How To Easily Rid Your Home of 1980’s Brass: $8 Fan Remodel Tips

It is easy to get overwhelmed when you think about home projects, but there are so many small home projects that can make such a huge difference. When I say “small” I am also referencing inexpensive. These usually include a coat of paint or some accessory replacements and waaa laa!

We bought our house almost 7 years ago and it had the structure and style that we wanted. It had been kept up so beautifully and treated so well by the previous owners, and that was very hard to find. We knew there were small things we would want to change, but we were fine with that.

Eliminating the 80’s style brass was our first focus.

I was about to replace all the simple brass fixtures in our house so I attempted to refinish them and they turned out just as I had hoped.

Eric disassembled the fan in our bedroom and I went to work. The fixture itself was all metal so I needed a wire brush to scratch the surface enough to accept the spray paint. Once I had scratched it, I wiped it clean and sprayed it with rustoleum high heat oil rubbed bronze spray paint holy that’s a mouthful! I did the same to the visible screws by pressing each one individually into a piece of cardboard and sprayed them. It cost us $8 to remodel this fan!

Once I was finished with the base of the fan I knew I didn’t want to replace the blades, but also that I did not want the wicker part of them showing.

I decided to flip them upside down and spray paint them brown. Unfortunately, they do not make globes this size anymore so we cannot replace them, but eliminating the brass made me enjoy the fan so much more! It compliments our style much better now.

I similarly eliminated the brass on both of our fireplace surrounds.

Eliminating the brass on the fireplaces was a little more tricky because I did not disassemble them. I hand painted them instead with rustoleum high heat black paint. This process was a little more labor intensive as I needed to tape off the glass and put a few coats of paint on them. It was still very simple and did not take more than a few hours total.

To date, these have both been the projects that have been the most simple yet have made the most difference! I have done this “de-brass” project all over the house to light fixtures, door handles, cabinet handles, hinges, and though it takes a bit of time it is much less expensive than replacing all the pieces.

I hope this helps inspire you to take on your next ‘simple’ home remodel project!

XO,