Ceiling Fan Blade Door Decorations

Have you had to replace an old ceiling fan and you don’t want the old fan sitting on your lawn waiting for trash to be picked up? Well, instead of tossing out the plastic or wood blades you can repurpose them for beautiful door/wall decorations that fit any need. Each blade can be fully customized to your own preference.

• Fan Blades
• Sandpaper
• Primer
• Indoor or outdoor paint
• Pencil
• Paper or Poster board
• Chalk for transferring images (optional)
• Varnish/sealant (Your choice on finsih - matte, semigloss, or gloss)
• Ribbon for hanging

1. Carefully remove the blades from the motor. Sometimes this can be quite a chore. Try not to crack the blades. If your blades are warped, you may have to put them under some weight for a few days to flatten them out back out.
2. Sand all sides to remove any protective coating and as much paint as you want. This also roughs up the plastic blades enough so that the primer and paint sticks better.
3. Clean and dry to remove all remaining dust.
4. Prime all sides. I usually do 2 coats of primer. I also use Kills to help block any stains that might be on the blades.

Paint the blade whatever background color you choose. I do this so that I do not have to paint around each of my characters. I try to do at least 2 coats of background paint. In this case I used pistachio green.

1. To create my plaid background I placed a strip painter's tape at an angle in the middle of my blade.
2. I used a small strip of painter's tape and place it right next to the first piece. This piece will be used as a spacer. This will help ensure that each box is the same dimension.
3. Beside my "spacer" strip I place another full piece of tape and continue alternating between a full strip and a "spacer".
4. Once I have the my blade covered in diagonal strips I remove my spacers and paint the open areas lightly with my background color. I then let this paint dry. I then paint a layer or 2 of my light purple over these areas. This helps ensure that my purple paint wont bleed under the paint. Let each box dry, then remove the tape
5. I rep step 1-4 but in the opposite direction.
6. After the paint has dried and the tape has been removed you will a box that was created where each light purple line intersects. These boxes will be painted your darkest color (dark purple).

If you like to freestyle your designs skip this step.

• If you are a planner like I am, you might want to draw out your idea for your blade. You can tape several pieces of paper together and then trace a blade onto the paper so you have a template of the blade or you can use a piece of poster board that is big enough to fit your blade.
• Inside of your template you can draw out your design for your blade. Really any topic will work, I just really like Fall and Halloween.
• Once you have your design completed you will need to transfer it to you blade.

• The two easiest ways to transfer without transfer paper are:

• 1. Color back side of your temple with a pencil. Lay your template on your blade and trace your lines. They should transfer. Sometimes this does leave excess pencil marks. This works well if you have light background colors.

• 2. Color back side of your temple with chalk. Lay your template on your blade and trace your lines. They should transfer. This will leave excess chalk, but when you are done and the paint has dried you can wipe it off with a damp cloth. This works well if you have dark background colors

• Paint your design. Depending on where you plan on hanging your blade you will need to choose the appropriate paint.
  If it is indoors, regular acrylics will work. If you are hanging it outside, you will need to use an outdoor paint.

• Once the paint has dried, finish your blade with a few coats of varnish/sealant. Tie or glue ribbon to your blade as a hanging device.