Do you remember that I mentioned in this post that I had a bunch of upcoming DIY projects to share? Well, it is time for the sharing to commence! Before I do, let me just say that I am a DIY junkie. I could spend all day, every day working on projects. Painting, sewing, building, crafting, designing, I love it all. It is my drug of choice! Nothing leaves me quite as excited or fulfilled as another successful project completed. But like any addiction I often have to reign things in or I start to neglect the things that really matter to me like people, and food, and sleep.
Also, I get so excited to dive into a project that I forget to take pictures along the way, and there are so many great tutorials out there that most of what I’m doing isn’t anything new. However, I do like to take something that inspires me and put my own stamp on it. What that usually means is that I love something, I come up with an idea to incorporate it into my home, and then I find the least expensive way to do it. Things change all along the way as I find different products or my imagination heads in a different direction. It is an exhilarating, but sometimes frustrating process that I go through again and again. I have had lots of failures and a few successes along the way.
My motivation in sharing my projects is to remind all of us (myself especially) that messing up is inevitable, perfection is impossible, and nothing is really ever finished. But that space between that first idea and the final product is an amazing process that you don’t want to miss.
Okay, done rambling and really ready to share. Today’s DIY Change: a ceiling fan redo.
For the rest of the project, click on Read More…
This was one of those super easy, and inexpensive changes. I’ve been updating my loft, but on a very tight budget that has mostly involved rearranging and painting furniture. Completely changing the lighting was not in the budget and the loft needs a ceiling fan to help circulate the air through the house. So the ceiling fan needed to remain, but not entirely in its original form. This is what it looked like before I started…
Typical and boring! I was planning on painting it a really bright color, but it didn’t quite feel right. So I waited and searched and was finally inspired by Erin’s blog background. I love the chalky-looking black background and the thin lines in the white triangles are perfect.
Once I found some inspiration, the rest was easy. I just dismantled and cleaned the fan, sprayed the fan blades with FLAT black paint for a matte finish, and added the white triangles with a white Sharpie Mean Streak. It makes really precise lines, and the white covered the black paint really well. I added the triangles randomly, sometimes copying Erin’s patterns and sometimes doing my own thing. I also added a few more triangles to each blade, and kept most of the triangles towards the end…no reason, but it felt right so I went with it
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Once I had the blades finished and they were dry I reattached them to the fan and started looking for something different to cover the lights…I really hate those frilly, glass covers. I lucked out one day when wandering through Home Depot and found a light fixture on clearance for $25 that was specifically meant for ceiling fans. It looked a bit like vintage Schoolhouse light meets Art Deco light and I can definitely live with that combo. I also managed to get $25 out of my little budget, so I bought it, my husband wired it for me, and now I have a newish ceiling fan.
I’m still not sure about the brassy parts. I actually like the brass color, just not the design. I’ll think about that for a while and see if any ideas come. Meanwhile, I love the way the blades turned out and the light is so much better than what I had before.
Hooray for easy, inexpensive, and stylish changes!
THINGS CHANGE! 
Love, love , love the light fixture. You are really something special, girl!