In which I appeal to you, dear readers, for your kind assistance. With a paint problem.

People of the internets, I am lost and I need your help.  In the past, I have had a perfect sense of paint colors.  When I bought my house, I, with relative ease, selected 5 colors for the 5 rooms I wanted to paint.  I did not try any of the colors to make sure I liked them.  I simply painted the rooms (all in one day thanks to lovely friends who will do anything for free pizza and beer) and loved all of the results.  I love the sage green of my living room, the mintier green of my bedroom, the red of my library, the purple of my guest room, and the latte color of my bathroom. 

For the exterior of my house, I settled on a beautiful red after really only testing out a few palettes on the paint visualizer.  The painter offered to do a test patch in case I hated it, but I was sure, so I told him to just do it.  And I was right.  Neighbors have asked to copy my exact color palette, it is that fabulous.  And as you might recall, I got to choose a paint color for my office this winter.  Again, I selected a color fairly quickly and have been thrilled with the result.  I had good reason to think selecting paint colors was something I was good at.

But now I have found my paint Waterloo.  I simply cannot find the right color for the "transition" spaces in my house.  The staircase.  The front entryway.  The weird little spot between the entryway and the living room.  Old houses like mine have very clearly defined spaces, which leaves nooks like these.  Currently, the entryway and weird little spot are a tan color that I just hate.  (SO thinks it's great, but I don't care.  I hate it.)  The stairs are a pale yellow, of which I am also not a fan.

Behr paint (who has not paid me, but I will always stick with because it's high quality paint) now sells little sample sizes.  So I started with two little jars of green paint: Spring Hill and Laurel Mist.  They are both slightly lighter than the Sagey of my living room, so I thought they would be a nice compliment.  I painted a swatch of each in the three areas to see which I liked better.  But after staring at them for two days, I decided I hated them both.  I went back to the website to come up with other ideas.  I decided to try a rich cream color, so I went with Eggnog.  But then I also thought a sophisticated gray could be nice, so I sampled Sage Grey.  They were both worse than the greens and now I had 4 odd paint patches on various walls throughout my house!  This week, I went back to get two more samples, resolving that these would be the last.  One of these two would definitely work.  I selected Hemlock Bud, a much lighter, almost white, green, and Road Runner, another gray.  Well, Hemlock Bud doesn't look much different from Eggnog and Road Runner looks almost pink.

After 6 samples, $20+, and 18 patches on my walls, I am no closer to selecting a paint color than I was when I started.  And it turns out that there is something I hate more than that brown in the entryway: that brown with 6 different color splotches on it!  I'm about ready to just go get two gallons of the craziest orange I can find and be done with it.  I have to cut myself off from my sample addiction.  I think perhaps I am simply not a neutral person and need to stop trying to find a neutral transition color.  Or perhaps I've just gotten so in my head that I can't see what I like anymore.

And so I turn to you, my brilliant, creative readers.  One of you must have an idea, a color direction I haven't thought of yet.  Someone, please, just tell me what color to paint these spaces.  I think there might have to be a prize for the person who helps me find my way out of my paint forest.