Friday, August 03, 2007

A sleeping problem

Our new apartment has the loudest air conditioner on the planet. It wouldn't bother me if it was a constant sound all night long. Unfortunately, it clicks on and off and wakes me up all night.


After a month of trying to live like that I've turned into a sleep-deprived raving beast.

The ear doctor came up with a solution to use the A/C less and get a fan that we could run all night. That way the low level white noise could hummmmm me to sleep and he could stay cool. Sounds like a great idea, right?

Well, I'm a little bit picky about what we use in our house. The thought of getting a big, plastic oscillating fan makes my skin crawl. So, I've been looking for cool, vintage/antique looking fans.

We found one at restoration hardware that looked great, but it cost over $100 and the salesgirl went on and on about how quiet it was. Well, guess what, we are looking for something that makes some sound! Quiet is not what we want.

This morning I've been looking around and I found Darryl Hudson's S. Carolina website. He masterfully restores old fans and his work makes me drool! What he does with them is BEAUTIFUL! Just look:




Now those are worth paying money for!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know the feeling! I have lived without air conditioning for … let’s see… 13 years (that would be since I left college)
And that includes 6 years in eastern Nebraska (epitome of hot and humid)!

After all, we’re in Colorado. Except for this year, Air Conditioning ain’t all that necessary!

So now, I spend the weekends at my BF’s newly built condo – and until we set up a bed in his spare room, I slept in the living room during overnight visits… and found myself awakened by what sounds like a jet engine – or a turbine engine of some sort! It’s like sleeping in a power plant!

I think these new construction builders just put the cheapest crap in these new places. I think he should go to the builder (who is currently working on the third condo building) and offer to sell him back the turbine AC and then go buy and install a high end – quiet piece of equipment.

I love the fans you found!

Courtney said...

Those are beautiful!

They look pricey - but maybe worth it?

Anonymous said...

Yet another home decor suggestion from me. :)

I hate to even use the W word for advice about style, but I'm going to have to break my rule. I'm usually a Target girl 100%, but having recently moved to South Carolina myself, Walmart is the only place to shop for groceries reasonably close to my house. And of course the nearest Target is 20 minutes away. So yes, I've been doing some shopping at Walmart.

But guess what? I was walking past the fan aisle there a couple weeks ago, not even looking for a fan, but there was a fan so attractive that it made me stop to look at it, then with the $15 price tag it made me buy two of them. I looked on the website to see if I could link a picture for you, but it's not available online. But trust me, as someone who 100% agrees with the aesthetic grossness of a big plastic fan, this fan had to be pretty good-looking to have me buying one for my bedroom and one for my guest room. The finish on it looks like antiqued copper, and the style is very retro. Something about it looks very Arts and Crafts movement, to me. If you have a Walmart near you, I encourage you to stop in (if you can handle it :) ) to check out their fan aisle and see if they have the same one.

I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised, like I was!