Spring Cleaning - Ceiling Fan

This was a big, scary job that wasn't as bad as I feared in the end.

Our ceiling fan hadn't been dusted in the 3 years we've lived here. It's in my & DH's bedroom and I would lay in bed contemplating it's grossness. I would wonder what would happen if we turned on the fan. I would consider how the heck to clean the thing. It's directly over the bed hanging from a vaulted ceiling. How could I clean it without showering a herd of dust bunnies onto our bedding?

I want to give a shout out to my mom here who did teach me to clean. We just didn't have any ceiling fans in my house.

Here's what the fan looked like when I started. I don't know if you can really see the dust buildup but it's significant. I really don't want to show you this, but I like to be "real" on this blog so there you go.

I read a tip online awhile back about using a pillowcase to clean the blades of a ceiling fan. It sounded good to me - you can dust and catch all the falling pieces at the same time. I gave it a try and it worked pretty well. The hardest part was getting the pillowcase onto the fan paddle without knocking dust off. It was also a little weird to rub the fan blade all over and hope I was getting all the dust since I couldn't see it.
Here's a photo of the pillowcasewhen I was done. It mostly had balls of dust inside it, not streaks of dirt like I expected.



After the pillowcase round, I opened a swiffer duster that had been sitting in my laundry room for about two years. It took off a little more dust. I was actually pretty surprised at how much more dust the Swiffer attracted. Finally I got a wet rag because the fan still looked a little dingy. Then I laid on my bed and looked for any spots I missed.

It still doesn't look perfect, but it is at about 97% and it's good enough for me and my pregnant, forget-climbing-the-ladder-one-more-time body.
Finished Product:



Katie