Painting - I'm in tears -- painting nightmare

Something horrible is going on with my living room wall. A year or so ago I repainted it (it was getting grubby) using a can of flat paint left over from when the house was built. The result was horrid and streaky and not quite the same color as the original. So I went out and bought a can of the original color -- still awful. I put on another coat of flat paint and it finally looked OK. But then it started cracking, these fine little cracks all over the entire wall. I stayed calm, got some advice on the Internet, and repainted the wall with a primer then did another coat of flat. So now the cracks were gone but the wall was bumpy and lumpy and still terrible looking. So on go some drywall mud touch-ups and another layer of primer. Then I sanded it smooth, painted it again, and I thought that would be the end of it. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that it was cracking again. The same fine cracks, only more noticeable this time. We're hoping to sell this house in the spring so I have to get this taken care of.

The wall is quite high -- it's a vaulted ceiling and sits directly in the light and shows every little flaw. Worrying about it has become my life. I wish the wall fairy could come and just give me a new wall. I feel like such a screw-up.

Can anyone help me? Should we go with new drywall? Is that even possible? How do you deal with the places where the drywall joins with the ceiling and other walls?

Welcome to the forums

Wall fairys aren't cheap and they stay booked years in advance :D

What type of paint were you using?
I assume none of the painting was done where the wall temp could get below freezing which will cause latex paint to crack.

Is just the paint cracking or is the j/c also cracking?

How old is the house?

The wall shouldn't need to be redrywalled but we need to figure out what is causing the cracks first.

Yes, how old is the house?

Please add more detail about the lumps and bumps. If a new house, it could just be nail pops. Give us an accurate description. Subjective descriptions like "they're everywhere" won't help us pinpoint the problem.

We need more detail about the cracks.

Are the cracks and bumps just on an outside wall? More than one wall? Whats on the other side of those walls?

Is it drywall or plaster? Plaster is making a comeback in some parts of the country. (Well, plaster like toppings).