My Turn!

Now that the initial renovations of the bathroom, kitchen, and addition of a covered back porch are complete, it's time to begin jumping in feet first on making improvements and necessary repairs to our house.

The original logic was to get the "big" stuff done before Winter. I could have done most of the work, myself, and contracted out the specialty work, but we wanted be finished no later than early October. Plus, uncovering unknown issues in 91 year old house is something I had no experience and had some anxiety in discovering one of those nightmare scenarios scene on the renovation shows.  Thankfully, no major issues were discovered.

The first order of business was replacing the ceiling fans in the living room and bedroom, plus, adding one to my office. I tend to overthink everything and figuring out the style of the ceiling fans was no exception.  In the end, I decided to stick with a brand that was available when our house was built: Hunter.  The ceiling fans that were installed when we purchased the house didn't have light kits and definitely looked dated. In order to ensure the lights didn't hang too low, I chose the "hugger" variety in a traditional style. These don't have the typical downrod and, instead, flush mount to the ceiling with a more finished look. And, to stay with the lighting finishes in the kitchen, they are oil-rubbed bronze. Also, to keep it simple, I, purposefully, wanted fans/lights with pull chains and no remotes. This would ensure no modern looking light switch/controller was needed. We splurged on the living room fan and purchased the flagship Hunter line: Casablanca.

Casablanca "Durant" (living room)

Hunter "Newsome" (bedroom)

The only original fixture (c.1928) in the house was the one in the office.  It was a stamped metal fixture that had been painted and shades. I have thought about this fixture shortly after we bought the house. At first, I was going to save it; I thought it was porcelain, but after some investigating, I determined it was stamped steel with the sleeve around the sockets being porcelain. During some investigation, I discovered the wiring and sockets were original and, after, replacing the bulbs in it, one of the sockets stopped working.  After some discussion with my Wife, we decided to replace it with a ceiling fan. Since I'm superstitious, while permanently removing the fixture, I was talking to the house in hopes of not disturbing any lingering spirits. Yes, I know...   And, for now, the fixture is still in the house and safely stored in the basement utility room. Just in case. ;)