Primer/Painting Frustrations: Wood Panel Paint Job - Advice, pls.

[Mac L.]

This is my first project - and I'm now questioning my primer and painting skills.

This is taking way longer than expected and I'm not loving how it looks. I'm seriously concerned that my paint job will look as bad as my primer job. I used a brush to get into the groves between panels and around tight areas and trim - there are a lot of nooks & crannies. I then used a roller to get the larger parts. It's looking pretty uneven and splotchy. 

Do I need to do another coat of primer? 

Should I try to use a sprayer for the paint instead of brush and roller? It's a small room with very limited ventilation.

Once I get the primer finished, I need to paint the ceiling. Pretty much the same color, so I wasn't going to primer before painting it. 

But I do plan to primer the bricks on my gas fireplace... can I use the same primer?

Or should I just throw in my paint brushes and rollers and hire this out to professionals?  :-)

Here are some pics... I still need to do the bottom edges.