• Strain the paint.  There are disposable cone strainers readily availalble.  Reuseable strainers, not so much.  However, I did try using one of those small handheld kitchen strainers.  I picked up a cheap one at a discount store - worked pretty well.
• Thin the paint.  This is one of those things that's dependant upon the applicator, and the look you want to achieve.  Paint should generally never be thinned more than 20%.  Most paint manufacturers will list on their can or the store associate can tell you the thinning preferences for your paint. 
• If you're using a sprayer, thoroughly clean it.  I really tend to push the envelope here.  I know what I've done to this sprayer and what I can get away with.  Sometimes I tend to leave paint in it for a ridiculous period of time.  I typically go through all of my spray guns twice a year and give them all a good cleaning.  Today was the day.

For brevity's sake, we'll skip the details of using an HVLP here and stick to the tactics used to achieve "All of the Culders".

• The Night Sky - well...fiber optics were out of the question.  I couldn't possibly spend what I found you have to spend to really do it, and I didn't really have time to ruminate about the situation.  I took a glittery paint additive and added it to a medium toned blue, and sprayed swatches in various places on the existing dark ceiling.  It reminds me of what the sky looks like on a dark night out on the lake.
• The "Culders" - she doesn't like red or orange.  Thankfully, I had a bunch of different colors - I don't think it would have ever occurred to me to use them together.  Knowing that some sort of priming would be advisable to cover the existing white with yellow handprints, I figured I'd just prime with all of the colors.  I covered the walls with swatches of random colors.  At this point, the room was positively blinding!  It looked like a roomful of clowns imploded in here.
• All of the Culders Meets Let's-Not-Go-Blind - compromise is a beautiful thing.  I made shapes, using painter's tape - balloons, music notes, whatever.  I then painted the entire room with a dusty lilac. When the paint dried and I removed the tape - voila!  Yes those are sparkles that you see in that balloon.
• Old Meets New - how to handle the handprints.  I covered one of the everyone's handprint with tape, leaving the outer edges irregular.  So needless to say, they didn't mesh well.  I just took a small craft brush and smushed the colors from the rest of the room aternately around the edges. I dunno - she digs it.

         
Now this eclectic aesthetic may not work for everyone, but the Puddin' absolutely loves it!  This rates 5 Fingernails, no real aggravations and the client is ecstatic.