"My experience is that I can do just as good a job as most painters. When I see the mistakes the professional painters have made in my home, I steam a bit. When I see my own little mistakes, I either fix 'em or just feel good because I did it myself, saved some money, didn't have to deal with people in my space, etc." Geeze, where were you guys on the Paint Forum earlier this week! It got a little rough and I was totally on my own. lol! :) I agree that many DIYers can paint just as well if not better than an alarmingly huge percentage of "professional" painters. I've seen it. I've handed checks to "professionals" that I felt really didn't deserve them -- either because they behaved like butth*les or just plain couldn't paint with the upscale products that were spec'd. Have to choose those not-gonna-pay-you battles wisely. Usually if the homeowner is satisfied, it's best to let it go and I don't ever throw work their way again. The contention on the Paint Forum was that it takes years of field experience and skill (working with acrylics in particular). I think, but I'm not sure, their point is DIYers who only use a product once, twice, or three times aren't even in a position to speak to a product let alone be able to figure out how to paint with it as well as a pro painter who has logged many hours with a brush in their hand. Which in no uncertain terms I think is moronic and I said so --- and then the entire thread deteriorated like it always does and then the posts got deleted. Hiring a pro has it's advantages but only if you can find the right painter. If you can't find the rightr person to do the job, like others have pointed out, you might be better off just doing it yourself.

I've also painted old stained trim with no regrets. I did not strip it all (tried at first, but it was very aged and too difficult even with chemical strippers and heat guns!)- I simply sanded and used high quality Ben Moore primer and paint with excellent results. I personally much prefer white-painted trim to stained, UNLESS the house is of unusually high build quality. I come from a family of architects so am probably a bit overly-sensitive to proportion and design, so YMMV... but I feel like stained trim really calls attention to each element: doors, windows, baseboards, crown moldings are all brought into high contrast with stain and their placement and proportions become important design elements in a room. If they were well and thoughfully designed originally, that can be a beautiful thing. If not -I'd paint them. Our last house was a 1926 Foursquare. it was definitely much better built than most homes today, however, it was probably a Sears kit house originally, basically a builder-home from that era. i.e. not architect-designed like the previous Victorian I'd lived in. It had stained fir trim (with nice details) throughout, and DH and our friends thought I was crazy to paint it. Guess what? The house looked SOOO much better after I did. It actually became a much classier-looking house. The dark wood around doors and windows -which had been placed pragmatically rather than for aesthetics- made the house seem a bit akward. The white paint allowed the really GREAT elements in the house, like it's gorgeous birch floors, ample sunlight and great "flow", to really shine. Just my 2 cents!

Sorry guys, generalizations suck. I've been painting professionally since 1956, when I was dragged out kicking a screaming to work with my painting contractor dad during the summers at age 13. He learned the painting trade from his dad who brought the trade with him from Denmark in 1907. Did I mention I've been working in the Paint Department at Home Depot for the last 13 years. I am now 75 and enjoy my 40 hour per week "retirement" job . But remember , don't ask anyone at Home Depot for knowledgeable information!

Would you mind sharing why you have a paint crush on the Break-through by PPG?? ProClassic satin (Extra White) is actually gorgeous and I love it. But BM Advance and SW ProClassic both take hours in between coats. My son, Jake, is doing the painting for me while he's home from college for the summer and he prefers to spray early morning and let it dry overnight. He's sanding between coats of primer and first coat of finish because the cabinets are old with rough spots. Sanding between coats helps a lot so it's totally worth the extra work. ProClassic takes a good 14 days to cure out so you can get a feel (literally) for the final finish and color; when it's fully "cooked" I like it a lot. But it's a slow process to get there with both brands (BM and SW) and the first day I didn't care for the chalky finish but that quickly changed as the paint cured. Break-Through is different you can sand/recoat in two hours and cures to final appearance within maybe 2-3 days or so. All of them sprayed, rolled, leveled nicely for us. We are not using a professional grade sprayer, just something we picked up at Lowe's. I have nothing bad to say about the paint BM or SW at all. Break-Through just dries and cures faster. ProClassic satin the is "prettiest" IMO but I'm super critical and it's not enough of a difference to sacrifice the chunk of time it requires to get to that pretty final finish - I just haven't had the extra time to spare with my recent projects so Break-Through has been a good solution. When I spec color for homeowners most painters around here spray lacquer with pro grade sprayers and it's a whole, huge production with masking and paper and tape.... and it stinks. We don't have the bandwidth or space to go that route. With Break-Through you have to wipe up any spills or splatter immediately because once it dries, it's not coming off - kind of wicked and unforgiving in that way.