Friends! There is something that you may not know about me… I love sleeping with all of the fans on! Dudes, I am not even kidding around here, this is serious business! Not only do we have two ceiling fans in our master bedroom, but we also have an oscillating fan to boot. It’s just the way it is. Don’t judge.
I never had the problem of needing a constant breeze in our bedroom prior to moving into our house. Our current bedroom just happened to come with two junky old ceiling fans with faux marble fan blades, and even though they were so ugly and gross, it didn’t take me long to learn to love them. Fans just lull me to sleep now, I’m like a super lame baby who needs its blanket – so wut?!
But wait! I can justify this craziness, the fans are actually practical! They keep the second floor of our house cool in the summertime, and warm in the winters – so now you can’t hate me because they’re sensible and economical. It just happens to be a bonus that they just feel so nice to lay under while I fade off into unconsciousness. There is absolutely no way we could live without them, even though I know they are the ugliest objects you could ever affix to a ceiling.
So I’m in need of a matching set of somewhat affordable, somewhat attractive, white ceiling fans. I can’t make this bedroom pretty and leave those ancient-ugly-beastly-fans on my ceiling. I can however make my bedroom pretty and replace old fans with newer, cleaner, kinda-sorta cooler fans. Here’s my top 10 list for affordable big box store fans, all of which can be found at The Home Depot (it’s my local big box). Now I just gotta pick one.
I’m a breeze junky, what are you, a hater or a lover? Come on now, don’t be shy.
Cool Thing Alert
Also, on a side note. My internet friend, Daniel is starting a new adventure over on his site manhattan-nest.com. If you guys don’t already read his blog you should – especially now! Not only has he lovingly updated his Brooklyn apartment he’s also spent the last year renovating his 1895 Kingston, NY home DIY style. Now he’s branching out, investing in his burgeoning neighborhood, and planning a home renovation down the street. There should be lots of great blog posts in the coming months, so get with it and start following along already!
Our new place had NO fans in it (UNACCPETABLE!) so we just went through the fan-buying thing. If you have a Lowes anywhere in your area, even if you have to drive further than Home Depot, they have much better fans for better prices than HD. We picked up 2 Harbor Breeze fans for $46 each, and they are awesome! Being white, they totally blend in with the ceiling so you don’t really see them, and they move air something fierce! Our downstairs is a totally open floor plan and the fan is in the center of the room; you can feel the breeze all the way over by the stove. It’s wonderful! Best of all, these fans are super quiet, so no annoying whirring in the night when we’re trying to sleep. We also picked up a light kit (similar to the ones you picked out) for the fan in the bedroom so we get light + air. Similar fans at HD started at $99 and went up from there. I owned a pile of them in my TX house (fans in every room!), and they are not quiet at all. I wish somebody would start designing better-looking light kits for fans so they could be pretty as well as functional.
Hey Stacey! This is such a good tip about Lowes. We do have one lowes but it is nearly 45 minutes away in west St. Paul. I may just have to take the trek across the river to check it out. What fans did you get? I wish that there were better designed fans too. Some stuff is okay, but it’s still not awesome.
Since the kids have bunk beds, we got the Harbor Breeze Armitage flush-mount $29 fans for their rooms. They’re fine for the small rooms, and they make a lot less noise than the equivalent $59 HD versions. For the 1st floor and master bedroom, we got the white Harbor Breeze Classic 52″ fan, $46. Seriously, these things MOVE air, and are crazy quiet! For the master bedroom, we also added the Calera light kit for an additional $35, thus making the fan look almost like the ones you linked to but for $80. Personally, fans aren’t pretty but are necessary so I don’t want to spend a lot of money on them. I make sure something else is the focal point of the room and the fans blend with the ceiling so you don’t even notice them. Spend the saved cash on something awesome to look at in the room.
Hey Stacey! Thanks for the info, I will totally check into these fan options as well as whats available at Lowes. I’m really appreciating feedback on brands of fans!
I live in the south and ceiling fans are a must. These crazy folks who have chandeliers and things in their bedrooms are crazy. I keep my overhead fan on all spring, summer, and fun and have a floor fan that is on at all times too. It’s how I roll. I have the monte carlo up in my living room and it works well. It doesn’t have as strong a breeze as my bedroom fan though.
Stephie! Me too! The fans stay on all the time, and when they accidentally get turned off it is weird OR how about trying to sleep at a hotel without fans, totally blows and not in a good way. Thanks for the feed back on the Monte Carlo!
I could have written this post word for word. Except the photo of my current ceiling fan is so. much. worse. It’s ugly in the most epic of ways and hangs down dangerously low over our bed. I once nearly broke my foot getting hit by that damn thing while trying to show off a new yoga move I’d just learned. The fan hasn’t really worked right since then. I’m gonna beat it up in a field Office Space style the second I get a suitable replacement.
Yes! Do it, that fan deserves it!
Houses in my part of the world usually come without any ceiling fans – we use a portable one. And while I could really live without it, the Mr. is deeply in love with our fan. He even gave it an affectionate nickname.
I don’t blame him, fans are the best ;)
I need the fan to keep me cool at night, love a small chill when I am sleeping and like the white noise too. Out of the choices that you posted, I like the illumine – but probably wouldn’t pay that much myself. They are all pretty similar looking so any of them would be good.
I feel the exact same way Vanessa – night time chills, down blankets and white noise is the best. I like the Illumine too, but I think it’s way more than what I want to spend. I’d be good spending $300 for a pair of them.
We had to go through this here in Australia. I can’t imagine not having a ceiling fan now that I’ve had one the last 6 years. We renovated my son’s room last year, and ours last month so we had to choose fans for both. I had no idea that fans did winter! Bonus! I never tried winter. I was too worried about being freezing cold in our un-insulated bedroom. BUT now it’s renovated and insulated. YAY! We added a rosette to our ceiling, right where the fan goes, we only wish we had gotten a bigger rosette so the big fan didn’t take away from the beauty.
Hey Jess! That rosette idea sounds pretty cool, I’d love to know what that looks like. I’d consider doing something like that if we didn’t have that crappy popcorn ceiling to contend with.
If you reverse the flow of your fan blades in the summer it will suck the hot air up to the ceiling, this works especially well for us since our bedroom is on the 2nd floor of our house.
I know design-y people are supposed scoff at ceiling fans (I did once) and then we left the coast and moved to a valley dessert and holy mother of god, fans are like a little bit of heaven. Our house came with two fans in the master and when we turn them both up to high, it’s like a mini tornado and I love it. The style of fans we chose are different from what you’re looking at but I do have to say that I prefer the Hunter brand over the Hampton. The old fans in the house are Hampton and they just didn’t seem to hold up well, so we’re replacing them with Hunters, which is what was already in our master. I’m guessing those fans are at least 5-7 years old, we run them constantly and no problems what so ever. The Hampton fans that are probably in the same age range, totally wobble and click and annoy the hell out of me. Anyway, just my two cents.
Hey Michelle! This is good to know, I need you ceiling fan connoisseurs to tell me what works best. I’m glad you guys are filling me in on different brands and stuff. Our bedroom fans wobble and click too, and i totally hate it. Thanks!
Every person should like your ceiling fan design .Because it’s look really so beautiful.