paint indecision

I have holidays coming up in a few weeks, and I'm going to start painting. Wish me luck. So far I can't even decide where to start!!

1) Painting the railings on the decks white (weather dependent).

2) Begin painting inside. Even there I have options. 
   a) downstairs to get rid of the awful green
   b) upstairs to get rid of the slightly sickly purple.

Both have big pros and cons though.
Downstairs is an absolutely MASSIVE area, with a few fiddly bits-the vjs, around the stairs, and some quite high bits around the stairs, but being fairly new the walls don't need any work done to them. They are smooth, so might be a good place to learn to paint. Also, we don't live down there at all, so it's not going to be in the way, there is no furniture to move. But we don't spend any time there, apart from walking through from the garage. So as awful as the colour is, it doesn't really affect our day to day life. 

Upstairs is also quite a big area-the lounge, dining and kitchen are all purple. The kitchen has vjs, but even if we paint them the tiles, laminate and some cupboards will still be purple. The most concerning part is that the walls and skirtings are in quite bad condition. Some dents, chips, swollen bits, and water stains. So a lot more prep work. 

Sometimes I'm decisive, sometimes I'm ridiculously indecisive. Don't even get me started on choosing a colour!!! 

Any great painting tips-other than getting someone else to do it!?!