Sawdust Girl®

Renovation, cabinet building and woodworking plans and tutorials. Build like a Girl®

I’m not a FAN

All Posts

Want to know what I think about at O-dark-thirty when I should be sleeping but can’t because there are too many projects that I need to start and finish and I want them all done immediately but know it’ll take years?  Lately I’ve been thinking about ceiling fans.

I’ll just be blunt.  I don’t love ceiling fans.  I think they’re generally … not that attractive.   I’ll remove them from the living areas but we generally have them running at night in the bedrooms during the sweltering summer months.  (Even though the sound of the whooshing blades makes me slightly motion sick.)  It’s just too hot to get rid of them.  What are you gonna’ do?

I’ve been looking for most attractive options.

This is the one I’d buy if I were a gazillionaire!

Yeah, you saw that right:  $6000 for a ceiling fan light!  I’m so in LOVE with it though.  To bad I’m not a gazillionaire.  🙁

 

This one is kind of cool.  It’s too industrial/modern for my home but my brain wants to look at it as the beginning to a DIY’d version of that first light.  I know, completely crazy!

 

 

I just don’t know…maybe something like this.  It’s simple,and unobtrusive.

 

 

It’s no Casablanca, but who can afford that thing?

 

What are your thoughts on ceiling fans?  Has anyone ever DIY’d a ceiling fan?  Is that completely crazy?  It’s getting harder and harder for me to discern the “Realistic – Crazy” ideas from the Crazy – Crazy” ones.

·

Comments

  1. Ceiling fans are pretty ugly (although I like the Savoy House model you posted), but I’m so grateful for them anyway. We just put one in our family room, and we’ve been able to raise the temp on the AC thermostat four degrees, which should save us some money this summer. Designers might hate ’em, but I just can’t care about that. I choose cool air over beauty in this case!

  2. Sandra, I feel ya on the great ceiling fan debate. It took me forever to attempt to find one that I somewhat liked with out breaking the bank. But in Florida you must have ceiling fans in all rooms. Their is no ifs, ands, or buts about it! You just have to find one that you like a smidge more than the rest! lol.

    • I hear you, that cool air does make a big difference. Since I’ve been on the search, I have discovered literally thousands of choices. Sadly, I’ve only found a few that I even remotely like. (and less that are affordable. I guess I just choose the one that I dislike the least. LOL)

  3. The “candle” one above scares me, even if it is LED – it still screams “FIRE! FIRE!” 🙂
    We have a fan in our bedroom and I love it. The comfort outweighs the lack of style. But the Euro sleek one above is really nice!

    • Hmmm, interesting. Knowing the “candles” are LED and attached to the base takes all the “fire” screaming out of my head. I do like that Eruo one too and since it’s actually affordable…

      We’ll see what I end up with.

  4. I love them. I don’t care if they’re ugly, we can’t live without them. I think even if we got a fancy home makeover from HGTV the ceiling fans would go right back up as soon as the designers were out the door. I’m still waiting for a great diy-er to do an easy to replicate tutorial for a huge drum shade to hide any ceiling fan. (wink wink, nudge nudge.) 🙂

    • Not a DIY but close to what you mentioned! |1&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_qty_sales_dollar%7C1&facetInfo=

      • What? Lisa you totally found a drum shade ceiling fan. You rock! I don’t know if I love it but I definitely want to see it up close and personal!

      • I know, I’d like to check it out as well. After reading reviews, as in everything, some love it, some hate it. It’s just personal preference of course. The common theme however, is that you just feel the “breeze” directly underneath the fixture.

  5. You should check out Lowe’s. They’ve got several in-store that are a bit more unique, and lots of special order that are. This one is in my store and I think it’s a nice compromise for people who want the function of the fan, but don’t like the look of your basic ceiling fan. |1&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_qty_sales_dollar%7C1&facetInfo=

    • Hmm… my link is showing up a bit wonky, so not sure if you can see it. It is ITEM # 331091 (Allen Roth Eastview Aged Bronze).

      • Marcie I actually saw that one when I was in IL shopping with my friend for some lighting. I don’t love it but was thinking maybe I could … you know… kind of turn it into something else. LOL

        Thanks for the link. (No idea why it looks wonky but it worked!)

        • I absolutely think a person could do something with that type of fan. Well, YOU could anyway! I think the fans that don’t have traditional blades (like the Casablanca you posted and the Lowe’s fan I posted) have the best chance for altering. I know we’ve tried to do some altering to traditional ceiling fans and we had issues with the alterations causing the unit to be unbalanced and for the life of us we couldn’t get it back in balance. As handy as you are, I’m betting you could take something similar to the $300 Lowe’s fan and use the bones of it to make it look like the $6000 Casablanca fan! Sounds like a fun challenge!!

        • LOL thanks for the vote of confidence! I just don’t know if I can bring myself to pay $300 knowing it might have to be trashed (’cause it might not work). I want to find a yard sale fan…the trouble is these new designs are so new I doubt I’ll be finding one any time soon. We’ll see!

  6. Sandra- I hated the ceiling fan in my living room from the time I moved here, but a new one was not in the budget. Late one night I climbed up on a chair and took all the blades off and the ugly glass globes too. I spray painted the blades a dark brown- they were white, and sprayed the globes with a frosted spray. For about $8.00 I had a completely new look. I still would like to replace it but it doesn’t bother me like it used to.
    I’m interested to see what you come up with.

    • Painting is a good, inexpensive option if the design is ok. My fans have bell lights hanging down under the blades. I can’t work with that. They make me cringe. LOL

  7. I am with you. It is not even the look of one so much (the one in our bedroom is pretty nice I guess) but the whooshing noise that drives me crazy! It is just so irritating going around and around and….my husband would love to use it alot here in hot and humid MO but allows me to get my way–sweet, ha? Isn’t that why we have AC?? I think a DYI is not the way to go. Again–I sometimes come up with the craziest ideas and then go “really?” So many other “do-able” things on my list. Besides, do you really walk around with your head up all the time?

    • I have way too many more important things on my to-do list right now to DIY a fan but I’m keeping it on the back burner for later on. Even if just to SEE if I can DIY a fan. Because I’m not usually one to walk away from a challenge. LOL

  8. I also am not a fan of the fans , but I do think we need them for the summer months. I recently found simple ones by Monte Carlo , I bought one online and I just love it . It is so simple not light , mostly I hate the cheese ball lights. Who designs those.

    • LOL Cheese ball lights. I don’t know…that just made me laugh! We do need them in the summer. Just in the bedrooms in our house. Maybe it’s how the air is directed to certain parts of the house but I actually have to wear a light sweater lots of the time because I have goose bumps …but Wes and Madison are just fine. But when it’s REALLY hot, it’s so nice to have that cool air while you try to fall asleep.

  9. What do you think about this one? |1&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_qty_sales_dollar%7C1&facetInfo=

  10. Just a thought…some fans run quieter than others, so maybe you just need a different brand?
    I’m one of the “don’t care if it’s ugly” people…we have VERY tall ceilings and without our ceiling fans, we’d freeze in the winter and melt in the summer.

    • It’s not that our fans are loud, I can barely hear the motor at all. But with my propensity to get Vertigo and motion sickness (refer to my snorkeling in Cancun story), I can’t take much. But, we aren’t getting rid of them so I have to deal with it. I just want to like how it looks if I have to stomach how it makes me feel. LOL

  11. I’m so with you on the love hate relationship with my ceiling fans. I have laid in bed many a night trying to figure out how to make them better.

    • Check out the Drum Shade Fan link Lisa E linked to! It’s only $399 and it’s a drum shade over the fan (as far as I can see from the picture). I’m totally checking that one out.

  12. I love the sound of my ceiling fans! We live about a mile from a railroad track and the ceiling fans dampen the train noise considerably.

    Not the look you’re going for, but I think this one is cool (in the distressed koa or liquid nickel):

    http://www.ylighting.com/mnk-f803.html

    • I used to live near railroad tracks too! 🙂 I got used to the sound but it would rattle the pictures and then they’d hang crooked on the walls. LOL

      I actually looked at that fan. I thought it was cool in the chrome with clear blades. Pretty modern/retro! Is that ever an oximoron!

  13. Wow Deb. That’s scary! This is a cool fan. I’ve been seeing a lot of this type. I was wondering if the fans stay in one place or if they kind of rotate around? I’m so visual, I want to SEE exactly how it moves when it’s turned on.

    • The fans rotate and you have your choice of speeds, high, med, low. You can position the individual fans in any direction to get optimal air flow. There are several sizes and I plan on getting the smaller one for our bedroom. I like that they come in the bronze and nickel finishes, with or without the light.

  14. Wait until you start having hot flashes, Girlfriends. Trust me…. you will never sleep, even in the dead of winter, without your ceiling fan on in your bedroom. Just a little air movement can make all the difference between sleeping and a homicide involving your spouse.

  15. I love to have powerful ceiling fans on my home since they are needed for proper ventilation.’

Legal Stuff

Terms of Use

Privacy Policy

Disclosure

Recent Posts

Disclaimer:

Although it is my intention to provide accurate plans and clear instructions, not all plans have been tried and tested. Using plans or information found on SawdustGirl.com indicates that you agree with the Terms of Use policy and will accept full responsibility for the process and outcome of any project you attempt. All plans are for private use only. Plans and information published on SawdustGirl.com may not be reproduced, republished or distributed in any manner without written permission from Sandra Powell, Sawdust Girl. Actual projects built using Sawdust Girl plans may be published on your own site without instructions or "tutorial" as long as you provide a link to my original post with full post title or "SawdustGirl.com" as link title.