Add a drum shade to a ceiling fan in minutes!

May 20, 2020

How to add a lamp shade to a ceiling fan for a custom look!


A couple weeks ago I did a little project that only took about five minutes and buck to complete. So of course I had to show you. :)

I saw an idea in one of my old magazines and then did a little researching online to see if I could figure out how to do it myself. I didn’t find the how-to, but I did find another inspiration picture:
drum shade ceiling fan
We have a ceiling fan in our family room (this is an updated post from our last house) and even though I’d prefer something prettier, it’s staying for now. It’s necessary for the times the oven starts smoking in the kitchen, the smoke alarm is going off, and opening the windows and flapping the kitchen towel just isn’t cutting it. :)

The fan is darker brown, which I do like. It has three lights as you can see here:
corner fireplace with trim

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Nothing awful, but I was inspired by the photos I found and wanted to try something different. I decided I was going to do my best to use what I had on hand to change it up.

I started by taking off the glass covers – you just squeeze the metal pieces inside and pull the glass off:



replace glass on ceiling fan with shade

Next up – to figure out how to get my lamp shade to stay on the fan. I had large Goodwill drum shade I planned to use and it was the type with the wire circle at the top of the shade – the kind you have to use with harp. (More on that in a bit!)

So I stood under the fan for about ten minutes, thinkin’ and a thinkin’. I noticed there was a little jobby on the bottom where the pull chain came out. It matched the one on the side:
adding a drum shade to ceiling fan

Because I’ve changed out a meeellion lights in this house, I have plenty of electrical parts laying around. I dug through my stash and found this lamp pipe (also called a nipple):
lamp pipe nipple for light fixtures

I knew if I could get it connected to the fan, I could figure this out:
How to hand lamp shade on ceiling fan
I looked and looked and LOOKED and tried every little trinket I had in my tool box, and nothing worked. Drats.

I was so determined at this point, I was off to the hardware store. :) I looked around for awhile, but couldn’t find the exact piece I needed.  Lowe’s Guy and I both spent a good ten minutes looking through the drawers of nuts and connectors, and still couldn’t find anything that worked. And then Lowe's Guy No. 2 came up to help and suggested I look in…wait for it…the ceiling fan area.
Now, who would have thunk it? :) Bahhhrilliant.

There I found exactly what I was looking for:
How to hang drum shade from ceiling fan

Two of these little connectors came in a package for about $1.50. Not bad. They are called couplings and you can find them here...but I recommend you try them out at the store to see what fits.

I threaded the coupling to the fan, put the longer "pipe" into that one, and then put the hole of the lamp shade over the long piece:
simple trick to add drum shade to ceiling fan
I secured the shade up there with a small nut (picture on the right). It worked perfectly!

The original lamp shade I tried was way too big though, so I took another off a lamp and used that instead:
How to replace glass shades with lamp shade ceiling fan

Love, love, LOVE.

There’s a few things to consider if you want to try this out – first of which is your ceiling height. The shade hangs lower than the glass shades did, by about five inches I'm guessing? Our ceilings are nine feet, so we still have plenty of clearance.

Something else to consider is your lamp shade. My shade was the type that fits on the lamp with a harp – it’s called a spider fitting:
spider fitting lamp shade

This white linen shade would work as well.

If you have an uno style shade, or the type that fits right over the lamp socket, you’ll have to use a different method:
uno lamp shade

I’m sure there’s a way to wire that type of shade up there. But if you are thinking about trying this out, I’d suggest using one with the spider fitting, just because it’s SO easy.

If the bare bulbs showing from underneath the fan are going to bother you, this probably won't work for you. That doesn’t bug me one bit, since you only see the light bulbs if you’re right under it:
DIY drum shade ceiling fan

You actually see less of the bulbs this way than with the original glass shades!

One more thing to consider is the size of your shade. The light bulbs need to be two to three inches from the shade, for safety reasons:
How to add lamp shade to ceiling fan

But that also depends on the wattage of your bulbs – ours are 60 watt and we have a dimmer on this light. (And even though our shade is large enough, I had the light on full force for hours the first day, feeling to see how warm the shade was every ten minutes or so.)

It was fine. But I’m a freak like that.  :)

And of course, the newer LED bulbs make this even less of a concern -- they burn so much cooler than incandescents.

This new look makes more of a statement than the glass shades, but I find I notice it less. Maybe it’s because those covers were never my cup of tea. Or it could be because I love drum shades (especially those trimmed out with lovely jute trim).

I LOVE how it turned out. Especially because it only cost $1.50!:
ceiling fan with drum shade

Oh, and it holds up great when the fan is running too. Our fan doesn’t shake much anyway, but it’s totally secure.

If you don’t have a drum shade, HomeGoods always seems to have a good selection. Or try the online options I linked above. You can also find decorative ceiling fan pull chains like I have at most hardware stores or online. There are tons of cute options!

Over the years ceiling fan designs have started to use the drum shade look more and more. This is a beautiful option and I like this one too. But adding a shade to your current fan will save you tons of money!

So have you doctored up a ceiling fan? With spray paint? New shades? Have you tried this project? Do share!

Here's an image to pin this for later:


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Comments

  1. Sarah,
    I LOVE this idea! Such a simple way to create an amazing fan!!

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  2. This is an awesome idea! It looks great!

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  3. What a great idea!! And the price is soooooo right!! I love it!

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  4. I do LOVE this~ wonder how it would work with 8' ceilings...maybe a wider, not as tall shade would work????
    Adding this one to my "to-do" list!

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  5. Love it Sarah! I just did this last week in the playroom makeover but mine was a WAYYYY Ghetto-er version HA... gotta work with whatcha can. ;)

    So pretty. I LOOVE drum shades!

    xo

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  6. Your fan looks great - I especially like the pretty trim on the shade you used! We did something similar with ours:
    http://welcometoheardmont.com/2011/03/spring-bedroom-redo/
    But we had to wire the shade in place since it was the second style you showed above. Still turned out great though!

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  7. I love this! I have a question though. In my closet I have just a screw in bulb in the ceiling. I would love to put a drum shade on it. Any ideas how I could do that? Any help would be appreciated!

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  8. I think it looks great, Sarah! We actually have two ceiling fans in our kitchen. I'm not a fan of the one over our table, but the one near the stove is necessary b/c the fan thing in the stove range doesn't do the best job. They are, at least, both white...when we moved in, the one over the table was TURQUOISE, I kid you not!

    I think it looks awesome in your family room. :)

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  9. LOVE!! Total love! Thinking there's no way I can get the hubster to go for this, but you can bet your patootie I will try!! We have 18" ceilings in our living room so he has to stand on the tippy top of the ladder just to change the bulbs, but that won't stop me from suggesting it!!

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  10. LOVE this idea! Gonna try it in my master bedroom! Thanks for sharing Sarah!
    ~Cindy :o}

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  11. I love this idea because I CANNOT live without a ceiling fan!

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  12. I LOVE this idea! Seeing as how the hubs says the ceiling fans must stay, I just may have to try this. I've mod podged scrapbook paper to the blades on our Master celing fan and love it!

    Hannah

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  13. I love this idea! I have the same kind of light...minus the fan...but I would love to add a shade to it like that! I will definitely be trying it soon!

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  14. Love this, it looks awesome. And it's clearly Peanut approved. ;) Bee tee dubs, did you get a new rug, and I missed it? It looks great, anyway.

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  15. Wowsa... what an improvement for next to nothing! I'm definitely stealing for our family room & maybe even the kitchen nook fan. Thank you bunches!

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  16. So pretty! I love that shade! I recently spray painted my brassy standard fan and it made a huge difference but now you've got me thinking a drum shade would totally jazz it up! http://windgatelane.blogspot.com/2011/04/brassy-ness-no-more.html

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  17. Way to rock that inspiration picture! It looks AMAZING! I'm going to keep this in mind for when I address the ceiling fan in our son's room. Thanks a bunch :)

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  18. What? Creating smoke in the kitchen? I know nothing of doing that. NOT.
    Get this: My dog was afraid of the smoke alarm. I've now set it off so much that every night when I cook, she immediately starts cowering in the other side of the house, shaking so badly her teeth chatter. It's bad. And it's all because of my smoky tendencies in the kitchen!

    In other news, I love the transformation - really makes it more living-roomy.

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  19. Emily! I love the transformation! It adds a little drama to the space, which I really like (:

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  20. I love every little bit of this!

    PS my 2 year old rolls his eyes at me when I have my kitchen towel waving in the air until the alarm turns off! SAD! 99% of the time its for pizzas that sit right on the rack and something ALWAYS falls off when its not supposed to!

    Such is life. :)

    xo, Mallory @ Classy Clutter

    http://www.classyclutter.blogspot.com

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  21. what a GREAT idea! love this and what perfect timing. i have an older ceiling fan in my rec room that has been without those glass covers for awhile now as i really, really just wanted the ceiling fan to go...but like you, i needed it from time to time being right off from the kitchen. hehe :)

    i am so giving this a try VERY soon!


    have a creative day!

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  22. I love this project! I have been wanting to add a light to the CF in our living room and bedroom, but I haven't liked what is out there. This I could live with. Great pics, by the way. Thanks!

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  23. Its gorgeous! I love the new look & the fact that it looks more expensive than it really was :-) Beautiful job!

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  24. You are brilliant!!!!! i have been wanting to do this to my fans (I have the exact same fans) but I could not figure out how to do it. Thank you!

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  25. I love the pulls on your fan.

    Wish I knew about those connectors. I just gorilla glued something. I bet those doo-hickeys would have worked. Oh well, live and learn!

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  26. Looks Awesome! May have to try this in my Master Bedroom!

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  27. You can't imagine how helpful this is. I am currently building a new house. I kind of hate ceiling fans but my husband and family love them. We are putting SEVEN in the house and I have been trying to pick them out over the last week. Trying to find something that fits into the decor scheme yet does not stick out has been pretty difficult. Thank for this post! Also looking forward to the ideas of others!

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  28. I couldn't stand the lights on ours so I had the hubs just take them off. Haven't found any that I like to replace them but this is a great idea!! Nobody seems to like these unimaginative three light fixtures......seems some company like Hunter or whoever is missing a great opportunity to come up with something attractive and different and make big $$. I really would love to know where you got the decorative pulls on your fan I just LOVE them!!!! Please share?? Thanks for the inspiration!

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  29. FAN-TAS-TIC!!! I am definitely going to try this...what a great way to dress up the "necessary" ceiling fan!

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  30. Awesome! We have almost the exact same fan as yours. I was super close to just spraying the whole thing white in hopes that it would disappear into the ceiling more. I think I like your idea better though. Thanks for the idea on how to embrace my ugly ceiling fan :)

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  31. Very nice. Don't u love it when a plan comes together. (for 1.50$.) Also, thanks so much for the pic of peanut. He was posing. Betcha he thinks the blog is about him. Love the little doggy bed. My decor features a dog bed in 4 rooms, including a huge one in the family room. Dogs are Goldens and have the extreme need to sleep in which ever room their humans are in at the time. The huge one is an old memory foam mattress topper I cut up and covered. They love it, and it was free.

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  32. Luuuurve it! This is a great transformation.

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  33. Seriously great idea!

    p.s. I'm keeping my ceiling fans around for the same reason as you...

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  34. You are amazing! I have been wanting to do this to my fan but wasn't exactly sure how. (Mine has a lovely 'boob' light under it.) With your tips and inspiration, I dug in a looked at mine and I think I can do it! Thanks!! Yours looks fab:)

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  35. I can't wait to try this in my new house! I had the idea in my mind but you filled in the blanks with the instructions! Thank you!!! : )

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  36. Okay, I'm gonna have to try this with my bedroom fan. What a great idea and a very easy to follow tutorial!

    Thanks so much for sharing this. Just discovered your blog this morning and have already "favorited" several projects that I want to try!!

    All the best,
    Keith

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  37. I did this in my master bedroom. Since not all fans are created equally, i tried what you did but that didn't work for me so i went to plan B which was zip ties. I put one zip tie above the lights, slightly loose to tighten later. Then i zip tied each arm of the drum shade to the main zip tie, then tighten the main one and voila, gorgeous! You can't see them and the drum shade is secured well.

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  38. You will not believe how hard it is to find the large glass replacement bowls for ceiling fans. After our bowl broke, we have been stuck with the bare bulbs. I am definitely jumping on your bandwagon. Thanks for sharing this great idea.

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  39. Mary @ Redo101.blogspot.comApril 18, 2011 at 1:02 PM

    You just go ahead because that looks great, completely changes everything. Funny how a little thing like a shade can do that. Thanks for sharing it with us!

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  40. Love this idea. A fan is a must have in our area to survive the summers so we have a fan in every room of our house! I'm going to try this in our kitchen!

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  41. I just love your "if there's a will there's a way" determination Sarah! Im now on the lookout for yet another drum shade!
    Just wondering if you have ever tried to do a drum around an existing chandelier like you see in the mags? It would have to be huge for the one in my hall but I would love to ditch the glass shades like you did here and have a sheerish drum "slip" around it.
    I saved the metal ring from my Christmas tree wreath but haven't found/garbage picked another to craft a giganto drum shade. I was also stumped on how to make a spider at the top too. Hoping you might tackle this someday!

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  42. beautiful, but that size may not be good for flowe of air.

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  43. I love that you are making a home that you love...it's yours and that's all that matters.

    I have seen this done before on other blogs and for me personally, I don't like it at all. It looks wonky to me. Living in the south, I understand the importance of ceiling fans, but when it comes to lights, my husband has transitioned me to a lamp lover and we rarely use overhead lights at all. So a ceiling fan without a light kit would work better for me before trying this. That is totally just me though...

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  44. OMG! You, my dear, are a mad genius! We moved into a house with an older fan an light set in the dining room and the light covers dimensions are not sold in stores anymore! We like the fan and light set we have but refuse to pay over $150.00 for light covers that will fit the lights. I am going to hunt this weekend for some matching lampshades! Thank you!

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  45. Thanks so much for this! I despise ceiling fans,my husband loves them. I despise them not so much for looks, but because they dry my eyes out when he has them going 90mph! I had the go ahead to replace them all, but I know he would love to keep the one in our bedroom to sleep with. This might be just the thing! (And the fact that my eyes are usually closed in there!)So cute!

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  46. My first thought was "GENIUS"!!!! Then I remembered we did this same thing when we built this house 26 years ago!!! We had an old hanging lamp that we couldn't use so used the shade on the ceiling fan in our Master! Great minds......it's just that I seem to be losing mine:):):) XO, Pinky

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  47. That's neat. I'm a fan! (Couldn't help it. FAN. Get it...fan?) ha

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  48. Thanks for this idea. When we sit in our family room the ceiling fan/light ist right above and just in front of my line of vision, which means the lights are blinding me when we watch tv. The fan has to stay, we live in So.California heat, so this plus the dimmer switch might be the solution!

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  49. Nicely done!Hugs and I hope you'll stop by and enter my latest giveaway to win a gorgeous dress!

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  50. The pulls on the fan are nice, but the shade is too wide. It looks too bulky in the living room; maybe a little less wider shade would have done the job.

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  51. Love your creativity and it didn't cost you a fortune. Way to go!

    Michi

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  52. I hate, hate, hate the big, huge ceiling fans that were already in place in the living and dining room when i bought my house...and they were brand-new so I couldn't just head out and buy new ones. I love this idea and will be headed out to find two lamp shades ASAP!!! THANK YOU!!!!

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  53. Love this idea, Sarah! It looks fabulous! I don't always like the look of ceiling fans, but I LOVE having them in the rooms. I love sleeping under a fan at night! That shade really dresses it up.
    Lurve.
    xoxo

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  54. Man oh Man does that look nice!!

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  55. You go, girl! Good for you for figuring that out! It looks fabulous!!! :)

    xoxo laurie

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  56. It looks so great! Ok - so that shade came from over your kitchen sink right? What's over the sink now? ;) Yes, I'm your stalker - but not in a scary way :)

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  57. This is exactly what I've been wanting to do. Now I know it works and just have to get it done. Thank you for the post.

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  58. You genius. I am a ceiling fan girl. I love me some air flowage, but don't love the way they look~such a great solution to help that out!

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  59. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I've been wanting to try this but the other tutorials I've seen were so jerry-rigged but your way is perfection.

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  60. I love this idea! We have a ceiling fan in our kitchen... love the idea of fan... hated how it looked... got a shade and some ribbon for trim and the hardware you described plus a beautiful new chain pull... cost about $20 total and now I love how it looks... thanks for the great idea!:-)

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  61. So neat! I have been wanting to do something in our master bedroom. This is it! Thanks for the idea. I would have never come up with it on my own. :)

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  62. Love it! Do tell us about the stack and magazines and the perfect solution... My hubs just might start reading your blog once all of mine are outta here!!

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  63. Ooooh! I love, love, LOVE this idea! I've been wanting to put a sweet little chandelier in my daughters room for years, but her room gets the hottest and she really needs the ceiling fan. I'm thinking a shade with some pretty trim with hanging crystals just might do the trick! Thanks for the idea! I'll link up to you if I can make it work! I love how yours turned out too!

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  64. OMG...YOU ARE A GENIUS! I think this is going to have to happen in my master bedroom redo this summer!!! You are the BEST! Thanks for sharing!!!! :)

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  65. OK...for fear of looking like a CRAZY person...I was just showing the hubs what we are doing in our bedroom I showed him the Better Homes & Garden's pic and we realized that the fan in the pic is the same fan we have in our bedroom...can you say MEANT TO BE????

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  66. I am so excited. I took the glass shades off of our ceiling fan months ago, so we've been seeing the bare bulb and metal parts daily. I kept thinking there had to be a better solution. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

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  67. Ive been seeing these fans with the big shades, but they are expensive. This is brilliant! Thanks for the how too, I will certainly put it to good use!!

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  68. You have inspired me!!!

    http://ryanandsharon.blogspot.com/2011/05/let-there-be-pretty-lights.html

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  69. You're a genius! I live in South Georgia, so a ceiling fan is a must to combat the heat. I can't do away with it, but I've been trying to figure what to do to it to make it prettier. Adding a drum shade is the perfect idea.

    Thanks so much!

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  70. you have single-handedly solved my ugly ceiling fan in the family room dilema! THANK YOU!!!

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  71. This is pure awesomesauce! I ended up doing this to my Kitchen ceiling fan (recovered a smaller drum shade with a red, black and white contemporary mum pattern). It looks absolutely amazing! Now it's time to do this to bedroom fan! Thanks for the inspiration!!

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  72. I was finally able to recreate this look in my home (which is an apartment.. so naturally full of things that could be changed)! I found a drum shade at the Goodwill for $2.99, and was able to secure it with floral wire (all I had in the house). It was so easy! Thank you for posting this to help us all make prettier homes :)

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  73. I have loved this post forever. I was finally able to do it and post about it. Thank you so much for the tutorial.
    http://decoratinginsanity.com/2011/11/21/super-simple-ceiling-fan-drum-shade/

    mONICa

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  74. Umm....HECK YEA! This looks fabulous! Great job!

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  75. Thanks for the great idea and tutorial! I finally did something similar to the fan in our nursery and I love the way it turned out. http://the2bedroomblues.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/updating-the-nursery-ceiling-fan-with-a-shade/

    Thanks!

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  76. I aboslutely LOVE this idea! I just did this treatment in our guest room thanks to your great tutorial! Only question I have is do you think it's possible to do this look on a ceiling fan that has the bowl versus the shades?

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  77. OMY Goodness!! I LOVE this idea!!! I've never been a ceiling fan person, but my husband says it's a must..... this would make me actually think it's ok...

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  78. Great Idea!!! Where did you get your rug? I love it.

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  79. Thanks Laurie! That one was from HomeGoods -- you can see more about it on my FAQ tab at the top. :)

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  80. Good to know this post is still around 'cause my guest bedroom ceiling fan is going to get this makeover!! Working on that room now, and living in Texas, we have ceiling fans in every room!

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  81. Awesome. The glass shade on my fan broke years ago & I can't find the right replacement piece. This is perfect for my living room. I find the ceiling fan a necessary evil since I don't like A/C.

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