For rooms I care about, I go with Benjamin Moore Regal Select or Ben, and both are more than $50/gal. Not only is it good quality paint, but my local store has a color consultant on staff which is extremely valuable.
Remember a good paint job is all about prep, and in many cases you'll be spending more on tools and supplies than the actual paint.
Tools, supplies and paint is the cheap part of painting. LABOR is the expensive thing. Yes, prep is critical. And good prep takes time.
The bottle of lysol or whatever you're using to wash the walls, and rags and bucket and mop are cheap. What's expensive is the time spent on washing and then rinsing the walls.
Spackle and a putty knife are cheap. It's expensive to spend the hours carefully patching and sanding small holes.
Stripper, scrapers, and sand paper are cheap. It's expensive to spend the days stripping off layers of old cruddy paint, then sanding.
Lead tests are cheap. The plastic and tape and masks are cheap. The time spent in setting up containment, in cleaning up the dust - that's expensive.
Painting is one of the most cost effective DIY things you can do. Not because paint is expensive. Because it takes a lot of time to do it right, and time is expensive. Which is primarily why I do not understand why people cheap out on the paint. Good quality paint looks better and lasts longer, and given how expensive it is to do the job it is very much worthwhile to spend more on the paint.
