Charming Southern Trend with A Symbolic Past
If you’ve been following Ellen’s house-painting project, you likely noticed her formerly faded-yellow home now shines with a rich and classy blue! Blue has long been a popular home décor color, associated with intuition, confidence, loyalty and peace. Some even say a blue front door represents abundant wealth and wellbeing!
Interior designers, home magazine writers – and of course purveyors of paint – frequently weigh-in on the most stylish colors of the season. However, color choice for some is more than just a stylistic preference. Southern homes, in South Carolina and Georgia for example, are well-known for implementing blue tones in their home décor. 
Haint Blue – A Tried and True Ghostbuster
Southern homeowners began painting their homes with blue to keep spirits away. Blue is often symbolic of water, and according to local tales, ghosts can cross water. With this folklore in mind, many people began painting their porch ceilings blue to keep the haunts away.
The protective paint color marked homes from top to bottom! Kitchens, ceilings, window trim, shutters, doors, and garden rooms were all painted with blue, as well as front and back porches. Because blue was intended to keep the spirits or “haints” away, designers now refer to this use of color as “haint blue.”
Haint Blue – Insect Repellent
In addition to spiritual protection, blue paint supposedly also keeps a house safe from bugs! The theory stands that birds and insects will think the blue paint is sky and avoid nesting there. Additionally, the blue paint supposedly “tricks” insects into flying up and away from homeowner relaxing on the porch. Some attribute the bug repellent effect to the large amounts of lye that were previously included in paint mixes!
Ghost-deterrent or bug-repellent, the use of blue shades as an exterior home color has become a definite Southern staple – one that has continued on from generation to generation. A new homeowner in the South might paint their porch ceiling blue simply as a tradition – because their mother did, their grandmother did, and their great-grandmother did. Painting a porch ceiling blue is what generations of a family just did! Nostalgic, reminiscent of nature, and refreshing, haint blue is clearly more than design trend.
Haint Blue Hues
Haint blue colors range from blue-grays to pale blue-greens. When Ellen wanted to add some of this symbolic Southern charm to her own house, she carefully reviewed Sherwin Williams shades to find the perfect hue. To fully complement her blue-gray home, Ellen’s porch ceiling would be something lighter, something refreshing, something harmonious.
Thanks to Sherwin Williams, Ellen discovered “Moonmist” – the perfect shade for what she had in mind. The lighter blue tone will brighten her home even on the gloomiest of days!
Looking to repel some ghosts or wasps from your own abode? Be sure to check out the gorgeous “haint blue” palettes below!
Sometimes all you need is some new paint to freshen your home’s exterior, lift your spirits (and keep another kind of spirits away!).
For more home-owning tips, check out Ellen’s blog The Brookside Local. And, if you’re looking to change your home address altogether, contact Ellen today!
