If you have access to the attic you most likely can find a circuit that runs through there that it will be legal to tap in to. You then can drill through the top plate of the wall above where you want the switch and cut a hole for an old work box

As an electrician that has installed more ceiling fans than I care to admit, most fans are installed with one switch to turn the light on and off, and another to turn the fan on and off. As a general rule, the fan also has a pull chain to change the fan speed. The exception to all of this is Casablanca fans that have a special wall switch that controls the light and fan with reostats. If you are interested in a remote control fan, we have often installed a remote holder at the wall switch location so when you enter the room you can handle the remote like a wall switch.

Hi Greg, Could I bug you one more time? Old fan: 3 wires - black for fan motor, red for light, white neutral New fan: 2 wires: black for motor, white for neutral I've got three wires at the ceiling...black (always hot), red (controlled by switches), and white. If I hook up fan unit to black and white, switches are now wall ornaments. If I hook up to red and white, I can shut off power to the unit. So, I will be not using one wire at the box. Am I understanding this correctly? The documentation/manual with the fan assumes hot and neutral at the box. Thanks! :)

I guess my first question would be why not buy just a ceiling fan without lights then? If this is the have to have style of fan then yes you can just not hook up the light although I would have to confirm that with the wiring diagram of the fixture. You could wire everything together and then just not install the light bulb. Again though I would need a wire diagram of the actual fan to confirm this. There is also a matter of resale. If this is a permanent home then ignore this but if you have a plan to sell even 10 years down the road a home inspection should flag the fan as non operable as the light won't work. That shouldn't be a big deal once you explain it but the future buyer could come back with a 1000 dollar quote and try to squeeze it out of you. Personally I would buy the remote or run the second line and just do it right. Goofy me will also throw out a final option which I believe is legal but not being a licensed electrician I don't know for sure is to intercept the switch line in the ceiling. If you place a box right before the fan and split the power there you could place a remote controlled switch in the box. The box would have to face down into the room so would have a light switch on the ceiling, although the particular one I am thinking of would be nearly invisible, and you would need the fan on for the light to be on but it would work. It would also be extremely redneck so see above about resell.