We are so close to the end of the spring One Room Challenge! I cannot wait to show you our completed reading room. It’s turning out exactly as I had envisioned and we are already enjoying the space.
This week we installed the ceiling fan for the room so I thought I’d share some tips and tricks that might help if you have one on the to do list soon. This post is sponsored by Destination Lighting. I’m so thankful they’re working with me for this room makeover. All words and chipped fingernail polish are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support House Homemade.
I know most designers would have picked a gorgeous, show stopping light fixture for our space. I love those too but our rooms are designed for practicality and without ceiling fans, Texas summers (which can start as early as May and last until sometimes October) can be practically miserable without some air moving from above. You won’t see me design a living space or bedroom in our home without one…
For the reading room I picked the Hunter Dempsey fan with a light kit in matte black. I wanted something a little more masculine for the space and wanted to include the modern black hardware look found in the lighting and door knobs around the rest of the downstairs.
Plus, the little bit of added light for a room meant for reading never hurt anyone.
Now, here’s the deal with these more modern fan styles. They have remotes, they have receivers, they have to be put together in a certain way and in a certain order. With older fans you hook up the wires and mount it and then the blades and stuff can be assembled from the ground. With these fans, everything happens above your head while installing.
First Tip: make sure you have someone helping you. This is definitely a two person job unless you have magical powers or a third hand.
These are nice, heavy fans. They need to be mounted to a stud or a plate that is mounted to a stud.
We actually had to install a bigger box into the ceiling because the light before wasn’t near as heavy duty as this fan. The fan bracket didn’t even fit onto that old box.
Second tip: Keep all the parts in their packaging. Each package is labeled and corresponds to the manual.
The next thing I did to make life a little harder? I chose to use the shortest down rod they offered.
I wanted the ceiling fan to be as close to the ceiling as possible so I switched out the sort of short one with the really short one. There are instructions in the manual and I’m glad I did it but the problem is, once again, you have to work above your head with the fan hanging from the bracket. With the shortest down rod, you can barely fit everything where is needs to go.
Because I was worried that would be a problem, I held the fan up with my super strong muscles while Joel made the proper wire connections. Then we had to get the whole fan over and into the bracket all with the receiver above it. Tip number three: The receiver has a thinner end and a thicker end. Make sure the thinner end is the end where the fan down rod has to be installed. I realize now that if we had done it like the instructions had said and didn’t try to problem solve ourselves, this might not have been an issue because putting the receiver in on top is probably a whole lot easier than shoving the fan into place at the end….It’s almost as if Hunter thought of these things beforehand and that’s why you should follow the instructions step by step….
Once the hard part was done, we attached the canopy to the bracket, and then installed the fan blades. There aren’t any of those d shaped metal pieces that hold the blades. Instead its so pretty and modern. The blades come right out of the fan casing.
The blades are double sided. The black side is dark, dark wood grain and then the other side is a warm dark brown stain.They’re both pretty but I wanted a more monochromatic look.
There’s another piece that gets installed, then the panel for the lighting.
I love the glass shade it comes with. It’s sleek and modern looking. It just twists right into place, no hardware involved.
It’s one of the last things on the to do list for the room. I’m so thankful to Destination Lighting for supplying it. You should go check them out. Not only did they supply the cranbrook fan for our playroom ORC
but they carry the Ashleigh light that I used in the bathroom makeover
and the Audrey light from the laundry room reno.
As for the One Room Challenge, things are allllllmost done. I just painted the Ikea (west elm knock off ) dresser I told you about a couple weeks ago.
Here are a couple unstyled sneak peaks.
Now, for the to-do list:
remove carpet
clean up concrete floors
prime and paint the baseboards
paint the walls
make shelves- the hubs
stain shelves
install shelves -the hubs
hang rods and curtains
hem curtains
install lights
install the fan
figure out wall art situation
make dresser pulls
diy table
figure out pillow covers for the chairs
cover louvered doors
sew throw pillow covers
style shelves
shoot reveal pics
As always, thank you to my sponsors for seeing my vision. You won’t be sorry! : )
Thanks for reading, friends!
