This time of year, we are all looking for ways to give our outdoor spaces a little face lift. One suggestion for a quick, inexpensive, and easy refresh for your porch is to give it a haint blue porch ceiling. What is a haint blue porch ceiling? Read on for a Southern’s Guide to this blue ceiling on porch southern tradition!
Why are there blue ceilings on the porch?
As you stroll through the streets of historic Southern cities, you’ll notice lovely historic homes with a common theme- porches with blue painted ceilings. Not only is this unique detail pleasing to the eye, there is actually a long history for this Southern tradition.
There is actually a name for this light aqua-blue color used on the ceilings- referred to as “haint” blue. This tradition of light blue porch ceilings has been around for centuries. There are many theories as to why this has become a Southern tradition – from fooling spiders and wasps into thinking the ceiling is the sky, to blue being good luck, to scaring away evil spirits. A “haint” is an old Southern word for ghost or spirit, usually the kind you don’t want hanging around. So porch ceilings in the south were painted haint blue to keep away these haunting spirits.
No matter how this tradition began, there is no argument that light blue ceilings are pleasing to the eye and the perfect way to add southern charm to any outdoor living space.
What is Haint Blue?
Another theory for why porch ceilings have been painted light blue is to keep spiders and wasps away. The belief is that insects are tricked to believe that the light blue color is the sky and therefore are hesitant to get too cozy. This theory may have started back when haint blue paint contained lime which was an ingredient that really did help deter bugs. While yet another theory is that pale blue ceilings emulate the sky and help to make the day feel a little longer if you are enjoying your porch in the evening.
And as you know, that is common practice here in the South.
Haint Blue Paint Guide
Great Examples of Haint Blue Ceilings on Porch
A Southern Tradition- Blue Ceilings on the Porch
Love, love, love haint blue! Looks great! Jenna @ Rain on a Tin Roof
Love the blue. It's true…it does just give it that little pop of somethin' somethin'. We are still in snow….so I so wish I could have nice green grass like you do!
I am going to do this! Love it! 🙂
Awesome! I would LOVE to see your finished product if you do this! Keep me posted!
Love it! What a big difference a little bit of paint makes! Will people look at me funny if I do this in Orlando? 🙂
Ha! Bring some southern charm to O-Town sister!
Great job, it looks wonderful!
Looks great!
Oh I just did a post on wanting to do my back porch in this blue. Yours looks fantastic! Is that really the name of the paint?
The term "haint blue" is for any pale/aqua blue ceiling. My paint color was a random gallon of blue oops paint. If you are looking for a paint color recommendation, I have used Palladian Blue (Benjamin Moore) in my nursery and basement and think it would be the perfect pale aqua blue color. There are pictures in my "Home Tour" page tab for your reference. I would love to see your porch once you have painted it!
This is something I love about the south, I've noticed it in New Orleans, and recently in the Texas Hill Country.
My mom & dad have a huge wrap-around porch with white bead board ceiling.. and she just bought the paint to do the same thing!
Isn't it such a fun detail! Wow, lucky parents- a huge wrap-around porch- with a bead board ceiling!??!? Sounds PERFECT! The blue paint on the ceiling would be a nice little Southern touch!
Love the blue ceiling, I had a home in the historic district of New Bern, NC, and it had a blue bead board ceiling. I didn't know why though, that's so interesting.
Jeannie
Cool! I bet that house was great, I love historic homes. Thanks for the note!
ooh, your "statement necklace" looks great, and man, i'm super jealous of your lush green lawn and plants!
Thanks! Gotta love a "statement necklace", ha.
That looks awesome!! So inviting!
So that's awesome! I always wondered about the blue ceilings! Thanks for sharing at Pinworthy Projects!
every since I took a trip to charleston a couple of years back I have wanted to paint my ceiling blue as well. Apparently it's suppose to keep bugs away ( so they say). nice change.
Love this!! The blue detail really does add so much personality to your little porch! Thank you so much for sharing it with us at the "Inspire Me Please" linky party! I am planning on featuring this at tonight's party, and would really appreciate it if you could provide a link back to the party in which you linked up! Thanks so much!
Thanks again for the feature!
I live in the south and when we got out porch roof put on one of the contractors told us to paint it blue…He only mentioned the bug theory. We have yet to add the ceiling to even paint it or stain it 😉
Yay! Reminds me of Savannah. Looooove the Haint Blue!
I love it! I lived in Charleston for years and miss the porches there. I thought baout doing this on my porch but my house is blue and I thought it would be too much :/
Hey Melissa! I know, I wish I could wiggle my nose and wake up in Charleston!
Hi! We are planning to paint our house blue also. I was questioning whether it would be too much blue to do the lanai ceiling a different lighter and possibly more aqua blue. I don’t think it will be and am planning on trying it anyway. I say go for it and if you don’t like it you can always change it. I feel it would add more than it would detract, especially if it repels bugs and bad spirits.
Love it. Such a gorgeous detail. Just curious…is your porch ceiling wood? I would love to do this on ours, but it is vinyl material and I am not sure how that will work. But I definitely feel inspired.
Thanks Jackie! Yes- the ceiling is wood panel. Thinking with vinyl if you used primer it may be ok? hmmm…. keep me posted if you decide to try!
Loved learning the history of this tradition! And what a fun place for a splash of color! Sharing this on my FB page.
Thanks Lauren! It really does make a fun little splash! Thanks for sharing!
Loved learning the history of this tradition! And what a fun place for a splash of color! Sharing this on my FB page.
Loved learning the history of this tradition! And what a fun place for a splash of color! Sharing this on my FB page.
Loved learning the history of this tradition! And what a fun place for a splash of color! Sharing this on my FB page.
Beautiful! I took this idea inside and did our guest bedroom ceiling in BM Morning Sky, since we don’t have the kind of porch you do! I’m sharing a link to your post on the porch ceiling so people can understand the tradition behind doing this in the South. So pretty.