Sounds great, part of my motivation was from not shelling out $5000+, and secondly it was to gain the satisfaction when people say "nice paint, who did it?".
It is a long process (when done correctly) and hence why it costs so much in labour for the pros to do it, so providing you have the patience and willingness to learn, I am sure it will work out well. It probably took me around 8 months of weekends and after work weekdays to get the bodywork and paint done. Much quicker obviously if you can have a week or two straight to work on it.
My philosophy is to give anything a go, if you stuff it up, well you've wasted some time (doesn't cost you anything) and maybe a bit of money (hopefully not much) but at least you can appreciate whats involved...and either have a crack at it again....or bite the bullet and pay someone to do it!
I'll get off my soap box now
This is me in my parents garage (mine is too small):
See its not pefectly straight but I can live with it:
Here it is just after the clearcoat was applied - thats when you realise all your hard work was worth it:
