Skeleton Key Fan Pulls

The first thing we see when we walk into our abode is our living room fan/light combo.  Don’t judge me – I know fans aren’t acclaimed to be the most chic of all the lighting choices, but this is the desert and we have 11′ ceilings.  So, fan it is!  

Because this is the first thing seen as you walk in the door, (and the fan pulls being the closest to eye line) naturally, I contemplated ideas for attractive fan pulls.

Now, we live in a house that is almost 100 years old.  As the house is so old, we have many doors with skeleton key locks.  So when the idea of using skeleton keys as fan pulls came to me, I knew it would be a neat way to sort of elude to the history of the house.

Here is how they came to be:

Supplies:
1. Fan pulls
2. Skeleton keys (Note: look for some with thin metal to fit around the jump rings easier.  I also recommend going to your local antique stores for these.  I found them at about 1/3 of the price you can get them online.)
3. Jump rings (tiny jewelry pieces that look like mini key rings)
4. Needle nose Pliers

• I just went to the jewelry department of Wal-Mart and found small jewelry pieces that look like tiny key chain parts - as stated above, they are called  jump rings.
• I coiled the jump ring around both the end of the fan pull and the top of the key.  
• Then I used pliers to clamp the piece of the fan pull shut.  You have to really pierce it together - if it is not pierced tightly, the key will eventually pull off (because the fan pulls are handled so often. (I also recommend hanging the fan pulls low enough that you can grab the top of the key, not the bottom, to avoid eventually stretching the jump ring out and loosening the key.)

I took a picture and posted before and after pictures below so you can see what the part looks like. 
  
Check.  it.  out.  See how happy they are now?

Til’ next time, friends!