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...a few years back (maybe 5-6 years ago), I got into repainting frames, mostly because it was the only way I could find nicer bikes like Colnago's and Raleigh Pro's in my exact size, that I thought were affordable. It turned out to have the added advantage of making projects take much longer to accomplish. So I end up buying fewer bicycles, As a bonus, I get to play around sometimes with customizing the paint and graphics, to get something I think looks good. I can only paint here in the drier, hotter weather, because I paint outdoors in the back yard. By the time I buy stickers, paint, stripper, etc,, I think on average it costs about $100-$150 per frame. So "affordable" turns out to be a relative term.
Last winter I collected four project bikes that were mostly there, in terms of components, but had some paint issues, (Follis 172, Cinelli SC, an 80's PX-10E, and a Guerciotti). I stripped them down of parts over the winter and early spring. I just put the 2 part urethane clear coat on the fourth one, which is more or less the last step in my 2 and 3 stage painting process. Another candidate, a Moto Le Champion , popped up about four weeks ago, so that one got disassembled, stripped, primed, color coated, and stickered (finally) just yesterday. It really is a slow process, so it helps to control impulse buys. What's nice about it is there are built in stops along the way, where you have to wait for a coat to dry a couple of days, before you can do more work on it.
That's probably about it for this year. I get burned out on painting. Need to do some detailing, like lug lining, on the Moto, but I might do that post clear coat, so it's easier to repair If I slip.