Refab a Ceiling Fan

This Thursday, I thought I'd revisit my ceiling fan project from when we first moved in our house in 2012. In terms of decor, I think ceiling fans are sort of hideous. I'd much rather have a glamorous chandelier in every room. However, we have the fans on so much in the summer, they have become almost a necessity. After doing some research, I discovered you could switch out just the light portion of a fan much like you would replace a fixture in another area of your house.

I already had a light that I picked up at a thrift store for a few bucks. I can't find a "before" picture of it, but it looks similar to this one:

Obviously, I was interested in spray painting and keeping the candelabra part, not the outer glass part. But, a ceiling fan with a long compact "chandelier" sticking out the bottom would definitely look odd. I like the look of chandeliers with drum shades around them. I was also starting to see people put drum shades over the lights on their ceiling fans. I decided to combine both!
 
Here is what I started with:

I unscrewed all the blades, the bottom, and the light, and spray painted everything that was brass a nice glossy white (after turning off the breaker, of course). 

It turns out the set of three lights (A) unscrews from the bottom cap piece (B) that attaches to the fixture. I was able to slip a drum shade over the new light (C) and screw it into the cap piece (B) ready to attach back to the fan. (How often does stuff work out so smoothly?)

I added some magnetic shade charms from Hobby Lobby to make it seem a little more like a chandelier.

I had to make sure the chain that controlled the light was pulled "on" before I shut off power and dismantled things because I just tucked it inside when I attached the new light. (We have a switch to control the light and a separate one to control the fan, so I never miss it).

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Boob light on Remodelaholic

Hey, everyone! I'm guest blogging about my "boob" light project over on Remodelaholic today! Check it out here!

DIY Pottery Barn Mia Faceted-Crystal Flushmount/ Refab a Boob Light

We all have those blasted boob lights. I have 4 that I wanted to replace, but with my low ceilings, I needed something close to the ceiling. As I was shopping the Pottery Barn website, I came across the Mia Faceted-Crystal Flushmount Light. It was lovely, but for $129 a piece, I'd be shelling out way more than I could stomach for 4 of them, even if I waited for a sale.

As I was admiring it, I noticed it was constructed very similarly to the boob lights I already had. I had a long string of acrylic crystals left over from redoing my dining room light, so I decided to DIY!!

Materials used:
Boob light
Can of oil rubbed bronze spray paint
Nail and Hammer or Dremmel tool with metal drill bit
String of acrylic crystals (affiliate link)
Measuring tape
Optional: yarn or string to help measure circumference
Optional: Sharpie


There's a small piece that screws on the bottom and holds up a metal circle that the dome rests on. Once I removed the glass dome (setting aside for a bird bath), I was able to remove the light from the ceiling and start putting holes in the outer edge to hold the end of each crystal strand.

First I removed he reflective foil.

One of my lights had some glue that needed to be goo goned. Then I taped the inside of the light socket so I could spray paint the bolt and socket oil rubbed bronze to match the rest of the fixture.

Looks good, but I should have waited to paint it after I drilled the holes. I wound up getting metal dust stuck in the freshly dried area and had to repaint to cover some scratches made.

I wanted to make 2 rows of 24 holes. (The holes would be across from each other to loop the wire strands through. I used a piece of string to measure the circumference and divided it by 24. I decided to round up and space the holes 1.25" apart, which made only 20 holes, but I figured it would be sufficient.

I made a piece of yarn 1.25" and used a Sharpie to mark where my outer holes would be.

I used a Dremel tool to make most of the holes, but near the end of the project, my bit was getting really dull and I ended up using a nail and hammer.

It worked a little easier and the holes were less messy.

For my second light I used solely a nail to make all the holes and it went super fast.

Next I needed to put holes in the metal circle.

I traced it on some paper to help figure out spacing and then imitated it with a Sharpie on the metal. I started with evenly putting dots for a pentagon (black dots). Then put a dot in the middle of each of those sections (red dots). And then put another dot in the middle of those sections (blue dots).

I separated my crystal strand into strings with 6 crystals. 

I attached all the crystals to the small circle first.

Then I slipped it on the metal rod and started attaching around the outside.

When I was done, I screwed on the end piece, flipped it over and had a pretty looking light!

This one has crystals all the same size

This one has crystals of varying size

I love the way the light reflects the crystals.

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