I'm not sure I understand why you are objecting to having ceiling fans "because they are so bright." Ceiling fans can be purchased with or without light kits. And, if you have to have a ceiling light fixture to meet code, every fan I've ever seen allows you to turn the fan on while leaving the light off and vise-versa. Plus there are loads and loads of different styles of light kits... many of which only use a single light bulb. There is nothing to stop you from using a very low wattage bulb. Bottom line is, the light from a ceiling fan light kit can be made as dim as you like... or left turned off completely. Maybe all the ceiling fans you have ever seen had kits with 3 or 4 bulbs and the owners liked thing bright so they put 75 watt or 100 watt bulbs in them. But it doesn't have to be that way. Thus "brightness" is simply no reason not to get ceiling fans. On the other hand, if you had said you just don't like the way ceiling fans look hanging up on the ceiling - well, that is a matter of taste and it is your home so you should have it the way you like. If you don't hate the look of the fans themselves, then you might want to consider that, from an energy usage standpoint, ceiling fans ARE WONDERFUL in hot, humid areas. If you use them, they will save you tons of money on air conditioning. We are in central Texas and our current house didn't have any ceiling fans when we bought it back in 1985. A few years later we found some Hunter fans on sale and decided to put one in our master-bedroom. Two days later we went back and bought fans for every room except the bathrooms. Our electricity bills immediately dropped by about 20%. Those fans are still going strong nearly 20 years later and we use them all the time. In fact, I find it really difficult to sleep in a room without a ceiling fan anymore. Even when the room is cool enough, I often wake up feeling like I'm smothering in my own CO2 because there is nothing to stir the air around. LOL! I'm sure your builder is thinking in terms of energy efficiency and maybe resale value. I personally would never buy again buy a home without ceiling fans...especially not in a hot humid area. But the bottom line is, it is YOUR home. Get it built the way you want it.

Hello Susan, Greg here, I am one of the ceiling fan experts at Hansen Wholesale. I have been selling ceiling fans for nearly 30 years now and as a test, I put the Minka Aire Concept II in my daughters bedroom, and the Emerson Curva Sky in my small home office. Both rooms are about 10 x 10. They are both 3 blade flush mount fans that are quite similar in style and price range. I prefer the Emerson Curva Sky because it is a bit less heavy looking and runs quieter due to the blade design. It also comes with a 6 speed controller compared to the 3 speeds of the Minka fan. It is also in the same price range. So, I prefer the Emerson fan over the Minka fan. Emerson has been making ceiling fans since 1895, Minka Aire is a recent company about 20 years old now. Both are good brands, but I prefer Emerson for the longevity. I used the 44" fans in these rooms, but if your room is any bigger than 10 x 10 you should use the 52" versions since they move a lot more air. Both versions were upgraded this year to include an LED light and have an "L" in the model number. The previous year's models have a Halogen light. So make sure you get the "L" version Here are pictures and links to the white versions, although they are available in other finishes: Notice the Curva Sky is less bulky CF152LWW: Emerson Curva Sky 52" CF144LWW: Emerson Curva Sky 44" F518LWH: Minka Aire Concept II 52" F519LWH: Minka Aire Concept II 44" I am happy to respond to further questions: Greg Tillotson Ceiling Fan Expert Hansen Wholesale https://www.hansenwholesale.com

Thanks, Tishtosh! I think we are probably going to go with the 52" Casa Vieja fans in our media room and the upstairs bedroom which is DH's "snore room." We will decide on the other bedrooms later, but will likely choose a less expensive fan for them. Not that $220 (the cost of the Casa Vieja) is terribly expensive, but it's been a long time since I've bought a ceiling fan and I was hoping we could do all four rooms for around $100 a pop. Well, we CAN - but not with the Casa Vieja fans, and I really like them. I like the single light on the CV fan too, Delilah. These will replace flush-mounted ceiling "BOOB" lights. You know what I'm talking about, right? Why do they even MAKE lights that look like that? Ugh.

Seriously, look at the placement of the fan and the lights and consider the potential strobe effect. When we moved into this house, out family room had a fan with no light and 5 recessed cans. We could only use the lights in the (short TX) winter when the fan wasn't used or we would get such a strobe effect on the lights that I couldn't stand to be in the room. We put in a fan with a light and then could use one or the other, but light was limited. We wound up with a dual motor vertical fan like this one. That one is discontinued, but you have the ceiling to do something similar if needed. If a big horizontal fan will work without strobing, I normally would like the lighter finish to tend to fade into the ceiling, but for me, the dark center fades into the wood while the silver draws attention. I would probably go darker on this one.