If you answered quickly, I expect you said no, but upon second look you might be surprised. After paint, lighting is one of the cheapest ways to update the look of a room so I was very excited when I decided the dream light I had been eyeing for months would be perfect in my bedroom. After a few clicks, the 30″ beauty below was headed my way. I should note, Mike was not 100% on board and had been lobbying hard for a ceiling fan because this house is a bit of a sweatbox even with air conditioning and our electric bill for the first month was nearly $700!
Before calling the electrician to install, I thought would be a good idea to just see the light in the room. I carried the surprising light, but awkward, orb up the staircase and that is when it all went wrong. It turns out my bedroom doorway is not 30” wide. I could probably have removed the door from the hinges and made it fit, but I took this as a sign from the universe that the room was meant to have a ceiling fan. Not just any ceiling fan though, after a bit of research I found a few modern options that would work, and few clicks later I thought it would be done. Turns out it is a bit more complicated.
Ceiling height
Any ceiling fan requires the proper clearance to avoid decapitation so it is important to know your ceiling height and the height of the fixture. The fan should hang between 8-9’ from the floor. Because it is unlikely that the fan will meet this requirement on its own, you will likely need an extension rod which is easy to add. Whew, solved, right? Nope.
Fan size
Most fans come in multiple sizes and you want to choose one that fits your room and style. We recently installed 52” in standard 13×13’ bedrooms and 60” in larger 20×20’ master bedroom and scale is perfect in terms of not overwhelming the spaces but still providing great function. In large family rooms, you could consider larger or go with 2 smaller fans. OK, ready to order, right? Nope.
Sloped ceiling?
Our bedroom ceilings are all sloped so that the fan needs a different slope part to make sure that it can hang correctly and not turn itself into a windmill. This part may not be available on the fan reseller site but you can often find it at a hardware store like Home Depot by searching by the fan manufacturer and name.
While these fans probably are not the same eye candy as other lights would be, I can confirm that the functionality has been well worth the trade. These are more in the premium price point for fans but it is well worth it to make sure that mechanics are quiet as ceiling fans are definitely better seen than heard. Does one of these catch your eye?