Haint Blue

     The sky has been dreary and overcast all winter long here in Seattle! There is one sure way though to have blue skies all year round- painting your porch ceiling haint blue!

Image Via Flower Garden Girl

      Painting porch ceilings blue is a long standing southern tradition. A haint is a nasty spirit which the blue ceilings were believed to keep away. A ceiling which mimicked the color of the sky was also thought to ward off bugs, extend the days of summer, and make the ceilings appear higher. These are all good things! Plus a blue ceiling is just super-super pretty!

Image via americanpac.com

I absolutely can not wait to paint our porch ceiling haint blue!

Image via Coastal Living

      First I have to choose the perfect paint color! Haint blue refers to the tradition of having blue porch ceilings, not an actual color of paint. The haint blue colors traditionally are in the blue-green range but over time different regions have developed their own takes on the tradition which encompass the entire blue spectrum from baby (typical of New England) to turquoise (typical of the Caribbean)! 


     In my special case there is actually a paint color made by Sherwin Williams (SW 6791) called 'Lauren's Surprise' which is often used on porch ceilings. I should probably just not bother bringing home any other samples because it is going to be impossible not to be swayed by that name!

'Lauren's Surprise' is the top contender  paint color for my porch ceiling! But of course!!!!

     There are some other colors that you hear about a lot in conjunction with Haint Blue for non-Laurens to consider:

I found the above picture at Three Ring Cottage blogspot. The paint used is called Ozone by Behrs Vintage Collection. Pretty darn perfect to my taste!

     Shelter Pop recommends the above colors for porch ceilings. They are Aegean Blue and Artesian Well both by Martha Stewart Living for Home Depot. Followed by Caribbean Breeze and Constellation both by Benjamin Moore.

     Martha Stewart also made a paint aptly named Porch Ceiling Blue (C26) which, if not made anymore, could always be color matched. If you were just to investigate one blue for your porch ceiling this would be the one. Naturally. 

     Sherwin Williams suggests these three colors for porch ceilings:

Hazel SW 6471

Atmospheric SW 6505

Pool Blue SW 6944

That's really sweet of them to narrow down the color selection to three!

  Other bloggers have mentioned:

SW Meander Blue

SW Waterscape

    Also for folks who don't actually have a haint blue color named after them, plus some patience ( you have to get this paint delivered to you rather than head to Home Depot this very moment in order to pick up a few gallons) and a desire to ensure that the haint blue they chose is 'authentic' and rooted in history, check out Color Strategies a site which offers 7 haint blue formulas!

     As you can see the sky's the limit (sorry!) in terms of the paint you can choose to create the perfect heavenly blue porch ceiling! I haven't been this excited about a design project since, like, yesterday!!!!!