Depends on where you live, but waiting for the weather to turn colder can help. I can get really good pricing for my clients and wide open schedules from right after Thanksgiving thru the end of February. March 1 to the end of November and the really good painters pretty much get to pick their price and their projects.

That doesn't help you get your room painted tho. Couple options, visiting the bulletin board of your local paint store might help. Most paint stores have a place where their pro customers can put up a business card. You might want to single out the faux finishers and give them a call first. Lots of them straight paint too and they mainly do interiors. This time of year customers are focusing on exteriors, so the finishers *might* be easier to schedule.

It is easier to get on a schedule, and you get better pricing, when you have more than one room painted. Don't give up, just make some phone calls. :-)

You may just be having bad luck too. That's an odd excuse. You have a 1 or 2 day job for one man or a 1 day job for 2 men. Why should a painter care if they are painting your whole house or not? The only thing painters should truly not like is 1/2 day jobs because they can lose money having nothing to do for the second half of the day.

Maybe you're scarying them with "two stories"-lol

I just had 2 rooms painted, where they had a high ceiling to do. It wasn't a problem.
You're calling the wrong people. Go to your local Benjamin Moore store. Lots of good painters in & out of there. That's a good place to start.

I have good painters who did my rooms. I'm in CT.

dabunch you are lucky. I did find a painter and guess what ...he quoted me 400 for one room because it had high cathedral ceilings and that didn't include the paint. Said he only used SW or BM and used only 1 coat. It was up to me to moved the furniture and make sure the walls were cleaned. Needless to say I told him to hit the road and my DH & I did it this past weekend. Wasn't easy (feel like I was hit by a truck) but well worth it.