My room’s going to be lime green and the living room is exactly the colour of the sky above Taipei the day just before a typhoon hits. I’m still trying to figure out what to use for the doors, but with those colours I thought it was better to let somebody else do the mixing. 
A few thoughts:
Deal with any big obvious holes first. Don’t use putty to fill holes. Putty is made with oil and will really screw up your paint work if you don’t give it a year or two to dry out first. Use a water-based filler and apply it with a wide flexible blade.
Wherever paint is flaking it needs to be scraped with a stiff flat bladed tool designed specifically for the job. Don’t use anything bendy. Scrape until all the loose or flaky stuff has fallen off.
Then ask yourself why it was flaking off. If it is bubbling it’s probably due to lime coming out of the concrete, in which case you need to paint a porous water-based sealant onto the wall to prevent the same thing happening again. Oil-based sealants may sit on top of the problem 'til they fall off. Porous ones go into the wall and tackle it.
The other main reason that paint flakes is that the surface it was applied to was not properly prepared, so make sure you avoid future problems by doing the job properly.
Sand all the walls and ceilings before you start. Ideally the paper should be wrapped around a block so that you present a flat surface to the wall and knock off anything that will spoil the finished effect.
I don’t know anything about the industry here but in most countries you can buy a special sanding ‘head’ which screws onto the end of a pole. This takes most of the hard work out of the sanding, and the pole should also fit your roller when it’s time to paint.
Sanding creates dust, and paint doesn’t stick to dust. Brush the surfaces down at the very least. Ideally you should wash them with warm water and a tiny bit of soap to remove other dirt.
Pay special attention to anything like sticky tape, grease splashes, or anything similar on the walls. Use solvents or other cleaning products if necessary.
Here’s a tip. Look closely at the joins between walls and ceilings. If they’re messy you may consider filling them. The simplest way is to use a water-based filler on the end of your finger. The easiest way is to use a silicon sealant that is squirted out of a special gun. The stuff comes in plastic tubes with a nozzle on the end. They’re cheap and fun to play with, but can be tricky if you’ve never used one.
Paint ceilings first, so that you don’t drip onto your nice shiny new walls. Do it in several stages:
First go around the edges with a paintbrush. Don’t worry about painting the wall at the same time, but beware of leaving ‘thick’ blobs of paint. This only takes ten minutes.
Then put your roller to work. Ideally you should roll while the edge paint is still wet, so it’s a good idea to have everything ready. Have the roller securely fastened to the end of your pole.
There is an art to rolling a ceiling. First hold the roller pole almost vertical and don’t be afraid to walk around underneath it. You’ll drip paint on yourself but the alternative is to risk backache, and it’s a lot easier to control the roller that way.
Start slightly less than one roller width from the side wall, 1-1.5 metres from the end of the room. Roll towards the end wall, and then back again, but slightly to the side away from the side wall. Forwards again, and then back, but this time go right up to the side wall so that the roller actually deposits a little paint on the wall. If you have plenty of paint still on your roller then go to the other side of the area you have just painted and paint there too.
Continue across the room, reloading your roller as you necessary until you have painted a strip across the end of the room. If your roller still contains a lot of paint then continue along the nearest wall until it stops painting heavily.
Now, and this is really important, you have to ‘lay off’ the paint. The first pass was simply to get it approximately where you want it. Now you have to make it lie down properly. Go back over the area you just painted ONCE OR TWICE ONLY, taking long sweeps at 90 degrees to the direction you painted in previously. ie side to side instead of end to end.
When applying the paint it’s OK to accidentally leave small areas, or to cause blobs etc by squeezing too much paint out of your roller. You fix all this by laying-off with a roller that is damp, but doesn’t contain a lot of paint. Roll lightly and the roller will pick up any surplus and deposit it where needed.
You have to be quick about this as the paint will start to dry very soon, and rolling over half-dry paint is the best way to spoil the effect. And you need to finish this section in time to start the next one without having a ‘join’.
Repeat this process, painting strips across the room until you reach the far end.
It sounds stressful, but actually you should be able to complete an average size room in 15-20 minutes. It’s easy really.
That was just the first coat. It’s not supposed to look great. Don’t get hung up on doing it perfectly in one try, it’s almost impossible. If you missed a bit don’t go running back to it - finish the rest of the ceiling first.
As soon as you’ve got the first coat on go around the walls and clean up any drips - you don’t need the lumps, although the colour shouldn’t be a problem.
After the ceiling has dried properly have a good look for any blemishes in the paint. Knock off any ‘nibs’, and fill any holes. Don’t use putty to fill holes. Use a water-based filler and apply it with a wide flexible blade. Pack in a little more filler than it needs, so that it protrudes, then sand it down when it’s dry using a sanding block.
Any filled spots need to be sealed, as do any areas where damp etc. may be staining the paint. Any oil based paint is good for this, or you can buy spray-on sealer. Use a colour that is close to the colour you are using!
Roll over any treated areas so that they blend in, and any areas that seem especially bare of paint. Give it time to dry.
Now repeat the painting process one or two more times until you have a good finish. You might try brushing the edges a couple of times before rolling the second time as the roller puts the paint on more thickly and can leave the edges looking ‘bare’.
Do the same with the walls, but when applying the paint do it in an X pattern with the first two strokes, then more or less vertically. After applying 2-3 metres lay it off with a smooth up-down motion, then continue.
It’s OK to do the first coat on the wall while the first coat on the ceiling is drying, but you’ll need to be really on the ball about drips from the ceiling if you’re using different colours.
Obviously you don’t want to get wall paint on the ceiling when doing the corners either. Even if the colours are the same the differences in finish will show up if you hit the ceiling with your wall paint.
We can talk about the doors another time.
What are your rates? You sound professional enough for me… 
How about concrete cancer? that’s a big problem in my house - can’t move my furniture around, as the paint tends to get off behind it.
Whew, I’ve finally got my computer back. Just finished everything, tired as hell.
I’m surpised that my place is not completely wrecked. What a mission! The painting itself is actually quite enjoyable, but moving the furniture and junk around from one room to another every time I wanted to do ANYTHING freaked me out a bit.
I’ve got one room left that will have to wait until the next paycheque, and for that one I need to do the ceiling too.
I didn’t get much paint on the floor inside the apartment, but spilled some on the rough tiles on the balcony and I’ve been struggling to get that off, even though it’s water-based. But that is most definitely tomorrow’s problem.
Now it’s an early night and probably some more bizarre nightmares. Paintfumes seem to have a strange effect on me. :shock:
Maoman, you have absolutely no chance. I don’t care what you offer me. Really, if you have that much money then pay Imani to come around and do it naked for you while you sit there with a beer and watch.
I thought about doing my place myself, because I find myself criticising the quality of the decor right now, but I will never ever do that shit for money again.
All bloody interesting… Now, what to do about concrete cancer