apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Would you consider removing and storing it? We had a rental that didn't come with a ceiling fan, so we installed one, and then took it when we left. Maybe if you just swapped it out while you were there, you would be able to put something more your style in there...

Would Blik decals stick to it?

I don't recommend covering the gold; most of it is located on the slots where the motor cools itself. I second Rachel's suggestion. Changing out a ceiling fan is not that hard to do.

I think you can just take all the metallic parts off and spray paint them another color. Maybe a dull silver finish, black, or white would be easier on the eyes. I saw it done on a design show recently.

Are you suggesting that people get tipsy on wine and stand on ladders? Nevermind painting under the influence...

This woman (linked to on www.houseblogs.net) did a fan makeover. Here's the link: http://www.onewomanslife.com/home/2005/12/ceiling-fan-makeover-good-bye-yellow.html#archives
and pictures here:
http://www.onewomanslife.com/home/2005/12/as-promised-photos-of-my-ceiling-fan.html

Remove it, store it, replace it with something in good taste. No one asked: have you talked to the landlord about it???

I wouldn't recommend painting it. My mother had a white ceiling fan that had some chips on the blades, so she went at it with a bit of white paint. The fan starting acting funny and looking like it was going to fall out of the ceiling--turned out that just adding the bit of paint had unbalanced it enough so that it wouldn't work. She ended up having to chip the patches off, which restored the fan to working condition.

Thank you to the person that posted a link to my fan makeover - I hope the info helps:) It's comforting to know that I'm not the only one that doesn't like the bling, lol!

I haven't had any trouble at all with our fan - it's running great! I didn't use spray paint (and I wouldn't suggest it, either because paint could get in the moter that way). I used two or three thin coats of oil based paint. I used a little foam roller for the blades to ensure that the paint went on smoothly and evenly. For the rest of fan, I used a small foam brush. I can understand how just touching up chips on certain parts of the blade could throw it off balance, but smooth, even coats over the entire blade worked well for my fan. If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to help if I can:)

Kim

I've painted my fan blades and have no problems with the fan's operations. Perhaps the difference is in painting the entire blade rather than spot painting.
However, if you have to leave the fan in place, you probably can't alter its appearance. So, I'd take it down and put it in storage until you move.

Frank and Rachel have the right idea. I had a similar problem (ugly ceiling fan in the dining room) and asked my landlord if I could replace it with another fixture. She got to pick the electrician (I paid for the installation - $60 or so including a dimmer), I got to pick the fixture (about $100 at Y Lighting which I also paid for), and now I don't hate my dining room. You could probably even have an electrician replace it on the sly if you have somewhere to store the ceiling fan. Its not like you are asking to rip out a wall...

Is temporarily replacing fixtures in rental units common? I have similarly hideous ceiling fixtures with gold trim and have wanted to replace them for some time, despite objections from friends. I’m thinking of throwing away the current fixtures, as I don’t have room to store them. They couldn't have been more than $6.99 at Home Depot. Maybe the landlords won’t notice -- clearly, they didn’t give it much thought in the first place.

Also, would you recommend hiring an electrician or hard-wiring it yourself? If it was a celing fan, I'd hire an electrician, but I'm only doing a small ceiling mounted fixture.

If you're handy and know what you're doing with electricity (and have access to the breaker) - you could probably do the small light yourself - and if all the above applies, plus an extra set of hands, then you can do the fan too. (unless you're working with tall celings, I would advise a licensed and insured electrician in that situation.)

I've customized nearly every apartment I've lived in. I always ask first if it's something major (like paint) and even then, the landlord usually says yes with the caveat that I have to paint it back. Our last white box apartment ended up with an olive coloured living room, a chocolate brown and baby blue bedroom, silver ceiling fans and a kitchen the colour of orange sherbet.

The thing about storing the fan or replacing the lights: if you buy something you're in love with, you might want to take it with you, so consider storage as an option - even ask the landlord.

Rachel (in denver),

Thanks for bringing up storage by the landlord. I have no problem storing the tenant's original fixtures. Honestly, I'd rather store the stuff. Charging tenants for missing fixtures is a hassle and no one wants to go down that route. - an understanding landlord.

i find ceiling fans repulsive, especially in the northeastern u.s.
floor, window, and desk fans can circulate air and of course air conditioners do too. i don't think there is a way to hide this fan. the best solution is to remove it store it and replace it when you move or remove it give it away and buy a new one when you move.

I've replaced all three of the ceiling light fixtures that came with my apartment. All without my landlord's knowledge/blessing.

I think that as long as you don't leave them with bare wires hanging from the ceiling, they aren't going to care. All three are upgrades from what was there when I moved in. (Although I did keep the bedroom fixture to put back if I move and take my (somewhat) expensive ceiling fan with me.

If you replace the ceiling fan with another comparable ceiling fan, and pay for it yourself, I can't imagine why your landlord would object.

Further to landlord interactions: The landlord might even LIKE the idea of a better quality fan. Landlords don't want their apartments trashed, hence the ban on fixture removal etc., but they sometimes work quite cooperatively with a tenant to make an improvement.

My landlord allowed me to replace the ugly overhead fluorescent light with my own pendant light, as long as I restore the original when I leave. I would think a landlord would prefer that you temporarily replace an overhead fixture rather than paint or otherwise alter the existing one.

The only way that a landlord might not notice that you have painted the fixture is if he has done so very many different things in all his properties that he just might not remember.

If you've seen other people's rental apartments in your building with various kinds, including how you're trying to make yours look, then he'll probably scratch his head for a millisecond and then shrug when he sees it. Unless it breaks because of the spray paint getting into the guts.

is there any kind of solvent/solution that will oxidize the crap out of the gold? b/c if you can mute that a little you're almost there...

Black spray paint.

It will make the fan look like a real, old original ceiling fan. I've done a few cheap fix-ups, and i always buy the cheap white-and-gold ceiling fans, and I spray them semi-gloss black.

I've never seen a fan malfunction due to spray paint. Just mask out the ceiling well, four feet out, at least. And ventilate. And don't breathe.

If there's a cheap "light kit" on it, I usually unscrew that, and put a bottom cap in its place (also from the home depot); the more stripped-down
and plain the fan looks, the better.

Does any one know how to actually remove the fan?

We have access to circut breaker and a tall ladder!

These things are so cheap -- $20 at dollar general. You could just get rid of the ugly one and replace it with something you like. Just buy a new ugly ceiling fan when the time comes to move. You can also purchase new blades for next to nothing so you could experiment with painting and changing those out if nothing else.

I do think it rather sad that something so functional, which actually enhances energy efficiency, seems to have been mass produced in a form so ugly that people would rather not have one at all.

By the way, mine is much uglier than this one. Consider yourself lucky.