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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May Linky Party NOT Just a Housewife 

Using Table Clocks as Picture Frames

Are you ever afraid to buy a clock from a thrift store because you aren't sure if it will work once you bring it home and put batteries in? Why not repurpose one into an inexpensive, but unique frame? I love the shape of clocks and wanted to use some pretty finds to put pictures of my kids in on my new built-in shelves. The gray one is from a thrift store and used to be wood, but I painted it a while back. The white one was also from a thrift store. The alarm clock is from IKEA.

The plastic coverings on the thrift store clocks were cloudy and scratched a bit, so I took them off and used them as templates to cut out my pictures and glue them on cardboard.

For this one, I just pushed the cardboard into the sharp part of the hands in the clock face.

The picture fit inside this one in place of the plastic covering. I also spray painted the base while the face was out.

For the alarm clock, I just taped the picture on top of the glass.

I think they look great on my new shelves!

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DIY Book Covers

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Not Just a Housewife April Link Party

FREE Cinderella Chalkboard Printable

I haven't been able to scroll through my facebook feed lately without a picture or mention of the new Cinderella movie. I do think the main theme of the movie is pretty good advice for everyone, though: "Have Courage and Be Kind."

You can download an 8x10 pdf here.

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