Craftmade's Presidential II
I have always been a fan of hardwood. Anything with a wooden finish, be they flooring, drawers, even notebooks, I easily get drawn into. This is why when I look for finishing touches for my home, I look for that natural, woodsy feel. That’s the feel I get with antique ceiling fans. Unfortunately, getting the authentic ones are really expensive and ever since my pledge to be a green revolutionary, I have been very wary of energy consumption of many a household item, including appliances and, yes, ceiling fans.
Before I give you my get-around for this predicament let’s define quickly what an antique ceiling fan is. Ceiling fans have been around since the 1800’s. So that’s about 200 years of history there. A ceiling fan need not be 200 years old to be considered “antique”, however, it only needs to be at least 25 years old. What companies do is restore these 25-year-old-or-so antique ceiling fans, get them to look immaculately new and tweak them to run smoothly, safely and without a hitch. The really old antique ceiling fans are driven by belt motors but most restored ones nowadays are driven by electricity.
Minka Aire Supra Bronze
Like I said, I’m a fan of antique fans but its efficiency and safety gives them a no-go for me. Thankfully, there are plenty of brand new ceiling fans that have the antiquated feel to them. New almost always means better efficiency and also means safer. Some of the companies whose catalogs you would want to browse for the antique ceiling fan look include Craftmade and Minka-Aire. I find plenty of designs that have the dark wood blades and the copper, bronze or nickel finishes on the motors that I find embody the look of antique ceiling fans—and they’re all in an energy star compliant machinery.