Update Your Ceiling Fan with Paint
I’m back, but only for a minute because I’m working hard on transforming our pinky-beige bonus room into an art and craft studio fit for an art show! This is compounded by the fact that the room has many angles and dormers. Who knew that such a small room would take FOREVER to paint! Gah.
Do you have a brass ceiling fan cluttering the view on your ceiling? It is hard to imagine getting rid of a perfectly good ceiling fan. Especially if you live in a hot climate like we do. Ceiling fans are our salvation in the heat of the summer. But, they aren’t always the most attractive things.
I encourage you not to rid your home of a perfectly good fan if it still works. Instead, why not paint it? AND, even if your blades are white, I’m going to show you a trick that will help make that fan almost disappear on the ceiling. 😉
Update Your Ceiling Fan with Paint Materials:
(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)
- Wet Rag
- Phillips Screwdriver
- Fine grit sandpaper
- KILZ spray primer
- Rustoleum Gloss White Paint (and maybe Rustoleum Heirloom White)
- Drop cloth
- Flat white paint (matches your ceiling paint)
- Small paint roller
Instructions:
Start by unscrewing the fan blades from the fan motor. Use a cordless drill for speed or just a phillips head screwdriver.
Remove the brass cover from the bottom of the fan. (My fan has a bolt on top of the motor and the screw head underneath.) Obviously if the entire fan is brass, you’ll need to shut off the power and take the entire fan down.
Set all the screws aside in a bowl (and out of the way of wrestling boys! Ahem.)
Unscrew the three screws holding the arm to each fan blade. Store the screws in the bowl with the others.
Remove the dust screen from the bottom plate (if your fan has one.) Wipe it clean and set it aside.
Clean the fan blades, arms, and the brass bottom cover well with a damp rag and some multi-purpose spray cleaner if necessary.
Take the metal arms and the bottom plate outside to spray paint. Lay them on a tarp or drop cloth. Spray one to two coats of KILZ primer onto the fan parts.
Let the primer dry. Then follow up with Rustoleum white spray paint. (Side note: I spritz a little Rustoleum Heirloom white onto the bottom cover to help it match the rest of the fan which was a slight off-white color.)
Take your ceiling paint and roll it onto one side of the fan blades. Let the paint dry. Gently sand the blade to remove any burrs or bumps. Add a second coat of paint.
After all the fan parts have dried. Reassemble your fan. Start by putting the dust screen back into the fan cover.
Then re-attach the bottom cover of the fan motor. (This proved to be the most difficult part of the entire project. Lining up the bolts with the hole on top took some patience.)
Reassemble your ceiling fan blades and then attach the arms to the fan with the freshly painted fan blades facing the floor.
That looks much better, don’t you think?
Having your ceiling and fan blades painted the same flat white color helps the blades blend into the ceiling and almost disappear.
It also helps that I painted the ceiling the same white as the fan blades. I am not going to miss that flesh colored ceiling (and walls.)
The best part is that I didn’t have to buy a new fan, spend time installing it and worry about the old fan ending up in the landfill!
And now, it’s back to work for me. See ya’ later gator.
Is t possible to spray paint a ceiling fan without pulling any of the parts down? Would that be unsafe?
It’s possible, but a lot messier. You’d have to tarp off everything and spray paint will leave a fine dusting on everything. It’s much better to remove the fan before painting.
The top of my fan is not white like yours so I will have to paint that as well. That is the part that I am most worried about. Do you have any suggestions for that? I’m worried that if I spray paint that part it will ruin the fan/motor. Other then that this was the past tutorial I found on spray painting ceiling fans.
Stephanie
Stephanie, I’d put some paper or painter’s tape into the vent holes before you spray. Good luck!
I just painted the metal on my ceiling fan, which is just like yours to silver. It came out perfect. Thanks!! I was going to replace the whole fan, because everything in my home is silver. You saved me some money!! It was easy.
This is great to hear! Glad I could help.
Oh my, so happy I checked this link, it gave me courage! Our home has all bright gold finished fans and I have wanted to do just this process. They are Regency fans, we had them in prior home, they are very quiet and sturdy, but were an investment so not something we would just replace. We decided to paint great room that has 11 ft ceiling and a neighbor offered use of his portable scaffolding so we could do the job ourselves. That opened the subject of refinishing the fan which my husband thought was crazy! Asked him to let me try one, if it failed then we’d replace it and shame on me..lol. We took the fan down today, without any mishaps and only because of that platform! Bought Rustoleum Paint plus Primer in metallic silver, cleaned the fan casing with rubbing alcohol, scuffed finishes with block sanding sponge and tested couple smaller parts first. They look awesome! So, I’m hooked and the rest of fixtures will be done too. Be brave, try it, paint cost $8.99, fan costs much more and it’s a great improvement! Yay.
Hooray Sharon! So glad you are saving yourself some big $$$!!!
this was really helpful because I am planning to paint my ceiling fan in the near future. My ceiling fan happens to be the same as yours. ( which means when the time comes for me to paint my fan it should be easy to follow your steps ) However, my ceiling fan was here when we moved into our house and is already completely white and looks exactly the way yours did once you painted it. All the little fixtures and detailing are exactly the same. Thank you for this, it was extremely helpful!
Would love to paint my bright brass (mid 90’s) ceiling fan. But it’s really up high and it has a 4-foot long brass stem that extends down from the ceiling. No idea how I’d be able to spray paint that, and I think it would look odd to leave it shiny brass.
Just buy a small of enamel and a fine brush and brush paint the rod. The paint will level nicely but will take a day to dry.. If you are good with a spray can, take a2’x1′ piece of cardboard and crease it lengthwise so you can use it as a backdrop to the downrod . Then you can spray paint without getting it everywhere
what if after painting and putting back up they shake when running. Not balanced.
Nancy, try changing the blades to different positions on the fan. Be sure they are tight. And if worse comes to worse you can buy a balancing kit at the hardware store.
Nice work, great idea. Now you almost can’t see your ceiling fan. And you can do it the other way around, to make fan look in contrast to the ceiling.
Thank you for being real with us. I appreciate that I have visited your site twice and both times I have been blessed with straight forward answers, a list of items needed for the task, and step-by-step instructions. Of course your before and after photos qualify you for the DIYS Pulitzer!
Your focus is on providing others the best information on how to accomplish their task/goal at hand and guiding them how to do it the very best way possible. This site is officially awarded by this North Carolina user as the most USER FRIENDLY DIYS site and in my heart and mind I am gently throwing pink roses your way! Sincerely,
Your North Carolina Fan Club President
The white makes such a great difference, subtle but great update!
Our fans and we have one in every bedroom have the five light attached on them the glass cups are kind of curvy and the center glass has grooves. This are pretty expensive to replace there are 4 of the smaller and the large center one we have 6 fans Oh I forgot to mention The light fixture used to hold the lights is shiney gold and they have a curvy tube type piece that goes down to where the bulbs are. The pull chain is gold. The blades are white, We installed these 23 years ago. Do you think the method you describe will work for our fans with light kits? Im thinking of leaving the glass light enclosures and not replace them.hoping they will blend in.