I am seriously stuck and seriously awful at choosing paint colors. I'm even having a difficult time just organizing this email as I recently posted about help with my kitchen and don't know whether or not to repeat myself (I put the link at the bottom of the page).

The house is a mid-1800s Cape in Maine which we'll be putting on the market soonish. One quarter of the lower floor of the main house is composed of master bedroom with adjoining bath both painted in Oat Straw by Behr. I love the color but got it accidentally as I was trying to match something online and thought I had it right as a more brown color (which it is with less light).

Three quarters of the lower floor is the living room and dining room. The entry (never used) is center with a small entryway and stairs to the second floor--this could be painted the same color or differently than living room. (The bedroom is to the right as you come in the door, living room to left and dining room behind the entryway; okay it's not exact for the layout but hopefully you get the idea).

There are six walls in the living/dining room (it's L shaped). Presently two short walls and one long wall which runs the length of the house are a pale yellow which has been up close to 10 years. I searched long and hard for it and really have liked it. Along the back of the house there is a chair-rail painted the yellow below and white above. The two short walls in the dining room are white. Unfortunately the walls, trim and crown molding are all the same white--the subject of another recent post.

The entry way and up the stairs is...pink. Another horrid choice of mine. There is beadboard along the bottom half of the handrail wall along the stairs, painted white. There is a recessed alcove with three shelves to the left of the stairs in the entry. All the trim is white. The stair treads are painted a very dark green, almost black, the railing posts are white, the railing a dark cherry stain.

Off the dining room, on the rear of the house is the kitchen addition (one floor) entered through a doorway (whereas the living and dining room are open and essentially open into the entryway).

The mudroom is on the right side of the house as you look at it from the street. It is the most used entry to the house and has doorways which open into the kitchen and the downstairs bath. The mudroom has white beadboard along two walls going about 3/4s up the wall. The walls are currently a light blue but I want to change it.

When you go up the stairs there is a bedroom on each side of the small landing and a bathroom behind the landing which opens into both bedrooms. One bedroom is painted BM Yosemite Sand which is very nice and I actually chose but only after I put up BM Adobe Beige and it looked pink. The bathroom is 50% Yosemite Sand. The other bedroom is a green which is okay and will keep. So, we're all set with the rooms upstairs.

I hope you're still with me! I want colors that are similar in...well, I don't know what you call it...saturation?...to the Oat Straw and Yosemite Sand for the rest of the house, the blue and yellow (and please don't remind me but the pink too) are pastel-like.

I have read and reread posts, taken notes, looked at the gallery and have written a list of 23 colors from this site. Last weekend I had the BM fan deck home with me and then went in and bought pots of Castleton Mist, Hawthorne Yellow, Beacon Hill Damask, Windham Cream and Weston Flax; I don't love any of them. Too chartreuse. My husband said, "You're not painting the whole house yellow are you?"

I had two responses to my kitchen question. I only saw whenicit's SW Basket Beige suggestion online and that looked nice. I picked up the color preview card for sueb20's BM Gray Mirage suggestion and like that very much. All the other colors on the card are nice too: Dry Sage, November Rain and Icicle.

Let's see, what else? The flooring in the living/dining/entry are hardwood in a dark mahogany stain. We live on a hill with loads of sun (house faces south) and a willow tree on the west side of the house. All the trim is white and I think I'm using BM Simply White for repainting. As I mentioned we are selling and I think I should go for colorful neutrals.

A million billion thank yous to those of you who've got the design sense to respond!

Linda

Here's the kitchen post link:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg0216591623356.html

Here's the white post link:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg0208203912737.html