Painting a ceiling fan.

I first wrote about painting ceiling fans here. I know that on every single HGTV show they try and get rid of the dreaded fan. But, when they look nice, then I think they should stay. It helps circulate the air!

Today I thought I would walk you through the terrible mess that is painting a ceiling fan while it is still, well, on the ceiling.

A little background on these fans in our three bedrooms that do not include the master bedroom, the people that lived in our house before us installed ceiling fans in each room. Yippee, cause it helps to cool things down...but, get this: when we did our walk-through I saw the lights that used to be in each room in the basement. And, when we were asking for stuff they said "NO" to us keeping the original lights. Can you believe it?! They match the rest of the house, the builder put them in...and we can't keep them? Weird. Neveryoumind that they left their stinky, musty carpet in the basement for us to cut up and throw out. . . Whatev.

Ugly before (It's even an ugly picture, just for effect):

This is Gus' room. But I painted the one in Porter and Jack's room.

So, here's how it goes. First, be prepared. It is a nightmare. There is mama llama drama involved. It is smelly and stinky and a pain in the arse. But, the outcome is glorious. Can a ceiling fan be glorious? It's awesome.

Supplies:
1. Grocery bags, both plastic and paper.
2. Painters plastic and tape.
3. ORB.
4. A screw driver like this one:

5. A nearly 3 year old that tells you, "Daddy is going to be so angry at you for breaking the fan." You don't need him, but it makes it a little more fun and exciting. Mind you, I just talked to "Daddy" and he didn't even know that I did the first fan! Seriously. I did that one last year! Unbelievable.

Here's how it starts. Open a window. And the window across the hall. So you get a crosswind. I waited to do this until a nice day with a breeze so that I could air out the room before the boys went to bed. I promise I'm not avoiding painting anything...really. I swear. I'm not. If you believe me then you are just as crazy as I am. Turn the power off at the electrical box. Or, just flip the switch to "off" in the bedroom if you've already been shocked once and you know it won't kill you. In my case it only temporarily stunned me and made me shake for a few hours. No big deal, right? Plus, if you have a heart attack while standing on the IKEA kids table, it will be easy to reach up and shock your heart into starting again. Really. You laugh.

Take the blades off with that little screw driver:

Bulbs out first, then glass off. I left the screw in that held the glass in there so they would get painted too. Remember to dust everything before you start painting. This time, I forgot to do the top of the fan. Gross. Now there is dust permanently embedded onto the fan for the rest of eternity. Oh well. I've moved on. You will too. Then shove your Target bags into the sockets:

Tape the other grocery bags to the ceiling along with the painters plastic:

Chairman Bob Approves of this project.

Then start spraying. Now, this is where things always go wrong for me. The first time I did it, I did not use the painter's plastic and everything got sticky. This time I used it, and my nostrils turned brown. I won't show you a picture of the brown nose hairs. It was gross. I'm not sure how to do this any better, except to take it off the ceiling. OR put plastic all over the furniture and walls, and floor....Really?! Who wants to do that?

This is what you get:

Make sure you spray at a bunch of different angles and be consistent on the amount you spray. Go easy, ORB covers well.

Mama Llama Drama:

See that? That happened last time too. Excess spray on the ceiling....good thing I know where the ceiling paint is! It was ready to go in no time. I also missed a spot and tried to spray it quick and sprayed the ceiling, then I painted over it and got some on the fan...then I had to paint the fan in that spot again....no, that time I left it. You can't even tell. How annoying....

Finished goodness:

Do yourself a favor and try not to focus on the bunk beds that aren't finished being painted and the mirror not on the wall. Oh, and that shelf that has nothing on it. The letters fell off. We built bunkbeds and I still haven't finished putting their room back together....Priorities people. Priorities. Focus on the fan. It is beautiful:

There you have it. One more fan to go in my house. Now, go out and make your significant others angry by breaking the fans.