Ceiling fans in my goofy living room?

is the fireplace functional?

(and will the fans be on while a fire is burning)

I like the two fans....
Pictures?

Yes, the fireplace is functional.

We have a wood stove insert and really use it to heat our house in the winter.

The fan would be used a lot since we don't have air conditioning. We'll get fans that allow us to reverse the blades depending on the season.

(you stole my good question)

my other question: would it be worse to be a little lop-sided or sort of deliberately more lop-sided?

dont think you will like a big one right in front of the fire.

(apologies to tranna)

another ditto: this one on "no ceiling fan directly in line with a working fireplace"

I would not put the fan directly in front of the fireplace. It will disrupt the air flow needed to move the air up the flue.

I'd either move the one fan to the widest part of the room (down and to the left) or move fan number 2 (white) left and more centered in that area.

The fan in front of the fireplace wouldn't disrupt airflow -- it's a closed woodstove with a blower.

The lopsidedness is the big question -- accentuate it or not? We're going back and forth.

There is also a three fan idea which allows for a bit more symmetry:



I'll try to get some photos tomorrow but the room is nearly impossible to photograph in any realistic way. The room is pretty big.

I like the two fans, because they are nicely centered with the arched windows. The three fans are okay.

Maybe questions to ask are, how do you use the room, will the fans be over the sitting areas. Is the room so large that three fans are necessary? It looks to me that the leg at the bottom left is more of a walk through area.

This configuration works for me if both fans are reversible. The reversible fans will help control air temperature and flow to other rooms on the first floor and up to the second floor.

Don't let your sense of perfect balance disrupt the functionality of the fans. The whole reason you are installing them is to aid in air flow in that room.

They are tucked far enough into the two alcoves that you can aid the sense of balance by drawing an invisible straight line from each of the fans until they intersect. That's where the placement should be in each of the alcoves.

I like Butrflynet's suggestion, but I would slide them both toward the center of the room a little. (Top one down a little, bottom one right a little).

where's the furniture? I like to be sitting near where the fan is going.

Two fans definately.

Here are the room dimensions:



The major furniture is placed in the area in front of the fireplace but I move the furniture quite a bit depending on the season.

The area along the line marked at 15' functions pretty much as a hallway to access the rest of the house so I can't really place furniture there.

re buttrflys idea.

That's the best design. The top fan is set in the cente in that rectangle.

The bottom fan could be shift to the right to be in the center of that horizontal space.

You can then disguise any lopsidedness with furniture, pictures, color, etc.
Personally, it would drive me crazy if I let functionality totally decide their placement, but you can work with it. Doesn't have to be perfectly symetrical

It would be interesting to get a diagram of the air flow when they are on.

Here's a few super fast photos of the room:

i'm with butterflynet and drewdad

Ohhhhhhhhh cristonabike.

Today I went shopping for fans with the one, two and three fans idea in my head.

Now it is important to remember that I grew up in old houses in Texas. In Texas old houses have ceilings that are 12 feet high since hot air is trapped at the top. In Oregon the weather is very even. Old houses don't have high ceilings. Our ceilings are about 9 feet high.

So I go pick out some fans. (Ha!)

I find this bizarre thing I adore, stupidly expensive, but so wonderful and cool. I think "ohhhhh.... if we go with the one fan idea this would probably work.... yippee.... I love this weird thing.... this is what I want!"

It seems the fan requires a 10 foot ceiling.

What!?

Nothing but McMansions have 10' ceilings in Oregon. Are they crazy? Do they have a crying room somewhere?

So I pick out another fan.

Ohhhhh. So pretty. Just lovely. Half the price of stupidly expensive bizarre fan.... we can get two!

Say what?

No. Sir. I don't have a 10' ceiling. We've been over that. What the hell is wrong with these people who make fans? Have they never lived where the weather is nice? I hate them and want to kill them.

So I went to another store. And then another store. And yet another store.

I finally found some fans I like. Simple. Very understated. But they don't have lights -- which means now I'll have to buy lamps. And they're HUGE - 68'. That's a big fan. I need two.

Anyway....

After initally saying crazy bizarre stupid expensive fan was too crazy and bizarre and expensive Mr. B started liking it. REALLY liking it. Now he's trying to figure out how to McGyver it into our space.















LIfe could be a dream, sweetheart.

I have to answer since apparently my name is goofy.

Back when I lived in northern california my ceilings at home could be ten to eleven feet high in certain rooms and, in our studio gallery, approaching 15 feet high. We had good fans in the gallery, to distribute heat as an idea. No big deal at home, and I wouldn't have wanted to fool with that particular house's architecture, no relation to yours.

Here in New Mexico, I have a bunch of cheap fans with lights - not cheap to me, of course - from home depot.

All I can say is look around, fans and lights vary. Look online.

There are nice ceiling fans out there that are designed for 9 ft. ceilings.
This one has a light too! (from Restoration Hardware)