A perfect flower arrangement can illuminate a room if you are selling your house; provide the perfect centrepiece for a Christmas table, or a lovely addition to your child's birthday party dinner setting.

Buying flowers prearranged from a florist is also not the only way to have a beautiful bouquet of flowers in your home. You can do a great job on your own.

DIY flower arranging tips
Flowers such as gerberas and roses come in a vibrant array of colours, from white to fuchsia and burnt orange. The general rule of flower arranging is to match three of your main flowers in the arrangement with a single accompanying flower or vine.

So if you were to arrange a bunch of red roses, for every third rose, you could add a single string of babies' breath for depth and warmth. If you were to arrange yellow tulips, for every third tulip, a sprig of green fern can be added to set off the vibrancy of the lemon coloured luscious flower.

The best idea, by following the above formula is to arrange a bunch until you can no longer hold the stems in your hand. When your hand is full of stems, you should place that bunch into a vase, and start again with another handful.

Flowers do not only have to be matched with other flowers or secondary ferns and leafing to make a lovely arrangement. Ribbons, bows, dried flowers and balloons also make for a holistic arrangement.

To make a pink arrangement suitable for congratulating a friend on the birth of a girl, first choose pink carnations and white lilies. Remember to buy some pink and purple ribbon and some dried babies breath. Collect one lily for every three carnations and arrange until your hands are full.

Now, use the babies' breath to form a crown around the outside of the flowers. Tie the bunch together with pink ribbon and use your scissors to curl the underside of the ribbon and make delightful tendrils. Wrap the bunch in white or pink tissue paper, or leave tied with the bow to deliver.

You can also present the arrangement in a vase as part of the present and decorate the vase itself with pink and white curling ribbon. Use blue coloured flowers to construct the same arrangement for a boy.