Paint Your Porch Ceiling, Haint Blue

When I added a screened porch onto the back of my home five years ago, I was very tempted to paint the ceiling haint blue. For years I had seen homes all over the south with porch ceilings painted a soft, sky blue. I ultimately decided it wouldn’t work for my porch because of the gable ceiling.

Screened Porch with Sheer Curtains and White Wicker Furniture

You  may remember this home from our tour of Isle of Hope just outside Savannah Georgia. It’s sporting a delightful haint blue ceiling.

Historic Home with a Haint Blue Porch Ceiling

So where did this tradition of painting ceilings haint blue come from? (House below is located in Rome, Georgia)

Haint Blue Ceiling on a House in Rome Georgia

Well, back in the day when air conditioning didn’t exist, folks spent a fair amount of time sitting on porches in the evening. It was thought if you painted your ceiling light blue, bugs would think it was the sky and would not build their nests in the corners.  This actually had a note of reality because historically blue paint was made with a milk paint formula and the formula really did help to repel insects. (Below: Home below in Greenwood, SC…take a home and garden tour in Greenwood here:  Home and Garden Tour)

Historic Home in Greenwood, SC

 

Another popular superstition was that haints (evil, restless spirits) would think the ceiling was water and would not attempt to cross the porch to the door. Sometimes the door and window trim were painted haint blue to help ward off those bad spirits, too.

(Below: Take the tour of the inside of this Savannah home here: An Historic Home Tour)

Savannah House with Haint Blue Ceiling

There isn’t one specific blue color that’s the official haint blue color. Painting ceilings a light blue started with the Gullah culture once found in the Carolina Low Country. They used whatever blue pigments they had on hand.

(Below: Historic Whitlock Inn in Marietta, Georgia with a haint blue porch ceiling.)

Historic Whitlock Inn in Marietta GA

A lot of paint companies have come out with haint blue colors since they know the superstition lives on in folklore, plus folks just like a blue ceiling. Duron Gullah Blue is a color created for those interested in a haint blue ceiling.

(Below: Home in Newnan, Georgia)

Porch Ceiling Painted Haint Blue

There are lots of Benjamin Moore colors that are popular for ceilings: Mystical Blue, Palladian Blue, Crystal Springs, Artic Blue,  and Polar Sky. Some popular Sherwin Williams ceiling colors are Waterscape, Hazel, Atmospheric, Pool Blue and White Satin. But you don’t have to limit yourself to just these, whatever blue you prefer will work just fine. (Below: Home in Grant Park )

Grant Park House with Haint Blue Ceiling

You know, I think I just might paint my front porch ceiling, haint blue. I wasn’t sure it would work well since I have a red door, but I think I’ll check out some of the available blues and see if I can find one that works on my porch.

Would you paint your porch ceiling haint blue? If you already have, please share the color and brand. I would love to know what color you chose!

Boxwood Topiaries in Lattice Planter with Annuals for aTraditional Landscape

 

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Comments

  1. My porch has just been painted and all of the porch ceilings will be blue. The front porch is almost finished and I love the blue ceiling! The front door will be red, I like that contrast. Our home is over 100 years old and we thought that the blue ceilings would be perfect here. Learned something today, I knew why they used blue, but never thought about the type of paint they used. Loved this post!!! The pictures are lovely!

  2. Shannon Gough says

    I have my porch ceiling painted Benjamin Moore’s Palladian Blue HC-144. I LOVE it! Can’t say the birds and bugs are not there, but it is beautiful! I used an exterior low lustre, and it’s very easy to clean every spring.

  3. I painted my veranda ceiling blue and included a rainbow and swallows. It was meant to discourage birds from building nests because I had also been told that it would work. It didn’t. In the meantime I have enjoyed the painted ceiling.

  4. I painted mine with Sherwin Williams Lauren’s Suprise…I love it!!

  5. Really hoping to paint both my front porch and side/screened porch ceilings blue. I’m struggling with choosing a body and accent colors for the house! Blue ceilings are both refreshing and calming and, I think, a fun little surprise.

  6. I don’t know that I could paint the ceiling of my porch (my HOA would have a fit). But I can see a nice Carolina blue looking really good on your porch ceiling. The different shades of blue certainly look lovely on the porch ceilings of the homes you have shown as examples. I say go for it if it makes you happy. Anything you can paint can be repainted later if you don’t like it.

  7. Gloria from Pittsburgh says

    Susan:
    I have porches on the front and back of my house and both ceilings are painted blue! The back porch, which is screened, was added last year. When I was doing research for the porch (which replaced a little used deck) I found your web site! I read your post about your porch and I drew many ideas from you. I ordered the same resource books that you used. I too have electric outlets galore! I have the same ceiling fans as you. My house is a Victorian and I knew that I wanted wicker furniture. Those fans are an exact match. My ceiling is gabled like yours is but I wanted the blue ceiling so we used Robin’s Egg Blue from Behr. This year, we replaced the ceiling on my front porch. It was a white vinyl beadboard ceiling that was on the house when I bought it 15 years ago. We replaced the vinyl with pine beardboard and we painted it blue to match my front door (which was always blue) and the trim around my front windows. My roof is blue so we went with a darker blue. The light sky blues just were too light. So the front porch is painted with Americana blue which I believe is also a Behr color. It is gorgeous! I have received many many compliments from my neighbors and visitors. So I encourage you to give your front porch ceiling a new look. You won’t regret it!

    • Awesome! Thanks Gloria! I’m going to do it. I’m also going to put all the haint blue colors folks leave in comments today into a post so they will all be in one spot. Thanks for sharing the colors you used…they sounds wonderful! So the blue looked good on a gable ceiling, too? Interesting! Maybe I could do it out there, too…if it weren’t too dark. The colors on the porch are mostly soft greens and reds.

      • Gloria from Pittsburgh says

        Susan: The blue on the gabled ceiling is beautiful. Blue is such a relaxing color. With the white fans, it is very sky-like (fans are like clouds!). I have a variety of colors on my porch. Blues and pinks as well as greens and reds. I got all of my wicker from craigslist. I got incredibly beautiful wicker, much of it antique, for ridiculously low prices. You have to be patient and check the board constantly but you will be richly rewarded. Many of the pieces came with cushions which explains the variety of colors. I am hesitant to get rid of the older cushions as they are much more substantial than the stuff available today. I will eventually replace the covers. But my porch décor is now seasonal fall colors — orange, yellow, red, gold. Again, I drew inspiration from your posts on changing the seasonal décor on the porch. I am having so much fun! Thank you for sharing your ideas and experiences.

      • Carolyn Price says

        Gloria, thanks for sharing that you used the paint color on your vaulted ceiling and love it.
        Goodness knows, I am not as knowledgeable as you are, Susan. You are my go-to for many decorating ideas and landscape/sod/sprinkler system info but I intend to use a haunt blue with a hint of “spa” on my vaulted screened porch ceiling. Was there a particular reason you didn’t think it would work for you on your vaulted ceiling on the screened porch? Too visible from the interior of the house? Too much of a contrast or clash, color-wise, perhaps?
        Susan, I would be interested to know what your thoughts were on why it wouldn’t work for your vaulted ceiling.
        Thanks so much, ladies!! : )

        • Carolyn Price says

          I typed “haint” but spell-check changed it, I guess!?

        • Carolyn, it just seemed like I had sooooo much ceiling when the porch was built. With a vaulted ceiling, there’s so much more ceiling to see than just a flat one…more ceiling square footage. lol So I felt like if I painted it blue, it would TAKE OVER the porch. The ceiling is such a significant part of the porch…just worried it would dictate all my decorating decisions out there. I think I still prefer the white on the screened porch but I do want to try the blue on the front porch. I’d love to see a photo of a gable/vaulted ceiling painted pale blue. I’ll have to google and see if I can find that. It would help to see it.

          • Gloria from Pittsburgh says

            Susan: After posting earlier today I searched the photos on my phone and tablet. I had a few of the porch but the ceiling was not really visible enough to get a good idea of how the blue looks. I’ll try to snap a few pics this weekend and send them off to you.

          • Carolyn Price says

            Thanks, Susan, for your reply!

          • hey susan…..

            see? i do read ALL of your fascinating/chock-full-o-information posts! well, can i venture an opinion based on being one of your earliest fans??? (”porch fan puns” intended ;0)….. i love love love the idea of a blue porch for the front door, that would have more cornflower blue tones in it, to play up the colors of the roof/and be stately enough in winter to not clash with y0ur christmas decor…….( i TOTALLY agree with ”fun aspect” of being a southern girl and having the traditional blue front porch ceiling)

            here’s my opinions about your back porch….i also totally agree 1,000,000% about what you just said about ”the space of it will take over all of my color schemes”……here’s the thing to me about your back porch, that has been the greatest charm about it in my most unhumble opionion ;0….LOL……….it’s those darn white sheers !! they set the tone of ”white dreamy backdrop”…..”summer breeze” sign adds to that charm……….IF, and i do mean IF, your furniture and cushions were blue, then a blue ceiling back there, would just make it all a ”blue backdrop” and any other decor would just add other colors to the blue……..i keep thinking ”circus” when picturing all your porch table scapes and how a colored ceiling would be charming, IF you were not such a classic decor based on monochromatic backdrops…..your little green hutch out there…plus the back drop of the trees outside……that whole ”cool breezy green/white” color scheme as a backdrop, to me all these years, has been THE PERFECT basis to then add whatever other colors during all seasons for your ”seasonal tablescapes and decor”……….i feel like if you did the porch ceiling blue, it would look GORGEOUS, of course it would!…..BUT: (big ‘but’), you like to change your decor out there in so many different colors, that i just feel like adding a blue color, would bring on a ”busy-ness” and you’d loose the charm of all that ”dreamy white breezy space”…….it’s serene…….i’ve ALWAYS ADORED the ”all white” pure clean beautiful aspect of your porch, with those gorgeous sheers…….then you add all your fun seasonal decor and to me it’s all just so perfect with your wicker and swing and, i dont’ know……..it’s hard to believe that me, a southern girl would not say ‘”YES!!!”‘ to a blue ceiling on a porch, but i think it would take away from the charm of your PARTICULAR back porch……..and add a busy-ness, as well as that ”locked in colorscheme of always having a HUGE blue element”………….i think the ”all white” so ADORABLY showcases that little hutch……..which i hope is still apple green……lolol…..i don’t know…..i keep picturing blue ceiling in there, and then think ”circus, too busy, takes away from the monochromatic all white scheme”…….i don’t think it would look ”bad” of course, i just think your ”all white” is so charming for that particular back porch….it think all the white is how you can have all those elements in there and keep the cohesive/serene feeling…….THAT is my most unhumble opinion ’bout all ‘dat…….lolololololol ~ susie <3

            • Susie, I completely agree! You just said it way better than I could have, though. There is just soooo much ceiling, being a gabled ceiling, I do think the blue would take over that space. I love the idea for my front porch, as long as it’s the right shade to work there, and sort of subtle since my home has a somewhat formal look out front, but just don’t think it will work on my back porch, not with how I like to change things up out there. You are soooo cute! Loved your comment and thanks for taking time to voice your thoughts! Appreciate you!

  8. I love your porch and yes, I would paint it blue. You have such fabulous taste, you will find the right blue and it will be stunning. Hugs, Marty

  9. I like the idea of your painting the porch ceiling blue. If it’s soft and subtle it will be perfect. I wish I had a porch that I could do that with! I love that historic Whitlock Inn. So many great details!

  10. pam ~ crumpety cottage says

    Hi Susan,

    Oh! I have porch envy! I love porches but got a bit skimped on that in my home. Come to think of it, NONE of my houses have had a traditional. porch. 🙁 Anyway, I do love the tradition of the blue porch ceiling. It wouldn’t work, I don’t think, on my tiny little stoop porch. But hey, if you decide to go for it and fear it will clash with your red door, you could always take that next step and paint the door that beautiful Peacock Blue you were drooling over a couple of months back. 😀 Problem-o el solved-o. 😉

    • lol I bet those two blue would clash…knowing my luck! 🙂 If I go light enough, I think I will like it okay. It’s a small porch, but I think it will work. I’ll probably do my standard trick where I paint a couple of sheets of posterboard first and tape them up to see how I like it. That’s what I normally do with paint before I commit and start painting the walls, should work for ceilings too. 🙂

      • pam ~ crumpety cottage says

        That’s a great idea! I usually just paint a big enough section (like 2′ by 3′) but then I have big splotches all over my wall while I’m deciding. I like your idea better. I’ll do that next time.

        You crack me up though. Do you EVER goof off? You are always busy getting something done! I wish you’d come up here (it’s only a 4 hour drive) 😉 And “get some stuff done,” for me. 😀 Haha. Oh, and by the way, I don’t know if you’re a tea drinker (hot – I’m thinking not) but I thought of you earlier when I stopped by the Touchstone catalog (thanks to your mention in the last post) and saw some blue and white wall decor teapots. They were just up your alley, color and pattern wise. They’d be a cute kitchen addition if you were a tea drinker, but I know your kitchen is more neutral in color. Actually, they’d match your guest room perfectly, lol.

        Thanks for mentioning Touchstone, btw. I had never heard of it. You always seem to be mentioning stores I’ve never heard of! Maybe you could do a post about that one day; great places to shop online. Hey! That’s actually a GREAT idea. 😀 *hint, hint.*

  11. Susan,
    Years ago we were having a huge problem with birds trying to nest under our porch ceiling along with spider webs and other little creatures…… I painted the ceiling Sherwin-Williams Color 6505 Atmospheric – and NO MORE PROBLEMS… I guess that is why porch ceilings all over the South are painted blue.. it REALLY WORKS..
    I LUV your porch!! always a treat to see it in your blog.. Enjoy our little bit of Fall in Georgia!

  12. ALL of our outdoor ceilings are painted blue…even the boathouse vaulted ceiling we used (special order) blue siding. It just feels…right. franki

  13. Susan I have lived in Florida for almost my whole life, and have never seen a porch ceiling painted blue. Is this found more in Georgia or the Carolinas??

    • I guess so…you see it a lot in Georgia and South Carolina, especially around Charleston. You see it a lot in Alabama and New Orleans, too. I read online recently that it’s become so popular that folks are doing it up a north a lot now…it’s spread further north.

    • Hi…just throwing my 2 cents worth in..I think it’s a Mid-Atlantic thing..here in Maryland we have blue porch ceilings too..

      Susan I vote go ahead and paint it too..you can always paint over it if end up changing your mind.

  14. Just heard about painting your porch ceilings blue this summer! While touring the LBJ ranch in Texas, the guide explained that the reason the front porch was painted blue was to keep the mud daubers from building their nests! So my husband and I decided we would try that. We just painted our enclosed porch ceiling a light blue! It looks awesome!

    • Paula, what paint did you go with? Was it a standard color or did you do a custom mix?

      • We bought an exterior paint from Lowes. It’s their Valspar”Journal Book” semi-gloss. No. 4004-5a. We love it and are planning to paint our garage ceiling the same. Well at least once we get the other project done! Haha.

  15. I think you should try it. If you are not happy the space is small enough your can just repaint. (I like your poster board approach.) I love the idea of no bugs. I am anxious to see if it works.

  16. Leanne Gribik says

    If I had a porch I’d paint the ceilings blue! We love the southern charm and airiness it gives to the space. The blue also reminds me of the Florida Keys, so if you got tired of southern charm you could easily go with a coastal theme with a few changes!

  17. I’m so glad you wrote this post. I have thought of doing something similar for years at the “old house” and at my present. I love all these homes but there is one difference around here. Instead of being a shade of pale blue it is a shade of pale green much the same. That is the color I thought to go with. Have you seen this done?

  18. I so want to paint my ceiling of my porch blue….with the big white columns it would be so perfect…..I don’t even think the HOA would have to approve it….you can’t see it because the ceiling is so high….thanks for the inspiration pictures..

  19. I so want to paint my ceiling of my porch blue….with the big white columns it would be so perfect…..I don’t even think the HOA would have to approve it….you can’t see it because the ceiling is so high….thanks for the inspiration pictures..

  20. SharonFromMichigan says

    I adore blue painted porch ceilings. I have a new victorian house, meaning it has vinyl siding. Wonder if I could paint the vinyl siding on the wrap around porch ceiling? After reading all the posts about how it keeps the spiders and wasps from making their homes up there, it might be worth a try. I would love to have a haint blue porch ceiling. My house color (according to the old box of siding) is antique white which really looks like a pale yellow. My accent colors are a rusty brown-red for the gutters and olive green for the doors and a combo of both for the wooden porch railings. Think haint blue would look ok?

    • Blue usually looks great with yellow and with rusty reds. Most of the haint blue colors folks paint with are such a pale blue, I think it will go with just about anything. But you could do what I always like to do which is buy a quart of the paint and paint a one or two poster boards, like you buy at Walmart. Then masking tape them up to the wall or ceiling in this case, to see how they will look before you actually commit and paint. I think I’ve heard you can paint over vinyl but before you do that, check with the manufacturer of the vinyl just to be sure.

  21. Imagine how gorgeous the blue ceiling will be when you swap your fall/winter red door for the spring/summer turquoise door 😉

  22. Good to know that the guest bath at our old house is free from “haints.” It has a blue ceiling. Can you imagine a worse place to encounter evil spirits than when, ahem, indisposed?

  23. My grandmother always insisted on a gray porch and a blue porch ceiling. I don’t think it really discourages birds and insects, but a few rubber snakes will discourage birds. They often scares visitors though. I remove them when I know company is coming.

  24. Kelli Culpepper says

    We painted ours Palladian Blue this spring. LOVE it!!

  25. Our historic house is painted in the original Victorian colors of Downing Straw, Rookwood Green, Indian Red and a Black/Green shade for the shutters. When I told my painters that the porch roof was going to be light blue I thought they would flip out! I told them I knew it didn’t go with the other colors, but went with the sky. I love my blue porch ceiling and wouldn’t change it!

  26. Yep, we did our deck ceiling (that can be seen from our living room) this summer. Love. It.
    We used Valspar’s Tropical Bay. Did I mention I love it!!

  27. Susan, I had always wanted to paint my porch ceiling haint blue. But, the ceiling on ours is sided with the same white siding that’s used on the rest of the house. Recently we added a covered back porch, same thing, with the siding on the ceiling. But, at the same time we added on the back porch addition, we also added on a sunroom indoors. (The sunroom and covered back porch were constructed to replace a crumbling old deck that got too much exposure to the harsh sun and very little use by us. So, in the sunroom…THERE was my chance to use the haint blue on the ceiling. We went with white beadboard and a haint blue color on the ceiling. It’s so light, most people don’t even realize it’s blue, but it’s AWESOME. We love it. Thanks for the idea, I think I remember you posting about this a while back, too… And thanks for showing us that if you can’t accomplish something one way, you can do it another…

  28. I live in west central Florida and love the southern tradition of painting porch ceilings haint blue so I used Valspar “Blue Raindrop” on the ceiling of my front porch. I feel it really does keep the insects from building nests. When we bought the house, there were many brown stains on the porch ceiling from old wasp nests but, since it was pressure washed and painted blue two years ago, not one single wasp has even tried to start a nest! Now, if we could only find a color that would repel mosquitoes!

  29. I forgot to mention, after I painted my porch ceiling Blue Raindrop (which could be described as a pale sky blue or baby blue), I decided to use the colors of aqua and lime green for my wicker furniture cushions. Blue Raindrop doesn’t *match* the aqua in the cushions at all; the two colors don’t even particularly *coordinate* but nevertheless, it’s still so cool to look up and see a light blue ceiling! I say if you want to paint your ceiling blue, go for it and don’t worry so much whether it *matches* or not. 🙂

  30. definitely paint it. I mixed up my own, then my husband painted it, and half the neighborhood complained. they complain about everything. I ignore them. I have a very smal recessed front porch, and it is not really very noticeable. however, I can report that the wasps have stopped building their nests!

  31. The blue would look lovely on your porch with the brick and the red door. A bit different, our house was built in 1906 and has a PINK ceiling on the front porch. The two side porches have white ceilings. No bird nests or wasps on the porch with the pink, but the porches with the white ceilings sometimes get a wasp nest on the bottom of the wicker furniture. Our house is grey clapboard, so that may be why they went with pink, but I love my pink ceiling!

  32. Susan, thanks for sharing those pics of the porches! I have decided to paint my small porch ceiling in the back of the house a blue color. It is small and a deck extends off the porch. I am getting off track just a bit, but I have not heard the word “haint” since I was a child and I am now retired. This is so funny, but I grew up next door to my grandfather’s 300 acre farm in GA. near Dunaway Gardens. I loved to play in the woods and my grandmother and I would sit on her wraparound porch with my cousins and she would always point to thick woods in the distance and tell us to NEVER venture that far in the woods because “haints” lived there. lol She told us because of her fear that we would get lost in the woods. You have made my day! I will surely paint my porch ceiling “haint blue”!

  33. Hi Susan,Love the blue ceilings,front and back porches. I grew up summers in Canada in an old farmhouse and those porches,front and back were blue.So I don’t think it’s just a southern thing,I’m leaning towards a practical thing!

  34. Rattlebridge Farm says

    I’m excited that you’re thinking of using Haint Blue! SW Meander Blue is on my porch ceiling. It’s a pale aqua. I smile whenever I see it.

  35. I’m a big fan of the haint blue porch ceiling! So much, in fact, that I decided to carry the color inside as well, and have painted a couple of room ceilings a soft blue. My guest room makes me especially happy. After spending vacation time on Tybee Island in Georgia, I decided to create my own “Tybee room”, using a quilt I purchased at Seaside Sisters. I painted the walls white, but the ceiling is a rich sky blue, the same blue I would see if I were at the beach.

  36. I had already read that it was traditional in the SOuth of the USA to have blue ceilings on porches, but I had no idea why. Now I find it even more picturesque. But I agree, somehow it only works with a flat ceiling.

  37. Oh, my gosh: you’re blog makes my heart sing! (So love the combined posts about haint blue porches.) 🙂 🙂

  38. Whoops! YOUR blog…it’s way too early in the day (5AM) to be coherent.

  39. Ooh I live that Duron Gullah Blue!! I wish I had a front porch at all! Go for it! 🙂

  40. We painted our porch haint blue last year. I love the meaning and the history of and so happy we did it.

  41. Oh what a beautiful color.We are just starting out porch now.For the beginning I may just leave it wood.
    xx
    Anne

  42. I have my front and side porch ceilings painted in Benjamin Moore’s Palladian Blue. I really love how it looks. I plan to do this in every home I live in. You will not regret it a bit. Palladian Blue is a subtle, beautiful color.

  43. I painted my front porch ceiling a beautiful haint blue. It was what I always wanted. About a year later due to our humidity in FL my porch was so mildewed and the bugs and spiders loved that blue. So I just painted it a deep burgundy that matches my front door. The rest of the porch is all white spindles and gingerbread. I love that deep color. It was kind of brazen but it looks beautiful.

  44. Susan, choosing paint and getting it right can be an absolute trauma but…three years ago I finally got lucky and found a blue that my husband and I can both agree on. You have already named it in your list. It is BM Polar Sky. It is soft yet carries enough color and I have painted much of my interior in this color trimmed out in bright white.

    It would be perfect for a porch ceiling!

  45. We are building a house on St. Simons Island and we’re considering painting the exterior a soft beachy blue. I love the idea of painting the porch ceiling blue also. Should we go with the same color as the rest of the house, a lighter version of that color, or a different blue?

  46. I think Farrow and Ball’s shade “skylight” would be stunning. Very soft but would really bring that space to life.
    F&B is REALLY expensive. Get their shade card and then have it color matched. 🙂 The best paint I have ever used is Behr Ultra (paint and primer in one). It has a very silky feel and slip to it which lets it roll out nicely.

  47. Hi, I am painting our exterior on our cottage BM “STORM” I cant decide what color blue for my ceilings??? HELP!

    • Hi Jamie, Some great Benjamin Moore colors are Mystical Blue, Palladian Blue, Crystal Springs, Artic Blue, and Polar Sky. Some popular Sherwin Williams ceiling colors are Waterscape, Hazel, Atmospheric, Pool Blue and White Satin. But you don’t have to limit yourself to just these, whatever blue you prefer will work just fine. I’ll see if I can put together a post sometime soon with a full list of some great blue colors for a haint blue ceiling.

  48. khanh trinh says

    1st time home buyer…Louisiana home… doing research and came across this blog… absolutely LOVED reading all of the comments… here is a list of everyone’s suggestions for “haint blues” below!!! Can’t wait to paint my front and back porches’ ceilings!!! 🙂

    Benjamin Moore’s Palladian Blue HC-144

    Sherwin Williams Lauren’s Surprise

    Robin’s Egg Blue from Behr

    behr Americana blue

    Sherwin-Williams Color 6505 Atmospheric

    Valspar”Journal Book” semi-gloss. No. 4004-5a

    palladian blue benjamin moore

    Valspar’s Tropical Bay

    Valspar Blue Raindrop

    Duron Gullah Blue

    BM Polar Sky

    Benjamin Moore colors are Mystical Blue, Palladian Blue, Crystal Springs, Artic Blue, and Polar Sky

    Sherwin Williams ceiling colors are Waterscape, Hazel, Atmospheric, Pool Blue and White Satin

    • Thanks for pulling those all out into a list. I was just thinking last week about how I should create a list of all the blue paints that are great for a haint blue ceiling. 🙂

  49. Hi Susan…I read through every one of the comments and can’t believe no one mentioned the reason why it is called ” haint blue”. On a tour of homes in Charleston, they explained that a very certain color of blue was used. As they would say ” it haint quite green and it haint quite blue” but since it was more blue than green they named it ‘haint blue’. true or not, it sounds believable.

  50. Susan – I realize this is a very old post, but it was fantastic to find all of these great haint blue paint color choices on one site, so THANK YOU. A nice front porch was top of the list when I found the almost 100 yr cottage I bought in Brookhaven a few years ago. And now I am finally getting the haint blue ceiling on it that I’ve always wanted. QUESTION: Can you tell me where the Grant Park yellow cottage shown earlier in this blog is located (street address.) We’ve had a hard time finding just the right shade of yellow to paint our much too golden yellow house. Yellow is so hard – thery are always “too something.” Too icy, too green, too orange, etc. Would love the Grant Park cottage address and any exterior yellow suggestions…thanks again!

    • Thanks, Melanie! I love a haint blue ceiling! Gosh, I’m not sure now what street that was on. The yellow to me looks very much like a very popular yellow for Bengjamin Moore called Hawthorne Yellow. You can see Hawthorne Yellow here: http://store.benjaminmoore.com/storefront/shop-by-color/best-selling-paint-colors/best-selling-yellows/cndShopByColor-cbestSellingPaintColors-cbestSellingYellows-p1.html
      There’s a cottage style house not far from me painted that color. The reason I know is I’ve always LOVED the house when I’ve driven by. I have this for yellow cottages! When I was having the wood siding on the back of my brick home painted, I walked up to the door and rang the bell and asked them what color it was. Yep, Hawthorne Yellow. She said people in the neighborhood were always asking her that question because it’s such a great cottage yellow. Here’s a bigger swatch of it: http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/hawthorneyellow You may still want to buy a quart and test it on your house before fully committing…just to be safe.

      • Too funny! We’ve had our eye on Hawthorne Yellow for over a year now. We have 6 color samples painted on the back our house so that we can view them in full sunlight, shade, etc. We even had a 50% Hawthorne yellow mixed because we were worried it was too bright. Others have suggested something much more subtle, but we still wanted something happier. I think you have helped convince me that we can’t go wrong with Hawthorne. thank you and thanks for getting back with me so quickly. We may still drive around Grant Park over the weekend as you suggested. Love your site!

        • Thanks, Melanie! I saw another pretty yellow online at Benjamin Moore that looked a bit lighter. I think it was Haystack. Oh, one more trick…whenever I’m choosing a new paint color and I don’t know where to start or what direction to go, I call up 2-3 Benjamin Moore stores or go in person since it’s near by…and I asked them what is the XXX color that most decorators love for. (Fill in XXX with yellow, blue, green, etc…. depending on what color you are looking for) They almost immediately start giving me the names of their most popular colors with decorators. It gives you at least an idea of what the decorators are using. So you may want to ask a Benjamin Moore store in Buckhead or the one up in Roswell what the most popular yellow is for cottage exteriors. Make sure you’re talking to a seasoned employee and not a guy they hired last week. 🙂

    • Melanie, here’s the actual post where I walked through Grant Park taking photos. You may want to look at it because that home is probably somewhere near these others. Just thinking that may help you locate the house if you drive over to Grant Park to look for it. Another thing you could do is Grant Park has an online website…I think it’s for the Association or something. I bet you could contact whoever is listed as the contact person on that site and ask them if they know how you can contact the folks who live there to find out what color paint they used. He/she may contact them for you to ask. You can just email them the link to my post so they’ll know what house it is.
      https://betweennapsontheporch.net/six-feet-under-and-bats-in-the-belfry-happy-halloween/

  51. Lishcia Keizer says

    If you like a bit lighter blue, Sherwin Williams Balmy is very pretty and not quite as overwhelmingly blue. I live in North GA and love my pale blue porch ceilings!

  52. Irene Efstathiou says

    Hi I just happened to come across your blog while researching about the sky blue ceiling to keep bugs, wasps etc. away.
    I really enjoy your blog and your porch is amazing! We are considering buying a home in East TX that has a huge porch. The house has white siding and a new dark green metal roof. The floor on the porch is a pretty red.
    I’ve also read about people painting the window and door frames the sky blue because of spirits LOL but that wouldn’t go with the other colors. The ceiling on the porch is currently a pale green (I Think) How do you think it would look with the ski blue ceiling because of the other colors? I wish the previous owners would have gone with a black metal roof but it is what it is. What’s your suggestion? Is there any way for me to post a photo of the house on here for you to see? Thanks, Irene

    • Thanks, Irene!\
      I think it would be great to go with a blue color (haint blue) for the ceiling, but since the porch floor is red, I’d just try to go with a soft/pale blue, as opposed to some of the bolder blues that you sometimes see on porch ceilings. I don’t think the green roof will factor in very much since folks may only really notice the blue ceiling once they are closer to the house and walking up the steps to the porch or on the porch. A really soft/light blue would be beautiful, I think! 🙂

  53. Bernadette says

    We are building a modern farmhouse in the lowlands Georgia and are painting the front porch Birds Egg Blue by Benjamin Moore. I would love to paint the screened in porch ceiling this blue too. Is that appropriate? Thank you!

    • Sure! I would have painted my screened porch ceiling that color but mine was just too large since it’s a sloped/high ceiling. But haint blue is beautiful on screened porches!

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