Looks like I just committed us to painting...soon

After work yesterday, I stopped by Sherwin-Williams to pick some paint samples. We've been talking about painting our first floor for months now, and I was motivated to take my color options off the paint swatch, and onto the wall.

The problem with picking a color is that we have to use the same color (unless you can show me how to break it up) for the whole first floor, based on the layout of the house. Here's my amateur draft of our floor plan:

We've been thinking a light sage green or khaki color is the best choice, mostly because they are both neutral and would complement the designs in each room, so no major changes would be necessary other than painting. The problem with thinking sage or khaki is that there are SO many options! I go to Lowe's and stare at the 17 sections of paint, and want to die. How are you supposed to pick 1 color out of all those options? I don't know.

So, I decided to narrow down my choices by visiting a smaller, specialty paint store. Worked out much better, but there are still a thousand sage and khaki options. I picked 8, and got tester cans, called "Color To Go."

Here are all 8, painted on a kitchen wall under horrific lighting.

They are all so close that I can't pick between them, but here's what I can say:

- I'm not sure I could handle 4 rooms of the dark khaki color, but it's nice
- "Sagey" isn't sagey, it's more minty
- "Contented" is lovely, but too dark
- You can barely see "Muslin" as it blends in too well with the existing color. That one's out.

Opinions? I don't want to say my favorite yet.

I'll be taking the contenders into the living room to paint some more sections of the wall. Hopefully, one day this week I'll get home when the sun is still shining so I can see them in the daylight.

My dilemma is, who says I have to pick any of these? There are still other khakis I can try, and the perfect sage might be out there, but where do you draw the line and just jump?

Help!