Light blue porch ceiling

[mesp2k]

On older houses the bead board porch ceiling was sometimes painted light sky blue. Can you use any color paint for your house siding/shingles & trim with that blue? Not sure yet what color I'm painting the house, but I wondered if any colors would clash. I know the ceiling is kind of hidden. And are porch floors & stair treads usually painted grey or brown on older homes? I'm thinking Victorian, farmhouse & bungalow?

[Roxxie]

In my humble opinion a very pale blue should go with any color. Of course almost everything I own, wear or make is blue so I am probably a little bit jaded about it. Try it out on scraps and see if you like it.

[stamper]

I think any color would go with the light blue porch ceiling.

[CheckMouse]

Blue sounds good to me

[Darlene.]

I love blue, it's my favorite color, I wear blue, most of my dishes are blue..............

Blue sounds good to me

[Sherry]

Blue porch ceilings supposedly discourage flies!

[Audra]

Blue porch ceilings supposedly discourage flies!

and birds - when I took a class trip with my son to Mackinaw Island - the tour guide said to notice all the porch ceilings were sky blue to discourage the birds from making nest in the porch. Didn't seem to matter the color of the house.

[KathieB]

Interesting! I've always wanted a porch with a blue ceiling just because I like the way they look. Never knew the reasoning behind the popularity of the practice.

Thanks for the enlightenment!

[mesp2k]

...thanks...

I never heard the birds & flies story - interesting. I have heard the birds & bees story tho...

How do you feel about this:

Should I paint the porch floor & stair treads grey? If the house is at the cool end of the color spectrum should I use a cool grey or warm grey with warm house colors? Can it be the trim color if the trim is medium to dark?

I look around the neighborhood & people have replaced beautiful porch railings with natural or stained decking & sometimes just 2x4s painted all kinds of crazy colors. Dark & medium grey porch floors seem to dominate the neighborhood. I think they sell heavy duty marine paint in these greys & a kind of primer brown - so this might be the reason they're used so much??

[Sherry]

I should paint my RL porch ceilings blue, we had a nest in our porch light last spring and couldn't use it until the babies grew up! When we moved in, the light was high enough that we couldn't see one of the glass panes was broken, until the nest appeared. It was fun watching the parents take care of them, though.

[New Day]

Sounds like fun Sherry! We usually have about a week each spring where we have to walk the dogs instead of letting them run in the yard because we have fledglings learning to fly. They are sooo cute!

Cool info about the blue porch ceilings. I never knew any of that!

[Violet2Dawn]

My Canadian grandmother always called it "Robin's Egg Blue" when referring to blue painted porch ceilings, which we, of course, had.

[mesp2k]

Now that you mention it Dawn - Robin's Egg Blue does sound familiar. I said sky blue because I thought I read some where that the painted ceiling was a reminder of blue skies, especially while sitting out on the porch on a cloudy day.

..and when sherry mentioned blue keeping flies away - made me think about something else I read - that Victorians didn't like bugs any where near the house so they did not plant flowers or shrubs near the house/windows/porches... the article went on to say if you look at old photos there aren't many plants if any & sometimes not even a lawn...

[Sherry]

Some people do the same thing here because the snakes get in the shrubbery next to the house-nasty surprise when you go to turn on the water!

[Lynette Smith]

In a scholarly book on Victorian houses, porch ceilings were painted blue, to make the person on the porch feel like they were out in the sun (days before central air could be quite hot, so sipping lemonade on the porch was lovely). Porch floors were painted black or dark dray, so dust wouldn't show so easily. Shutters and outdoor furniture were green, a 50/50 mix of kelly and black. Personally I prefer white wicker or wrought iron, and shutters and trim to complement the house color.

[mesp2k]

Sherry - I was going to say paint the garden hose fluorescent orange, but there's probably a snake that color too...

Lynette - thanks for the info... I don't know if can go with the black floors & green shutters, but the blue ceiling sounds like a good idea.

The paint back then was lead based wasn't it? Is that why the paint colors had a grayish tinge or is it when I look at colors with a bit of gray mixed in I think "Old paint"? As I get older my complexion gets grayer... my hair, my eyes...

[LLyn M.]

I can SO see a R.E.blue ceiling with a light gray porch floor and steps-Yummy!!

House color?........Whatever you want!

[Lynette Smith]

For the floor I prefer a medium to medium light. Green shutters don't appeal to me either.

Most vivid colors were lead based. But it wasn't a safety issue back then. Nobody thought about kids licking walls or puting things in their mouths.

[kellee]

All my Houses have a light blue porch ceiling... I seen aphoto a long time ago of a room with a blue ceiling and clouds painted.. I tried painting clouds... and that did not work out so now I just paint them blue.!

Kellee

[kfkelly]

and birds - when I took a class trip with my son to Mackinaw Island - the tour guide said to notice all the porch ceilings were sky blue to discourage the birds from making nest in the porch. Didn't seem to matter the color of the house.

Prevents wasps from building nests as well - all in all a good color choice!

Kirsten

[Debra from Olde Cape Cod]

Wow! Wouldn't that be creepy to have a wasp's nest on your dollhouse porch!! The wasps that ate New York!!

[beyondbaffled]

Wonderful topic. There are many old homes in the neighborhood where I live and I have always loved the blue porch ceilings. Always wanted one myself one of these days. As far as the color of the houses, many of them are white, but a couple have been repainted in the last few years - one is a light green and one is a lovely light yellow.

[pin1056]

very interesting :yes: blue beacon porch rooves (roofs?) here we come :o

[KathieB]

Wow! Wouldn't that be creepy to have a wasp's nest on your dollhouse porch!! The wasps that ate New York!! :o

Somewhere in my stash I have a mini wasps' nest that I bought at a miniature show a few years ago. :yes: I wonder what I did with it.

[Roxxie]

I never heard of all these reasons for blue but since its my favorite color I like them all....

Except the thought the the snakes! I am so scared of them! I have had copperheads under my deck and the thought just makes me cringe. I use a rake and try not to stick my hands under the bushes where I can't see. EWWWWWWWW!

Sherry I just put my wreath out last week and I already had a bird making her nest in it. I had to clean it out I have to use my door! Birdie will have to find somewhere else. Maybe I should build a birdhouse?