Mr. Seasongoods and I are slowly (and I mean SLOWLY) giving our home office a face lift. The first order of business was replacing the outdated squeaky ceiling fan…and when we did so, I, OF COURSE, saved the ceiling fan blades for a project. I had a farmhouse-style idea that seemed a little crazy…but had a lot of potential.
Can you say…outdated?
My crazy idea stemmed from the show Fixer Upper, which many of you are likely familiar with. Joanna Gaines (one of the main stars) would periodically use salvaged windmills in her farmhouse décor. When I looked them up online, they were OUTRAGEOUSLY priced. And also- HUGE. I have a small budget and a small house…but what if I could recreate that look with repurposed ceiling fan blades??
Crazy idea? Or just crazy enough to work? Let’s find out…This post contains affiliate links for your crafting convenience.
First, I removed the connecting hardware from my blades and wiped them down. We needed to cut them into a more angular windmill blade shape…so I wanted to create a template to make that easier (and consistent). So, I grabbed some scrap cardboard and a marker (ignore the utility knife- I changed my mind about using it).
Ready to see if this will work?
I traced the full ceiling fan blade, and then sketched out the windmill blade shape inside my tracing. The inner portion of my drawing without any writing? That’s going to be my template.
It’s honestly less complicated than it looks!
With rotary cutter in hand, I cut out my template on my largest craft mat and BOOM- windmill blade template!
Ok! We have a template.
Then, I taped the template to each ceiling fan blade and traced it out.
Looks pretty windmill-ish…
While Mr. Seasongoods cut out and sanded down each windmill-blade-to-be, I nabbed a medium-sized floral craft ring.
To be my center anchor…
Still with me? Good- things are about to really take shape now!
After purchasing some large, industrial-looking nuts and bolts, we drilled corresponding holes through each blade and the floral craft ring (which we had cut off- about a quarter round of it). Now, it was time to metal-fy them with some amazing spray paint…
NOW the transformation will really get going…
Are you ready for this? The transformation is insane- they turned to weathered, galvanized steel right before my eyes.
LOOK. AT. THAT!
I wanted to add just a touch of “rust”, so I rubbed a scant amount of rust-colored craft paint onto each blade using a cloth rag. When that dried, I gave the blades a quick coat of matte sealant, to protect my faux rust paint job AND to tone down the shine.
This is wild!
Then, it was assembly time! I bolted the blades to the quarter round of craft ring, and then I hot-glued a piece of wire behind the three blades I used. It’s a minor detail, but all the real windmills have that stabilizing wire, so I wanted mine to look as authentic as possible.
Shut the front door, right??
So- tell me. Did my crazy idea work? I think it did- and I can’t wait to set up a farmhouse style mantelscape with this as the focal piece. I seriously LOVE how it turned out!
Amazing- I just love it!
If Joanna Gaines sees this, I hope she doesn’t get mad that I made this for, like, $10…compared to the hundreds of dollars the real thing goes for. But you know what- I’m pretty sure that our 1980s-era ceiling fan blades have never looked better!
Craft on!
S
PIN ME!
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