I'm a Fan Fan

I finally took the Handy Mommy plunge and replaced our playroom ceiling fan! And I am so glad I did. It took a bit more strength than I had bargained for, but all in all, not a complicated process.

Here's a before photo. Remember this ugly thing?

the Claw!

I can't believe we've asked people to sleep under this!

alien eyeballs coming to get youuuuuu!

You may be wondering why I chose to replace the ugly ceiling fan with another ceiling fan. Why not go for a fun lighting fixture, since it's a playroom? Well, even though ceiling fans aren't hip,we really do enjoy the breeze they produce as an alternative to AC. This is reclaimed living space from the former garage, with no central air at all. so it gets pretty hot in here in the summer.

I'd like to keep the unattractive AC unit covered by the curtain for as many days as possible.

Even if you aren't a ceiling fan "fan", I'm sure you can agree that this one is an improvement?

And even more exciting, I snagged if for only $8 out of pocket! More on how I did this at the end...First, here's how I did it, and what I learned from my fan replacement adventure:

After turning off all of the power to the guest room, I tried to take apart the old fan, which was harder than I thought it would be. It weighed 80 gajillion pounds. and none of the screws on the unit, when unscrewed, would release the shell around the top where the mounting screws. But I finally found them! The first came off easily, but the second one was stuck. Really, seriously, not budging at all stuck.

my Nemesis of the Day

It took me almost 20 minutes of struggling before I realized that the awkward weight of the fan pushing against the lone screw was working against me. I needed to lighten the load so that I could hold up the fan while removing the screw. And this guy was HEAVY. Lesson learned: this is a TWO person job, no matter how handy you may or may not be. Don't be like me and tackle this project while you're alone in the house. Enlist help!

I snipped the light unit off, hoping to lighten the load.

Cutting the lights helped a little, but I still did a lot of lifting, grunting, and sighing. But then finally, it was off! Buh-bye, fan!

Some sweet tea and some pats on the back later, I got back to work.

Installation was MUCH easier. For one thing, this little guy is only a petite 30" across, in comparison with his 44" great uncle lying dead on the floor. I suspect that technology has also come a long way since the late 80's, making even similarly bulky fans less of a workout to hold up.

Before long, I was able to step back and enjoy the breeze!

This is much more in scale with the rest of the room than the old fan:

old, yucky fan!

Before, the giant claw-like-eyeball-lights obstructed my view of my pretty shelf. Boo!

Now the fan disappears into the room a little more .

And now, I'm going to make good on my promise that I would tell you how I only paid $8 for the fan.

I bought the fan for $48 on Amazon (The price has gone down slightly since I bought it, FYI!).

So where did the other $40 come from?

Swagbucks. I'm guessing most of my readers have heard of this already, but if you haven't, here's the lowdown. Swagbucks is a search engine that randomly awards you with "Swagbucks" for using it. Then you trade these Swagbucks in for real prizes--such as $5 Amazon gift cards which currently go for 450 Swagbucks. Yes, this is legitimate. I've been using it since January 2010 and while I've lost count of my exact earnings, I think I've made about $160 in Amazon money by doing a few searches a day. Yes, $160 in real Amazon cards that I have spent on real things. From using the internet.

When I went to purchase this ceiling fan, I checked my swagbucks account first and realized I had $40 of Amazon cards saved up in my swagbucks account! So I applied them to Amazon and got the fan for $8! Not bad, huh?

If you are interested in this, I would encourage you to sign up and give it a try. Then download their toolbar, which is a big reminder to do the searches. This is not a spammy, virusy toolbar. It's a-ok and comes with no added programs. I've had it on my machine for over a year with no problems! I'm happy to address and other questions you have in the comments.

And, if you don't mind, please consider clicking through the banner below so I can get a small referral credit as you start to earn. (If you don't use a referral link, you get nothing extra and neither do I.)