This is the dumbest question.
We will hopefully be moving into the house my husband is building for us this summer. I have to decide on carpet, furniture(as we can afford it), and wall colors. Problem is, I'm used to starting with carpet or a couch or something and working around it. Since all of our furniture has been hand-me-down or used to this point, we want to get a new living room and dining room set. I don't know what to start with-pick carpet and then get curtains and furniture? Does someone know of a good book to help me out? I have no imagination and I don't even know what I like until I see it!

That's a tough question. If it were me, I would look around at home decorating sites or magazines and find something that I really liked to begin with and then maybe try to replicate that. hgtv.com looks like it has some good ideas... HGTV Designer's Portfolio - Design ideas and inspiration for your home : Home & Garden Television

I hope that helps you a little!

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"It's time to move from what we can do, to what we must do, to what we will do." ~Hillary Clinton

i would pick carpet first and go off that

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My choices yesterday create my today. My choices today create my tomorrow.

The best advise I can give to you is make sure the carpet is not too light and does not contain dark color specks. Go with something that will match everything- Karastan makes a wonderful carpeting. You definately do not want to go with a cheap carpeting, the better quality carpeting will make your home feel "better" because the cheap carpeting doesn't feel as soft in a year or two down the road. Choose your colors for the walls AFTER you choose your carpeting.
IMO, the best carpet coloring to get is a neutral base with light or medium color specks...the color specks help to hide wear better and don't show the "dirt" as much. ALSO, if you like the color of the "specks" in the carpet, you can go from there to chose colors for your walls and fabrics.
The biggest mistake that people make is to get a full color carpeting in one or more of their rooms- I'm talking about a full green, red, orange, blue- you get the idea. People tend to like it for two or three years and HATE it after that. If you want color in your rooms, don't do the big "punch" of color on the carpeting...do it on an accent wall or in the fabrics. It costs a lot less to re-paint a wall or two than it does to re-carpet a room.
I'd say to go to your local library. There will be a lot of home design books there. I have a few from college that I use, but don't know if they are avail. anymore. It's hard to just go out and buy one interior design book, because the author of that book will tend to focus on two or three designs- there are thousands of great design styles and you don't want to limit yourself. I like to look through mag.s and if I like a certain color, style, idea or design- I rip out the thing that I like and I put it in my design book...yes, I keep a book. It's a folder/binder book. If you see a color or colors, ideas you like- it's best to have it with you when you're making your decisions because you'll never remember it off of the top of your head.
Try not to hang pictures or things on the walls until you have the long term furniture in place. Other wise you'll end up with a bunch of holes in the walls, because you'll want everything to "flow" together...you'll want it to have a rhyme or reason for being in the place it is.
NEVER EVER EVER EVER put a high gloss paint in a tv room- the tv will glare off of the walls. You'd be surprized to see how many people make this mistake!
NEVER paint a wall plain white. It looks "unfinished" and bare...there are many tints and versions of white that will look fine, but pure white is never good. Same goes for the ceiling...use an off white, white chocolate, or a creamy color.
When I am re-doing a room, I go to Lowes, Ace or a paint store and collect "paint idea" cards to get my ideas from. They really do help you get good ideas of colors you like.
I have an interior design degree, there are thousands of ideas and thoughts that I have, but I don't exactly know what you're tastes are or what your ideas are- so it's hard to just rattle off about what should and should not be done. There are "basic rules of design" and then after that it's all personal preference, styles and tastes are all so different.
If you have any questions or need any advise or help, I'll try to answer any thing- just pm me.
Like I said...go to the library, browse through different books and find one that suits your style tastes. look through mag.s and find colors, styles, designs that you like and start a "portfolio" of things you like. It helps to put it all together. If you end up not using some of the ideas, no big deal. BUT, it's better to have more ideas than not enough.

PAINT BEFORE TRIM is put on!!! PAINT BEFORE CARPET goes in- I've seen lots of people paint a new house after the fact and it's never a good thing! You'll get cleaner lines if you don't have to use tape.

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One happy wife and mommy!!!