{"id":169135,"date":"2014-02-11T04:00:02","date_gmt":"2014-02-11T11:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/?p=169135"},"modified":"2023-10-26T11:07:50","modified_gmt":"2023-10-26T17:07:50","slug":"before-and-after-a-6-ceiling-fan-makeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/before-and-after-a-6-ceiling-fan-makeover\/","title":{"rendered":"Before and after: A $6 ceiling fan makeover"},"content":{"rendered":"
Being a homeowner is expensive.<\/p>\n
Correction: <\/strong><\/em>Being a homeowner who wants to tear out and replace everything in the house is expensive.<\/p>\n But my home is also my hobby. It’s one of those expenses that falls into the “needs list” (shelter)and<\/em> the “wants list” (my complete kitchen remodel). Living in aesthetically pleasing surroundings puts me at ease almost as much as a really mean massage, the kind where they throw elbows.<\/p>\n So, possibly you don’t identify with that. Possibly you totally understand where I’m coming from. Either way, I had a situation, and I needed a frugal solution.<\/p>\n Here’s the deal: My three ceiling fans were ugly as all get-out. <\/strong>And I had to look at one of them every morning when I woke up and every evening before I fell asleep — and all day long while I worked.<\/p>\n But I didn’t want to buy three new fans. For one thing, the fans I have are made by a good brand and they work well. They’re also in great condition. So I certainly didn’t want to replace three perfectly functional fans with cheaper models.<\/p>\n But I also didn’t want to spend the money on three high-quality fans purely for aesthetic reasons. For instance, I liked this fan<\/a> from Restoration Hardware, but it was $329. So let’s do the math:<\/p>\n 3 fans x $329 per fan = Not gonna happen!<\/strong><\/p>\n I have a long list of house projects that I’d rather spend that money on, and ceiling fans aren’t at the top of that list. So I continued to glare at these fans, trying to figure out what to do with them. Leave them alone and just replace the fans later? Give them an Extreme Fan Makeover?<\/p>\n I decided that they couldn’t look any worse, so a makeover it was.<\/p>\n Using the Restoration Hardware fan as a guide, I came up with a game plan to transform my ceiling fans.<\/p>\n I saw that the blades were lighter on the other side, so one thing I wanted to do was flip them to the lighter side. Then, to address the lights, I found a low-profile ceiling fan light kit at Lowe’s for $50, and paid for it with a Christmas gift card. (Thanks, Aunt Susan!) By the way, I recently saw simple light kits for as low as $20. Then I bought a can of Valspar Metallic spray paint ($6), and I was ready to get started.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n (Note:<\/strong> I forgot to take a “before” picture of the ceiling fan I worked on, but since I have three of these bad boys, I snapped a pic of one of the other fans.)<\/p>\n If you’re interested in doing something similar, here’s how I executed the plan.<\/p>\n First, I cut the electricity to the master bedroom, cause I really didn’t want to end up like this guy. The expert at Lowe’s said, “Turn electricity off at the fuse box, check to make sure it’s off with a voltage tester, and flip the wall switch in the room to the off position. If in doubt, you can always hire an electrician.”<\/p>\n Next, I got a ladder and a husband. It doesn’t have to be a husband, but it helps to have a second pair of hands. Fans aren’t all that heavy, but they are unwieldy. Another tip from Lowe’s Fan Expert Guy: “If you can, remove the fan blades before taking down the fan unit and put them back on after reinstalling it. It makes it a lot easier to handle the fan.” Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible for us, so while my husband unscrewed the screws (I couldn’t reach!), I held onto the fan.<\/p>\n Although the fan base was no longer attached to the ceiling, the wires were still attached. So we disconnected those, being careful to not let the fan hang by the wires.<\/p>\n Then we took the fan into the garage and started figuring out how to take the entire thing apart. First, we removed the old light kit and set it aside. From there, we continued taking the fan apart until it was in a whole bunch of pieces. Don’t be intimidated by my handyman jargon, guys. The inside of the fan was full of dust (gross!) so we cleaned every piece and took the metal parts outside. I also opened the new light kit and took the metal rim outside.<\/p>\n We placed all of the metal parts on a large piece of cardboard, and I used painter’s tape and an old t-shirt to wrap parts like the motor and wires — things that should not be painted.<\/p>\n Then I spray-painted the metal pieces with two thin and even coats of Valspar Metallic in Brushed Nickel.<\/p>\n<\/span>The plan<\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/span>How to give your ceiling fan an overhaul<\/span><\/h2>\n
<\/span>How to paint a ceiling fan<\/span><\/h2>\n