Five Ways To Bring Your Garden To Life This Summer

Summer is a-comin' which means it's time to reclaim the garden. Because if you're anything like we are, you haven't so much as looked at your garden for many, many months. This is going to be the year that we starting using our outdoor space as an extra room. And through clever use of furniture, lighting, textures and colours, it's easier than you might think to extend the atmosphere of your interior space into the garden. We've teamed up with Roisin Lafferty, Cuprinol colour consultant, to bring five top tips to help put the life back into your garden this summer. Take a look below. 1. Add pops of colour Colour helps to create focal points and add personality to your space. Inject some fun into the space with pops of bright colour on structures, walkways and paths in a creative way to lead you out. Use mismatched colours on your furniture in contrast with the natural surroundings to create a visual impact. Look at all planting as different colour tones and enhance this with pops of colour. 2. Start upcycling Think about furniture and materials in an innovative way. Repurpose and personalise old pieces of furniture to create something new and unique. Customise pots, planters and seating with unusual choices, and consider using patterns. Think outside the box! 3. Clever use of lighting Lighting is one of the most important design elements in any gorgeous outdoor space. Transform your garden into a magical space at night by use of various types of lighting. Brighten up your garden and extend the use of it during the night and during those darker months by creating a party space 4. Design a feature wall Feature walls don't just work indoors. Draw the eye out into the garden by extending the interior design ideas out. Think of your garden walls the same way as when decorating your interior. It is important to clearly define different spaces. Use your feature walls to frame the space and the view. 5. Bring the inside, outside  The line between an interior and exterior space is disappearing. You can use the same materials and finishes both outside and inside when designing the garden. Look and take an inspiration from restaurants and bar outdoor areas. Be creative with your choice of finishes for your seating areas and pathways. All images via Anthony Wood. This article is brought to you by Cuprinol. Tune in to watch the grand finale of RTE's SuperGarden this Thursday 28 May to see Roisin Lafferty, Cuprinol expert, in action. Or head along to Bloom in the Phoenix Park this weekend (28 May - 1 June) where Roisin will be running live workshops each day.  [gallery ids="234658,234659,234660,234661,234662,234663,234664,234665,234666,234667"]