We all probably have our favorites based on what we like. I am not even sure what is a good place to tell you to start since I pretty much like to read decorating books, just for the sake of reading/looking at them and have had quite a few since the mid 1970s.

One thing that might be of interest and I think was very helpful for me was a continuing education course in decorating at a local university. I later enrolled in a full-fledged college course of Interior Design but secondary to some unforeseen medical circumstances had to leave and spent the next few years getting my ownself cared for. :) I never lost interest but never went back to college, but the continuing education course really helped and it was just a 3-month course and then another 3-month for 201 (sotaspeak).

The BHG design books are excellent and popular. Pottery Barn has a series (each room is a separate book) that are also quite thorough and is not limited to the "PB" style. My personal favorites are books by Terence Conran which I find are more creative in problem solving decorating dilemas. When you get to Conran's site, go to his bibliography and it will list all his books.

My best suggestion is for you to visit a large public library to borrow as many books as you can, even those that deal with styles you are not particularly attracted to IRL. An alternative is go to a big box book store like Barnes and Nobles when you have plenty of time to sit and peruse the books, take your time to find one that speaks to you.

Sky

There are 99 decorating book reviews on the link below.

Quick two-three sentence descriptions of what the book contains. Very useful

Here is a link that might be useful: Book Reviews