How to paint your Kitchen Aid mixer

I've wanted a Kitchen Aid mixer for a long time, but if you are anything like me, maybe you don't want to spend a few hundred dollars on a small kitchen appliance.

So it was bittersweet when I was at my parent's house and my dad told me to take my mom's mixer home because he knew I wanted one. He was right, I did want one, but taking my mom's things from their house is hard.  I brought the mixer home and it sat on my bedroom floor for the next three weeks before I brought it out to my kitchen to look it over a few days ago.

I'm not exactly sure how old this mixer is, but it's old. My mom received it as a hand me down several years ago- and it was already old then! It's actually in pretty great shape, with just some small scratches and nicks, but its white paint was old and worn and needed an update.  So I started looking around online at what I needed to do to make this shiny and new again, got a couple of supplies and started working as soon as Summer went down for a nap.

Here it is before:

First,  I got a "fine" sanding block and a "paint + primer" can of spray paint in a pretty soft yellow. I unscrewed anything I could take off, like the back piece by the motor, or the metal plate, etc.

Next, I sanded down the mixer just enough to take the shiny/glossy coat off of the mixer.

Then, I used tape to tape everything else I didn't want to get paint on. (Except my cord! Don't forget to tape the cord!) And finally, I started spraying.

Now I'll be the first to admit that I'm no spray paint expert. After my paint dried I had a few spots that didn't get covered good enough, or that got too much and the paint ran. Those spots that ran I used the sanding block on and flattened out and then later resprayed.  And though I'm no expert, I think I did a pretty great job! It was a little intimidating at first but was actually a pretty quick and easy job, and I'm glad I did it.

So what do you think? How did I do?

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