Before and After Party: Buh bye ceiling fan

Hello there! Welcome to the October Before and After Par-tay!

So…I got nothin’ against ceiling fans. Really. We have three of them in our house. Well – now two. :)

We’ve always had one in our bedroom -- we hand picked it when we built the house:

And pretty much since the first week we lived here, I’ve wanted to take it down. :)

We used to use it fairly often, but over the past few years, it’s made hubby and I both feel like we have a cold the next day if we have it on all night – so we haven’t used it in a long time.

So…for a few months now I’ve been planning to replace it with a gorgeous new chandelier. But I have no gorgeous chandelier. DANG!!

And the Dave Ramsey plan (that’s WORKING, by the way!!) makes it so we need to pick and choose our splurges, so it wasn’t really on the horizon anytime soon.

And then…while I was working on the basement a couple of weeks ago, I moved a light fixture I’ve had forever around about 20 times before it hit me. DUH.

Why don’t I use this?:

I got it from our local Habitat for Humanity Restore at least a year ago – maybe even longer. I didn’t know for sure where I’d use it, but it was BIG and only $22, so I just couldn’t pass it up.

I wasn’t crazy about the finish, but I figured a coat of paint would help that:

I knew I could totally make it work! Whooeee! And since I bought it forever ago, that made it FREE! According to my way of thinking anyway. :)

So I set it up in my fancy spray paint station in the garage, (a.k.a hanging it on a hook with a sheet behind it), and covered it with one coat of basic black spray paint from my local True Value:

If you’re like me, you get spray paint finger pretty easily. To prevent my hands from turning into claws, I’ve used a few different spray paint handles over the years. But they never work great -- I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been spraying something and the can falls right out of the handle. Drives me batty!!

I saw this one at the True Value and decided to give it a try:

I LOVE it! I don’t know how it’s different, but I didn’t have one issue with it. The can stayed put the whole time (and every other time I’ve used it). LOVE.

My sweet Dad came over and helped me hang this one. I had never taken a ceiling fan down before and wasn’t sure which wires would go with what. Because the light fixture didn’t come with any of the usual accessories needed, we got a crossbar to hang it:

And a new canopy as well (that I still need to paint black!):

True Value also had some frosted bulbs that I wanted to try:

And after a quick coat of spray paint and some help from my awesome Dad, we had the new light up in record time:

Don’t you love the frosted glass on those bulbs? I think I may change out the lights in our dining room fixture to these too – I just love them. It makes the light just a bit softer.

Dad must be my good luck charm, cause this one was up in no time flat! Seriously, I think start to finish, it took us about 15 minutes.

And I LOVE it!:

It’s not the blingy, crystally (word?) chandelier I’ve been dreaming of, but for now, it works beautifully. I may raise it just a tiny bit more, so it doesn’t complete with the canopy rails (which are staying because my hubby loves them).

Because it’s on a dimmer (I had the fan light on one), it’s super bright turned all the way up:

Like, surface of the sun, bright. :)

But most of the time it’s turned down:

Sigh. Dimmers rock. Try them – you won’t be sorry. (They are so easy to install – check out my post here to find out how to do it.)

So here’s this month’s before and after! The ceiling fan before:

With the previous bedding, lamps and drapes.

And the after, with the new bedding and some fab drapes for a steal at JCPenney's:

One of my lovely readers, Missy, gave me a heads up about these drapes. The are only $12.99 each -- even for the longer lengths! I wasn’t sure the color would work, but I ordered them because of that price. Turns out the color is perfect!

They are reversible too – and the buffalo check side is gorgeous, it just was a bit too country for this room. I’m going to add a liner behind them so they are more solid during the day, and maybe a little detail to bring in some cream – not sure about that yet.

You can find the drapes here – but I think this is the only color left.

Ohhh, I almost forgot! Did you catch the Nate Berkus show today? It was “our” episode! Proof I was there:

(I’m in the back in the purple sweater. See Rhoda next to me?)

That’s me nodding, saying “YES Nate, you are adorable. And YES I would be happy to come on your show! And YES Nate, I know I am dreaming!”

:)

I totally zoomed in on this shot…but still. COOL!

Alrighty, let’s see your before and afters! Please remember to link to your post, not your blog. I’ll keep the linky open till next Monday evening, so feel free to join in!

*I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.*