Well, last week, we showed the exterior red and white of the house.
This one shows the porch ceilings.
The word "haint" comes from the Southern Gullah (a community in South Carolina) word for "haunt" or "spirit". They believed that spirits couldn’t cross water and so painting things a watery blue color was intended to trick the spirits into seeing water and it would stop them in their tracks. There is also some urban legend about wasps not building nests but that is probably more anecdotal. Original haint blue porch ceilings had lye in the paint and lye repels insects. So that's probably where that came from.
But hey, wasps, ghosts, spirits, whatever it keeps away, we're OK with that!
It just creates such an open and airy feeling when you're standing under it. It's very calming and peaceful and on a blue sky day, it really does seem kind of like the sky. It also reflects a lot of light so it makes it brighter.
We LOVE it!
Interesting to hear that lye was used in "haint blue" paint! Did you know that arsenic was used in green paint, which was very popular for kitchens in the late 1890s? The flies who ventured in to a green painted kitchen would walk on the walls and drop down dead from the effects of the arsenic. The kitchen tour of author Maud Lovelace's home explains this fact.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you painted the ceilings haint blue. The only thing that will make your porch more southern is sitting out there shelling a bushel of butterbeans while drinking iced tea.
ReplyDeleteMy, I was thinking of a wicker sofa / bed to take a good, relaxed cat nap and feeling the cool breeze and listening to the birds chirping away.
DeleteEveryone have a safe and enjoyable Independence Day come tomorrow.
Stay cool and blessings to you all
Both my porches had haint blue ceilings. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteThose blue porch ceilings are beautiful and peaceful, just what you want on a porch. I love the historical connection. And it will be interesting to see if they repel insects, too.
ReplyDeleteAbout 20 years ago, I read in Southern Living (from P Allen Smith) that a blue ceiling on an outdoor porch fools wasps who think it's the sky and they won't build a nest there. We painted our porch ceiling the suggested Sherwin Williams "Open Air" # 6491 (pale blue) and thus far, that has been true, blue porch ceiling, no wasps!! Hope your shade of blue works as well.
ReplyDeleteI know it's anecdotal and may not be always fact, but I swear to you, we painted our porch ceiling the same blue (previous house) and for the 8 years we lived there, never had a wasp nest. As for ghosts/spirits, I can't speak to that, ha. L - Janie
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