Ceiling Fan Makeover

Thank you. 

My readers... 

you. are. amazing.

First and foremost, I have been the biggest slob kabob lately...

And for that, I offer my deepest and most sincere apologies.

I've neglected this blog, and I should be ashamed of myself.

And I am.

But...

To ALL of my readers who left me sweet, encouraging comments...cheering me on and motivating me to get back to what I love... Thank you.

Seriously. Thank YOU.

I saw each comment you left, and it warmed this little momma's heart.

You, yes, YOU...simply ROCK.

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Okay, moving forward!

.................

Let's talk ceiling fans, shall we?

They are practical, functional...some would even say essential (me, me, ME!)

But, from a design point of view.... not so very pleasing to the eye.

I mean, when I'm scrolling through the 'Home' section of Pinterest or Houzz, and I see these gorgeous living rooms featuring stunning light fixtures... and then I look at my basic, oh-so-stark, ordinary little ceiling fan...

I get straight up 'light fixture' envy =\

So, you might ask... Why not trade in the humble 'ol ceiling fan for a smashing, swag-tastic chandy?

Good question...and I have my reason(s).

I. Just. Can't.

I can't give up the functionality of my trusty ceiling fan. My living room ceiling is vaulted, and without that 'aesthetically unattractive machine' doing its job, the air flow in there would be terr-i-ble.

I'm afraid it's function over fancy this time, ladies! (& gents?)

But... I have to believe that I'm not the only person out there who has dealt with this dilemma..

So, I set out to try and solve this problem...for myself...and for YOU!

:)

I wanted to have the best of both worlds...function and fancy!

Okay, maybe not 'fancy'...

But, at the very least, interesting!

I did some online research....(ahem, I totally just typed in 'ceiling fan chandelier' into the Google search bar...)

...and to my complete shock, found quite a few 'ceiling fan chandeliers'

So exciting, right?!

Yea, totally... if the price tags on these beauties hadn't been the equivalent of buying a seat on the Virgin Galactic!

But despite my shock and horror at the ridiculous price tags... I was inspired to come up with a DIY way to dress up my fan... on the cheap cheap!

And here's a little before and after...

Ummm so yeah... this picture was taken like 5 minutes after we moved in... and obviously a LOT has changed in this room since then.... and you can >barely< see the fan...

But the sad truth is, I totally forgot to snap a before picture... and this truly is the ONLY picture I had of the fan 'pre-makeover.'

So, unfortunately, it will have to do =\

BUT... here's the after!

 

So let me give you a quick rundown of this makeover.

In the before picture, you can see that the fan was previously black... and fortunately enough, I discovered that the flip side of each blade was a much lighter, neutral wood tone. 

Score!

Otherwise... I was ready to break out some paint on this baby.

Also, you'll notice in the before picture that there was no orb 'thingy' attached to said fan.

That, my friends, was made by me for FREE.

That's right.

Free!

I used twine, Mod Podge and a beach ball... all of which I had on hand :)

If you don't have these things on hand, no worries! This project is still super affordable.

Here is a great tutorial on how to make the orb by The Design Pages.

After my orb was dry and ready to be added to the fan, I cut an opening at the top big enough to fit the glass light shades in (I left the light shades on because I was a little nervous about having the twine right up against a light.)

I was worried that gravity and the warmth from the bulbs would cause my orb to go a bit limp... but after about 3 months of having the orb up, it's still holding up great!

And if she ever starts looking sad... I'll just make a replacement!

Still SO much cheaper than going out and buying a whole new 'fancy fan.'

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So there ya have it folks!

a cheap and quick fix for a boring fan :)