I skim coated a room with great results but a lot of work.

Any hints or procedures or references from anyone on how to skim coat?
Here's what I did:
I thinned all-purpose joint compound to the point where I could use a paint roller and tray to apply it. I used a 24" knife for smoothing; smaller ones as needed. I learned to leave any ridges formed at the ends of the knife to dry and sand out, rather than smooth them out while wet. Additional coats with sanding in between were required, to eliminate bubbles and other blemishes. A light bulb held at the wall helped me see imperfections.

We did the same thing. We had some fake wood paneling removed and instead of replacing the drywall, we used heavy grit sandpaper to smooth out the glue residue. Then the drywallers skim coated it. It turned out great and was much cheaper.

Bill...I was out of town when he skim coated the bedrooms. He's going to start taping and mudding the main part of the house tomorrow, and he has to skim coat the entire entryway. I'll try to ask him what he did...I leave town again on Wed for a month, so I probably won't see him actually do it.

regular mud right out of the bucket 14" flat trowel (not a third coat tapping trowel)take mud out of bucket need on trowel. Then spread on wall working with long half circles depending on how bad the wall is sand and paint or apply another coat.