I wouldn't think you could get away without using shoe moulding. The reason being the 3/4" gap you need to leave for expansion/contraction (mainly expansion) for unfinished, flooring. If you lay flooring in winter typically it's as small/narrow as it will get and the summer humidity will make it expand. So if there is a 3/4" gap your trim more than likely will not cover it (unless you are using something I haven't thought of). So after trim there will still be a small gap to cover with... shoe moulding.
I would do floors first, sand, finish. Then trim. The sanders will bump the trim no matter what. That is if the trim is already installed?!? The ideal would be to do floors first, install painted trim after then shoe.

Make sense?

Jen

Jen, thanks...your comment does make sense. Excuse my more ???'s...lack of knowledge. If the unfinished floor is installed first, would a typical baseboard then installed next, be enough to cover the expansion? I have seen people who have not used shoe moulding and wonder how that is possible? Not that I'm completely against the shoe mould...I was thinking it was preferred, as in an upgrade to not use the shoe mould? I thought if we were installing on our own...perhaps we could do it "more right" without a better word choice here. I suppose it is personal preference of the look in the end. I was thinking it was more modern to use the shoe moulding...not that our house is historical looking or anything.

Then more questions about the painting. DH has a sprayer and lots of experience painting and does a great finish. I know there have been a few "tight" fit places (behind the toilet, etc) that he has prepainted the baseboards and then installed. Generally he has preferred to install, prime, then caulk and sand, fill in nail holes and then finish paint. I'm concerned about the finished paint quality if painting all prior to installing. DH does a great job, but I'm sure not as good as a full timer professional (shhhh). He himself has said caulk is his best friend.

Thank you!!!!

So after laying ours... There were places where the drywall was "high" and you could assume the 1/2" of drywall space would take up part of the 3/4 expansion gap. But in our house the majority of areas wouldn't allow us to consider this as part of the 3/4 expansion area because the drywall was too low and close to the subfloor. What you don't want is to assume you can go less than 3/4" because let's say it does expand...a bunch then it will push your wall. In extreme cases, lets say you have a water problem and sever swelling then you can push a whole wall out. Not good. I was under the assumption that our baseboards were 1/2" but they are not even that thick, so we will be using quarter round or shoe moulding of some shape. One look I have seen that is kinda cool is to stain the shoe moulding to match the flooring instead of painting it to match baseboards. To me this kinda fools the eye making it look more a part of the flooring instead of the wall.

Jen

First of all, I have to say you and your DH are amazing in your perseverance! Both of you have full time jobs whether yours is outside the home or not so the fact that either one of you has the energy to tackle house projects is the gift of youth!!! I do remember those days but they are fleeting :-/

So....looking at pictures online, it appears that base shoe has fallen out of favor a bit in new builds because it's a cleaner look, but it certainly hasn't disappeared altogether. And in older homes I think it's almost a given. As Jen said, floors first then baseboards.

I did the baseboards after the wood floor in my old house. Didn't end up having a choice in this one and really wish I hadn't been in the hospital when it all went down.

I prefer no shoe molding and if your drywall isn't all the way to the floor you should have plenty of space for the expansion gap and putting baseboard on top. But only if you can still have the floor go under the drywall some or you will have a gap.

Most baseboards even if using 1xsomething flat stock is not wide enough. 1x is 3/4" so a 3/4" gap would mean it would be right on the edge and you'd likely have gaps. Pre-fab baseboards are thinner than that.