Big Blue and Ceiling Fans

So, it has been a busy week here in Nebraska.  Lots of fun, lots of family time, and lots of work too.  I'll have a couple of last week's project reveals later this week, but I FINALLY got around to a piece for me!  Woo Hoo!  I laughed hysterically when a sweet gal recently said, "Your house must look so gorgeous with all you do with furniture..."  Sadly it seems that my own house is the only thing that doesn't get touched very often.  In the 3 years we've lived in our current house the girls rooms have been redecorated, the kitchen has been painted (though it will be changed up once we get the time to work on painting the cabinets), and a lot of the oak trim will go as we work our way through the house.  The main rooms have all had a paint touch, but that's it.  The Master is in desperate need of a makeover that I am determined to tackle this winter!

Anyway,  in October I sold the buffet that I had loved, but had found a replacement for.  I painted the replacement, but the old one didn't sell right away and I needed some pieces for NJ & Co. so I took the replacement buffet down there.  Wouldn't you know it, they both sold about the same time.  I had another buffet, but it was too tall and I really wanted to place one on the backside of my sofa to use as a sofa "table".   I finally found another one I loved, but had so many custom pieces in the Que that I had to put it off for quite some time.  Now it is finished.  I decided to try a new (to me) ASCP color, Napoleonic Blue to pick up some of the dark blue in our area rug.

It is a lovely not quite navy/not quite royal blue.  Much fun to paint on this big oak piece!  

The top was stripped and stained in Minwax Jacobean, and finished with Minwax Antique Oil.

I kept the original brass hardware because I think it looks great with the blue.  And I keep reading how brass is coming back in vogue.

Some distressing a coat of clear wax and viola!  I toyed with the idea of adding some dark wax, and I may at some point, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out and will take my time to decide if I want/need to tweak it!

Now for ceiling fans, a point of constant debate in my house.  We only have 2, 1 in the Master BR and 1 in the main floor LR.  I totally appreciate what they do, cause heaven knows I get plenty hot these days and we have a Golden Retriever who also gets hot...and stinky at times...and sleeps in my bedroom and this Living area all the time.  It's good to move the air around.  However, I am stymied as to why every light kit has to have such limited wattage and be so darned boring (and occasionally ugly)!  If I were a lighting designer that would not be the case.  As I am unable to persuade my Mr. that we would indeed survive without the aid of ceiling fans moving air about I challenged him to help me find new lighting solutions to use with our fans.  Here is what we came up with for 1, the MBR fan will be part of that reveal if we ever when we complete it.

Here is the LR fan, oops he had already removed the "boob" light kit that lit the room with a dim golden glow.  Here was our compromise.

We found a Chandelier type of light that would mount to the current fan light base.  With the fan on our normal low setting it does not move a bit.  And, oh my, what a difference those 6 lights make when we need a bit more light in this room!

   Feel free to weigh in on this little compromise.  You won't hurt my feelings...much ;-).  Just kidding, I do not claim to be a decorating guru or a decorating blog by any stretch of the imagination.  But I do know that lots of people would love a prettier/more pleasing  light but have a hard time giving up the benefits those ceiling fans provide.  I'm one of them!  There are some options available, I believe, if we think outside the box!  For the record, one of my teens (who considers herself an expert on coolness) does not like it, the other teen remains (wisely) non-committal, and the 7 year old just wants us to get the ladder back out so she can continue to climb it.  Life is good!
Have a great week!
Deb
Linking to:
http://elizabethandco.blogspot.com/2013/01/be-inspired-features-and-link-party-44.html
http://missmustardseed.com/2013/01/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-a-link-party-17/