Fan-tastic

There are many things we'd like to fix or change about our home. Among them was the funky track lighting in the TV room. It wasn't just that the floodlights looked tacky. We also had been dreaming of installing a ceiling fan.

I don't have a "before" photo. You know how that works. It was so ugly, why take a picture of it?

We spend our mornings and evenings in our recliners, the most comfortable seats in the house, sipping coffee, watching movies, reading email on our tablets.

It gets hot in Tucson and we are entering summer. We try not to burn too much money running the air conditioning. Eighty degrees can be quite bearable — with a small breeze. Previous summers, we plugged in a floor fan and had fun tripping over the wire or pointing the fan towards or away, depending upon who felt more heat.

Unsatisfied with what the mega-hardware stores had to offer, we bought a beauty at a local lighting fixture store. That was the easy part. Installing it was quite the project.

I've already installed or replaced three ceiling fans in this house, but this fourth proved the most challenging — and rewarding. I will summarize or this post will run for pages: 

• cut out (literally, using blade and chisel) the track of the track lighting which had been caulked into the ceiling drywall; 
• lay plastic sheets everywhere to catch the dust;
• cut out the damaged drywall and sweep;
• marvel and explore wire connections taped and wire-nutted together (definitely not Code);
• buy and attach electrical box to ceiling joist and shove the loose wire connections inside;
• pray the wire connections hold after having shoved, poked and forced inside the box;
• install fan support bracket (thanks, Ace Hardware); 
• cut new drywall to shape and affix without mucking it up too badly; 
• rely upon Shari's talent and two days of her work to match stucco texture, then match paint (unsuccessfully), then paint the entire ceiling; 
• lay plastic and sweep again and again;
• pray the new ceiling fan with LED light will attach to the bracket;
• interpret instructions and drawings written by someone who obviously knew what he was doing so he didn't feel the need to really explain;
• attach ceiling fan and wonder whether I should have used the parts still in the box;
• pray the circuit breaker doesn't trip as I turn on. Viola!

The fan rotates quietly. Its LED light is a bit bright, but it's the fan we wanted, not a ceiling light. The breeze is refreshing and cool. Folks, we are in love with our new fan.