Interior design
Before / after: what a ceiling fan really changes in a living room, in three stages
Published on ·4 min read
A ceiling fan is often imagined as a visible addition, one more object on the ceiling. In a contemporary living room the opposite happens with a retractable-blade model: it replaces one ceiling light with another, thinner one, and what changes is first what you no longer see.
This article follows a typical 22 m² living room over a year, before fitting and at three moments after: the same day, the first summer evening, the first winter month. No works, no electrician, with the existing light point.
Before: what the living room had, and what was missing
The living room before has a central ceiling light, often a pendant or a flat fixture, with a single white bulb controlled by the wall switch. No dimmer: it is on or off. In the evening you rather switch on accent lamps, and the ceiling light only serves for cleaning or finding something.
From June to September, a pedestal or tower fan occupies a corner, cable on the floor, running at 50 dB facing the sofa. It cools the person in its axis, not the others. In September it goes back into a cupboard. In winter the ceiling stores the heating's warm air and feet stay cold; nobody thinks about it, you turn up the thermostat.
After, day 1: fitting and light
Fitting takes thirty minutes on the existing light point: cut the power, remove the old fixture, fix the bracket, connect to the ceiling box, clip the unit body, restore power, pair the remote. No extra drilling if the existing fixing holds 5 kg, which is the case of a properly fitted ceiling box.
What changes immediately is the light. The Boréal 107 replaces the single bulb with an LED dimmable in three temperatures: 2700 K in the evening, 4000 K by day, 6000 K for cleaning. The ceiling light becomes useful in the evening, in warm white at 30%, and accent lamps serve less. On the ceiling, a white disc about 15 cm thick, blades folded: you do not see a fan, you see a thin ceiling light.
- ·Thirty minutes of fitting on the existing ceiling box
- ·A light adjustable in intensity and colour from the remote
- ·A flat disc on the ceiling, blades folded, white on white
- ·The pedestal fan's corner freed
The Boréal 107
Retractable blades · Ø 107 cm · LED ceiling light & silent fan
- ✓Retractable blades: invisible when off, nobody guesses it's a fan
- ✓Sleep with windows closed, 30 dB, quieter than a whisper
- ✓Integrated LED 2700K → 6000K, dimmable: replaces your ceiling light
After, the first summer evening
The first evening at 27 °C in the living room, the remote unfolds the blades in a few seconds and the unit starts moving. The difference with the pedestal fan is immediate: the whole living room is in moving air, not only the sofa's axis. The felt temperature drops 3 °C, to about 24 °C, with no cold jet on the neck. You read, watch a film, host, with a 30 dB unit that conversation covers.
In the evening, on speed 1 with the LED at dimmed 2700 K, the living room is both cool and subdued, without a floor lamp, without a fan on the floor. In the morning the blades can stay out or fold from the remote; usually they stay open all summer. Consumption is 5 to 30 W depending on speed: a few cents per evening.
After, the first winter month
In November the blades fold and the ceiling light becomes a disc again. Or they stay out for reverse mode: at minimum speed, the fan brings warm air from the ceiling back to the floor, with no perceptible draught. Feet are no longer cold, the ceiling no longer holds 4 °C more than the floor, and the thermostat drops 1 to 2 °C for the same comfort. Over a winter that is 7 to 14% less heating.
So the living room after has gained an adjustable light, silent cooling in summer, even heat in winter, and lost an object on the floor. The ceiling has not changed in appearance outside summer. It is the room's least visible and most used transformation, for 157 euros and half an hour.
Before: a fixed ceiling light and a pedestal fan three months a year. After: a thin, dimmable ceiling light all year, blades that appear in summer and vanish in winter, a living room cool at 30 dB in July and even in January. The Boréal 107 fits in thirty minutes on the existing light point.
Frequently asked questions
Does a ceiling fan change the look of the living room?+
With retractable blades, not outside summer: folded, the unit is a flat disc about 15 cm under the ceiling, white on white, which looks like a thin ceiling light. The blades only appear when unfolded.
Are works needed to fit a ceiling fan in a living room?+
Not if a central light point exists: fitting is done on the ceiling box in place, in thirty minutes, with no extra drilling if the fixing holds 5 kg. Light and fan are then controlled by the remote.
What does the fan do in winter in a living room?+
In reverse mode at minimum speed, it brings warm air stored at the ceiling back to the floor without draught, which allows lowering the thermostat 1 to 2 °C. And its dimmable LED serves as a ceiling light every day.
The SEY Maison Circle
Every month, an exceptional piece. Never reissued.
The Drops principle: one high-end furniture piece per month, in a numbered edition. Once it's gone, it never comes back. Circle members are notified 48 h early, access each drop 24 h before everyone else, and receive our guides before publication.
Discover the Drops →Also worth reading
IS × SEY Maison: why a ceiling-light house presents unique canvases, and how the first collection was built
Read the article →
A panoramic painting in a corridor or entrance: the format that dresses narrow walls
Read the article →
Caring for an acrylic canvas: dusting, protecting, moving, without ever damaging it
Read the article →