Black and White Obsession: Not a Fan of Your Current Fan? Redo It! from the Fearless DIYer Mandy

I’d like to extend a big welcome to Mandy from The Unhinged Home. She has this ridiculous ability to bring new life to ordinary things like these Nautical Flags made from MDF. I’m happy to have her here at Black and White Obsession. Today, she’s here to share how to update an old fan.

Enough of my blabbering, on with the show…

Hello Back and White Obsession readers! I’m Mandy from The Unhinged Home! I blog about all things D.I.Y. around the house and more. I’m excited to share with you guys my ceiling fan redo that I did back in July. The best part? It cost me less than $10 to do!

First of all here are some before shots:

Notice the the oak? I’m not a fan of oak (get it fan?.... the post is about a fan? Clever isn’t it... no?). If you like oak wood then good for you, I just find it super 90’s? I feel old saying that like the 90’s is bygone era, but it is. So this fan and your beanie baby collection need to move on.

I didn’t want to buy a new fan because I would rather spend $100 on something cooler than a fan (fans also make you cooler... I’m full of puns today, I’ll stop now). So I thought I could try to give it a makeover and if it ends up terrible, at that point I would buy another one.

Here are the steps for the fan’s makeover.

Step 1: I carefully took down the bulb covers and washed and dried them in the sink. Once they were dry I took them outside and sprayed them down with some white spray paint.

Step 2: Head back to the kitchen and take out every screw you see on the fan. Maybe not every screw, just the ones that look like they are attaching things. It only took me about 15 minutes to have all the pieces down.

Step 3: Wash everything off, there will be dust. Unless you dust your fan every other day. In that case give yourself a pat on the back and skip step 3.

Step 4: This step like step 3 is optional. I wanted my fan blades to be a darker wood like my floors and cabinets. I was lucky enough to discover that my fan blades had a different wood color on the opposite side. If you were not as lucky, you can sand down the blades and then paint or stain them the color you want.

Step 5: lay out all the pieces to the fan on a board and tape up anything that you do not want painted, then get to painting. I painted over the gold with a bronze colored spray paint.

Step 6: Let everything dry over night and then reinstall it the next day.

Doesn't the fan look refreshed?! I kind of wish I would have chosen more of an oil rubble bronze to paint the fan so it would be a little bit darker, but overall I think it is a fantastic change.

You could always paint or stain the fan in any colors you would like based on your room. Maybe even make your own unique fan blades? I might be getting ahead of myself there.

Here is a before and after shot:

Hope this inspires some great ideas!

For a full rundown on how she made this update possible, check out her original post here.

Don’t you just want to give a little update to your existing fans? Who's ready to admit they still have a beanie baby collection? Oh wait those went bye bye at a garage sale in 2006. I'm sure I'll regret that decision when beanie babies are worth $15,000 a pop.