You could have something building on the roof to house a whole-house fan.

Dee, I figured that, but these days with most painters using latex, clean-up isn't/shouldn't be an issue, IMHO anyway! I think they have been able to get away with it, so they keep doing it. I am old and cranky enough that I would look at the line item estimate, ask him how much more for several colors, and then tell him to just take all the painting charges off because I was going to bring in someone else to paint since I want more than one color in my house! :) If you brought in another painter and told the builder to take off the painting charges, I wonder what he would say. Although it is a slightly different situation, our painter whom we have had for years paints what ever colors I choose and he doesn't ever charge more if he is doing rooms in different colors-we've had him do it both ways with several rooms in one color and other times with every room he is painting being a different color. As I said, old and cranky and tired of having people take advantage. Of course, I would do it in the nicest possible way-how I had my heart set on certain colors and how we do understand that he is the best builder in the area which is why we chose him, but we just feel we need to hire an outside painter to make the house a home, we just can't imagine having EVERY room the same color, etc., etc. Faron, you want to weigh in here??? Of course, you may discover that you absolutely love one color throughout! In that case, no worries. Sometimes, I am tempted to try that and see how it looks-problem is that I can't decide what that one color would be-ha.

No it doesn't have to. Private spaces, like bathrooms and bedrooms, can have their own style and palette. However, in public spaces it's a lot harder to mix warm and cool tones or transition between them especially in open concept spaces. If you really want to achieve it consider working with an interior designer.

I see no need for a "big argument." Being reasonable and rational will get you much more goodwill. Simply explain what you've said here....that you thought the quote included a better quality paint and that you'd prefer he use XYZ paint instead. See what he says. Obviously you both failed to clarify what specific paint would be used so pointing fingers would be useless. Find out what it would take to switch at this point and be prepared to compensate him for the paint already purchased. Could the paint be used somewhere in the home less perceivable such as closets, maybe? Better yet, put it on Craigslist or a Facebook Buy Sell Trade page and see if you can sell it to recoup costs. There are lots of ways to try to fix your "problem" without a big argument. And FWIW, our painting contractors used this "cheap builder grade junk" in our home and it looked great and held up great with four kids. We used eggshell in the Property Solutions.