A few things I would like to add. I worked in a body shop for the last 3 years. I'm not an expert, but learning.
1. Amen on the spray booth. Essential for a quality job. You can use $300/gal paint but have it look like crap w/o a booth.
2. Omni (now shopline from PPG) has okay products, but the base isn't great for coverage. My personal truck is PPG Global Base (Expensive) with Omni clear. Looks fine and the truck is garaged and waxed, so it should stay in good shape.
3. Guns are expensive, the ones used by myself were borrowed and cost around $600, but one had been used daily for the past 10 years. Quality counts.
4. Find a good shop, talk to them about what you want to do and see if you can cheapen it up by doing some prep work. They probably won't guarantee the finish if you prep it, but it would be cheaper.
5. Single stage doesn't have clear mixed in it, it is a single stage of paint that has glossy properties. It differs from base/clear in that base is pure color, and clear is only clear, meant for protection and shine. You can't mix base with clear to get single stage, but you can clear over single stage.
6. Nobody mentioned sealer. A good sealer will ensure everything sticks and makes a uniform base for color matching and paint compliancy. Also allows for less paint usage in it allows for better coverage.
7. I have painted my own and it is awesome, but it was done in a professional booth, with professional tools, with professional paint, and a professional looking over my shoulder. The following pictures is how she looks, no buffing, straight from booth to assembly.