So I’ve started making a mood board for my guest bedroom makeover, but one thing stuck out to me while I was looking for inspiration… do you put a ceiling fan up for practicality, or instead choose some cool ceiling light for aesthetics?
Basically it all boils down to: Ceiling fans, yay or nay?
When we built our new home we put a ceiling fan prewire in 3 out of 4 bedrooms, the family room, and hearth room. We decided to install a ceiling fan right away in the family room, but I chose a chandelier in our hearth room since it was a vaulted and I wanted a bit of elegance in this space. That was a battle with my husband, but as you can see… I won.
Well I noticed that a lot of rooms on Houzz… or on those TV design shows… or in decorating magazines… show these beautiful chandeliers hanging everywhere, especially in the master bedroom. Don’t get me wrong, they’re gorgeous. I mean some are just jaw-dropping. But I live in the Midwest. It reaches over 100 degrees here during the summer and the humidity hits you like a ton of bricks when you walk out the door. Wait a second… why did I put a chandelier in the hearth room with all of those windows again?
Well, I guess you can always buy a box fan or one of those stand up fans, but are they an eyesore? Some people (like my husband) love the white noise that a box fan can create, but again… they’re kinda ugly.
And who really sees your master bedroom anyway? It’s not like I have people randomly walking through there on a daily basis. We joked with our old neighbors that we lived next to them for 7 years and didn’t even see their master bedroom until the week they moved out.
My parents used to have a ceiling fan in their kitchen. OK, not really a fan of that (ha, didn’t intend on the pun there but I’ll roll with it). With 8ft ceilings and it hanging in a major traffic area, it just seemed to get in the way. Actually, we had to replace it with a normal light fixture after someone accidentally broke it while sweeping the kitchen floor.
My daughter’s room is the only bedroom in the house not wired for a ceiling fan. We didn’t use hers once in the old place, and she really REALLY wanted a chandelier. Let’s hope she doesn’t change her mind this summer, or I guess we’ll be heading out to buy her a box fan once the heat wave hits.
So c’mon… I know YOU have an opinion.
Do you care more about practicality or aesthetics?
Ceiling fan… yay or nay?
Tina says
May 1, 2014 at 10:15 amIt’s a guest room, I vote ceiling fan, so guests have the option. Personally we use ours in our master every night year round! Get some wonderful lamps for style.
howtonestforless says
May 1, 2014 at 1:36 pmI might just have to put one in the master bedroom now. I miss ours in the old place!
Annie says
May 1, 2014 at 10:59 amYes on the ceiling fan!. I have several good looking fans with lights in my home (including guest room) and love them but use them to, especially the fan part. I am like Tina…master fans are on every night of the year.
howtonestforless says
May 1, 2014 at 1:52 pmWe did put a stand up fan in the master bedroom but it’s just not the same as the cool air coming from above! Might need to rethink my ceiling fixture….
Grace Ann Mueller says
May 1, 2014 at 11:01 amCeiling fan in all room even bathroom.
howtonestforless says
May 1, 2014 at 1:44 pmHmm… might be hard to fit in my itty bitty powder room!
Grace Ann Mueller says
May 7, 2014 at 12:07 pmLowes and Home Depot have then with small blades…. Works great in small areas.
Donna says
May 1, 2014 at 11:29 amNo to ceiling fans. I hate them…not only because they are an eyesore, but also because they make me cold! We live in Texas where the temps in the summer can reach 104 and I hardly ever use them. We keep the air on about 76-77, but are very comfortable.
howtonestforless says
May 1, 2014 at 1:37 pm76 or 77 in your house? Wow, you must get cold easily like you said! We have our house set to 68 or 69 most days… yeah, expensive but worth it in my book!
Donna says
May 1, 2014 at 2:36 pmI would be freezing at your house! 😉
Jenny says
May 1, 2014 at 12:13 pmWe have one in the breakfast room, family room and 2 bedrooms. On the first warm day, they are on. Not the last 2 days though. LOL!
howtonestforless says
May 1, 2014 at 1:38 pmI don’t think I’ve ever seen one in the breakfast room before! I’m all for it though!
Jill says
May 1, 2014 at 12:33 pmCeiling fans are a must in bedrooms. We use ours all year round for air circulation and white noise (blocks my husband’s snoring). I just wish manufacturers would think more about the design of the light fixture part of he fan. We need more chandelier-looking pretty fixtures that don’t cost too much, instead of the ugly 4-light ones!
howtonestforless says
May 1, 2014 at 1:50 pmOh, it would take more than a ceiling fan to block out my husband’s snoring! And I agree… bring on the pretty ceiling fan fixtures!
Sandy says
May 1, 2014 at 12:34 pmYes on the ceiling fan! We live in TX and the summers are horrendous! Using a ceiling fan helps to lower the electricity bills a little bit! There are some attractive ceiling fans out there if you look around.
howtonestforless says
May 1, 2014 at 1:54 pmTotally agree with lowering the electricity bills. I feel like we turned on our air a lot earlier this year because we didn’t open the windows and turn on the ceiling fans as much!
gloria wyssbrod says
May 1, 2014 at 1:16 pmLove pretty light fixtures but have to have the ceiling fan we live in the South gotta have that air blowing.
howtonestforless says
May 1, 2014 at 1:55 pmComfort first in my book! Which is why I rarely wear high heels 😉
Chione says
May 1, 2014 at 1:17 pmFans are a must in our house, especially bedrooms. We live in the heat-box that is Texas, so moving air is critical to our comfort. My husband also really likes air movement when he is sleeping, even if it is not hot. It makes a big difference for us so I totally am a fan of fans. =) We put one in the kitchen too. I hear your complaints about it getting in the way, and we only have 8′ ceilings too, but it makes all the difference in the summer or when I am cooking a lot and have the oven and stove top going or canning produce.
howtonestforless says
May 1, 2014 at 1:42 pmURGH, when cooking I would have that thing on full blast! That’s why I hate cooking dinners in the summer. Your house takes forever to recover from all that excess heat!
Kim G says
May 1, 2014 at 1:21 pmI agree with everyone else… yes to the ceiling fans. I, too, live in TX. We have a ceiling fan in every room of our house (including the breakfast nook). We run the majority of our fans year round. I found a very pretty one for the breakfast nook (which is actually my craft room). It has a shabby chic feel to it. I had to save my pennies for it, but I love it and use it especially during the summer.
howtonestforless says
May 1, 2014 at 1:41 pmHah! It’s funny how many of y’all are from TX responding to this post, ha! And I’d love to see the breakfast nook turned craft room too 😉
Pat F. says
May 1, 2014 at 2:14 pmI live in Las Vegas and our summers are brutal, so it’s a “Yes” for me on the ceiling fans!
Heart and Haven says
May 1, 2014 at 3:43 pmWe have a ceiling fan in the master bedroom w/dimmer lights (we use it year round, as I like the moving/cooler air when I’m sleeping).
We also have one in the downstairs playroom/family room. This room has 8′ ceilings, and we found a low-profile ceiling fan/light that does not feel like it would chop my head off as I walk under it! lol.
Megan says
May 1, 2014 at 3:52 pmYes to ceiling fans! I don’t think the fans in the bedrooms have ever been turned off? I’m in St. Louis too and yes the humidity is brutal – but I like to keep the air moving all year. We have 7 ceiling fans 🙂
Melissa says
May 1, 2014 at 8:22 pmI’m big on aesthetics but I must be bigger on comfort since I love a ceiling fan! They are in our three bedrooms and the kitchen. I feel like in the kitchen is a no-brainer especially in the summer-time when it gets hot when you use the oven. I don’t get the anti-ceiling fan “movement” lol.
Melissa says
May 1, 2014 at 8:23 pmOh and I forgot to mention that I’m in Maryland. 🙂
Julie says
May 1, 2014 at 9:45 pmI love the practicality of a ceiling fan, but hate how so many of them are just not pretty. We live in Ohio, so we really only use ours come mid-spring and stays on until late fall. We had one in our master bedroom in our old home and all of the bedrooms plus kitchen & family room. Used them all too. I would love to have a beautiful chandelier in the master, but I would miss the fan come summer time.
Bonnie Robinson says
May 2, 2014 at 7:48 amCouldn’t live without them. I have one or more in every room depending on size and love the light from them. By the way, I live in Florida.
Cathleen says
May 2, 2014 at 8:47 amI hate ceiling fans and I live in Georgia. They get so dirty and are impossible to clean. I don’t mind the one in the family room too terribly much because it is functional, but I hate the one in my girls’ bedroom. It’s WHITE…bad idea.
Tabitha says
May 4, 2014 at 5:09 pmI hated cleaning them, too, until I learned the pillowcase trick. No dust all over. Maybe you have an ugly pillowcase that would work for cleaning? Throw it over a blade and clean. Nearly all the dust stays in the pillowcase. If we had the fans on the vaulted ceiling, I’d buy one of those cleaners on a stick.
Kait says
May 5, 2014 at 10:22 amI see a lot of comments from people using ceiling fans to keep cool (most comments seem to be from warm climates). Here’s a different perspective: You can actually use it to keep warm, too! I live in New England, where we just had the most bitterly-cold winter of my lifetime. We heat with a pellet stove, and you can actually flip a switch to make a ceiling fan run in reverse to push air down (rather than sucking the hot air up)- We ran ceiling fans 24/7 in our living room and family room (which have high ceilings, so the heat was being wasted, accumulating at the ceiling) to push the heated air back down. They run on very low speeds so you don’t feel a draft. We have them in the bedrooms too, but we’ve never run those fans- we sleep with the white noise of a box fan, and don’t feel a ceiling fan is loud enough. I also prefer to be cool while sleeping, but I don’t like air blowing on me, so I would rather put a fan in the window (not blowing on us) bringing in cool night air rather than a ceiling fan.
howtonestforless says
May 5, 2014 at 3:22 pmYou’re so right, Kait! I’ve heard that before, but have never tried it in the winter! Super smart idea.
Carol Mihlfeld says
May 7, 2014 at 9:12 amWe live in south Florida and could not exist without our ceiling fans – two in our family room, one in living room, and one in each bedroom. We also have two outdoor fans on our screen porch and one on our open porch area. Love ours!
howtonestforless says
May 7, 2014 at 6:01 pmI would LOVE one on our porch! Didn’t think of that when we built our house.
Quinn says
May 21, 2014 at 7:04 amWe have a ceiling fan in each bedroom. And they get used often. Since their are so many styles you can get something low profile and still work with the decor of the room. I don’t think they detract as much as the decorators say they do. It really is an option of whether you are decorating for yourself and what you enjoy in the space versus what you think others expect to see in the room. My husband and I love HGTV type shows and love to pick ideas from the design shows but it is important to do what works for you and your family because you are living there not the decorator. If someone did not like the fans, if they moved in, they are easy enough to swap out, right? Go with your gut
howtonestforless says
May 21, 2014 at 8:53 pmLOVE this!