palette of blue, pink, and yellow transforms this split-level garden corner, for just £228. If you have a small balcony or terrace, or an unused corner of your garden that's looking a little sparse, consider integrating some of these styling cues.

Using a brilliant white in outdoor spaces is a great way to bounce light around, and help to brighten up adjacent interior spaces, too. For fences or wooden benches, choose either a solvent-based paint, or a high-performance water-based paint. If you want a gloss finish, look for outdoor gloss with low VOCs (volatile organic compounds) – these emit fewer harmful chemicals as they dry. Water-based paints have naturally lower levels of VOCs, plus, you can clean brushes in soapy water too, rather than white spirit. Read our guide to garden paint here.

This little oasis is a masterclass in using joyful colours to upgrade an otherwise plain space. Choose hardy plants in a lush variety of greens, and add colour with soft furnishings. Primary colours are particularly mood-enhancing – note the bright pinks, blues, and yellows chosen here. Read out guide to creating a colourful garden here.

Container gardening is a really easy way to transformed paved gardens, patios, and balconies. Here, a great mix of container plants have been placed below eye level in a clever corner shelf design, freeing up space on the ground. Remember that containers restrict root growth, so choosing the right compost, maintaining an even water supply and ensuring good drainage to prevent waterlogging is essential for plants to thrive. Read our guide to container gardening here.

With the right care, wooden garden benches can wear well. The joy in choosing wood is that it will paint and stain well, so you can change the colour and finish every few years, or even go from a bright white for the summer months to a darker paint for winter – cedar is a particularly good choice for this, but oak, acacia and teak are all durable hardwoods too. Read our roundup of the best garden benches.

Outdoor lights offer a quick and affordable way to set the right mood of a summer evening. If you're using a string of outdoor lights, attach them to fences or suspend them from canes stuck into the ground. Localising your lighting to certain corners of your garden creates ambient little pockets – wrap fairy lights around the base of a parasol to illuminate an outdoor dining table, for instance. Read our roundup of the best garden lanterns here.

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