One of the best places to get design ideas is from your friends, family, and co-workers. Even going to your local home improvement store and asking the employees what other people are buying can offer valuable insight on designing your own house. However, when you ask for advice you should be aware that people might not tell you what you want to hear. So keep in mind that the advice they are offering are opinions and understand that their comments and design style are not attacking your current décor.

Start by asking a friend or family member what you can do to improve the current design in one of your rooms. Avoid directly asking if they like the room or not; rather, just ask them for ideas on improvements. In addition, go to the store with them and see which styles they like. You can ask the services representative at the store while you are there what the most popular models of furniture are right now. The best seller in the store might be a good buy for your house as well.

Make sure to keep your ears open for the local open house on your block. You might be surprised at how much information you can get from doing a walk through. If you walk through a house that is for sale on your block and a few days later it sells, then you know that their design ideas were actually good ones. And if it takes 2 years to sell then you know which styles to avoid.

Also, watch channels like HGTV and listen for the tips they tell you. They will give you tips on picking out your own design that will be incredibly useful when designing your own home.

Looking at catalogs of the newest styles is just not enough. Make sure to keep your ears open for any of those great ideas that are just waiting to be implemented in your own home.