Decorating and Design - Living Room/Dining Room Color Selection

My living room and dining room are connected in an L shape. I want to change the carpeting, wall colors, and window treatments in both and need some ideas. My living room has one dark brown wainscoated wall and a bricked fireplace wall (the brick is weathered(?) - orange with black and white mixed in). The fireplace insert is black. My woodwork is dark. I have an off white microfiber sofa and chair in the living room. In the dining room I have a glass/brass table with black fabric chairs. Any color scheme suggestions?

i'm not much on colored carpet, so since your sofa & chair are cream & your woodwork is dark, i'd go in between with taupe/beige/sandy carpet. if it weren't for the orangey brick, you'd have a pretty neutral pallette to work with, but you've got to work with that brick (unless you're willing to paint it), so i'd try to find some multi-colored fabric that has the orange color in it. all the retro colors are back right now, so finding orange shouldn't be hard if you want a more contemporary look. southwest color schemes use a lot of a rusty-orange (adobe) color with teals or blues & peaches. a traditional Colonial scheme using the Autumn colors is always good - rust & burgundy with olive & gold & brown is always warm & welcoming.

depending on where you want to put color - walls, draperies, rugs, etc - i would just start shopping for those items & see what prints/patterns you can find, then work out from there.