Issues with painting a fireplace mantle.  

Not to change the subject
I used to professionally design high-end audio both commercially and residentially. Before that, I was a professional sound engineer. When compact disc players first came out, Consumer Reports wrote ( I am paraphrasing) that cd players sounded better than vinyl, (When comparing comparable compact disc players with turntable/cartridge combinations across the board, that was not true) and that all cd players sounded the same (also a fallacy) so one should only purchase cd players based on features. Because of this evaluation by them, I stopped thinking of them as a reliable source for some things.
I have been painting for over thirty years, and, the true measure of a really good paint is time. How well it performs over time. It took a few months before my friend couldn't pry her ram's head away from the Behr paint. The sad thing is, she didn't position it in the optimum place and it is now very crookedly stuck in place.
But this could be the problem with most, if not all, latex/acrylic latex paints. I am not saying that latex et al is bad for trim. I just question it for mantel tops, shelves, and tops of furniture on which items will be placed for periods of time.
Also, my issue was more with the Bin shellac primer and brush strokes.

By the way,
Mark, your space looks lovely.

Why thank you Stig!
I am quite picky about paint finishes. I should become more familiar with oil based paints. I have worked with oil in the past..thinning the paint with Penetrol. I can't deal with brush/roller marks...and I get a bit crazy when pouring the floetral/penetrol into the paint. It's all about the prep work. Perhaps I will contract you to do my future painting, as I'm getting a bit too old...plus I should make an appearance at the office now and then....but I don't. Thank you for all of your good advice.
ps clean-up is a bitch with oil based paints, but I like the smell.
pss I have learned to paint out of a 5 gallon bucket (with a side screen), instead of a roller tray, which makes quite a difference on wall finishes (flotral added, natch). I also learned from a professional painter, how to "tap" the trim brush..to "load the brush" with paint, and only use lambswool rollers. Maybe I should have been a painter? I still require blue tape for detail work. It's a learning curve. Good weed/ decent tunes motivate me.
Best,
Aunt Mark

In many ways,
it is all about the tunes! Couldn't paint without them!