And also, I have the best. husband. ever. Such a great husband that at almost-midnight last night when I'd finished the fan and it was ready for hanging - he kindly stayed up and helped me hang it (aka hung it because I don't want to climb up high ladder with heavy fan) so I could have the satisfaction of finishing! And I loooove it. It really looks like a new fan, but cost just $40!
I couldn't stop gloating over its gorgeous wood and dark metal last night.
Yes I still have to caulk that beam...but I couldn't wait to share about the fan!
All in all it was a pretty fun and simple project. I took the fan apart, taking lots of photos to remember how everything went, spraypainted the metal to Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze (of COURSE), and sanded/stained/sealed the wood blades:
The blades were MDF, painted white on one side and had some kind of faux-wood finish on the other side, but when I sanded those off it turned out that each side has a nice thin layer of wood that could be stained! So I just sanded carefully so I didn't sand *through* that layer, and it worked great. I love the somewhat-irregular look of true wood grain so much more than the fake-wood finish. Ahh.
We went to Lowes to figure out what we could use to replace the light - turns out the light part of a ceiling fan can be replaced separately, and is called a "ceiling fan light kit". We didn't really like the selection at Lowes and Home Depot, so I hopped online with my new knowledge and looked for a "ceiling fan light kit" and found one that we liked, for $32.99+free shipping on ebay.
I learned this year that people call those lights that come down with a point on the end 'boob lights' - haha - so we picked one without as pointy a tip; apparently those are trending right now. I like the modern look of it.
Yum! Seriously, who knew it could be this easy?! I am giving suggestive glances to the fan in our bedroom now...perhaps it should be next...?
We can hardly believe it's the same fan! And total cost = $32.99 for light + $7 for ORB spraypaint. Score.
of COURSE
ReplyDeleteRustoleum's ORB! HAHA, Love it!
Nice! Wish I could pay you to come do all the fans in our house -they are so ugly, but so convenient. :)
ReplyDeleteRight?!! I can't get over that stuff. Hehee.
ReplyDeleteAren't they convenient!! When we moved in I initially wanted to replace them with lights, but we use them allll the time. Yes wish I could pop over and do yours! They really don't take long to do! I guess the wood blades took the longest. But could also just paint the blades black - that was going to be my backup plan ;)
ReplyDeleteIt turned out very pretty...!!!
ReplyDeleteHow did you get way up there....????!!!????
Thanks Crystelle!! I got husband to take it down and put it up - and it turned out that inside the light box top thing was a hook you can hang the light on while screwing/unscrewing. Without that hook it would have been a whole lot harder!!
ReplyDeleteI love how your fan turned out! And that's coming from the gal who posted about painting my ceiling fan white this week ;-D: http://www.prettyhandygirl.com/2012/09/update-your-ceiling-fan-with-paint.html I'm sharing your's with my FB and Twitter fans.
ReplyDeleteYeah maybe in the spring, we can take all the blades and repaint. Darker blades do just look cooler.
ReplyDeleteCooler, get it!? It's true, I'm still totally enjoying the new fan look!
ReplyDeleteThanks Brittany!! I loved seeing your ceiling fan - you're really good at the picture-taking part! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThe fan looks absolutely great! It’s actually a million times better than how it looked before. The new colors of the blades provide a great contrast to the stark white of the ceiling. And, the nippled light fixture is definitely “in” these days, so you made a great choice with yours. Great job!
ReplyDeleteStaci Severns