C.J. Braden • 3 Minute Read
Ways We Used Haint Blue To Paint Stairs + Porches
In our world of Southwest Florida, we deal with a lot of bugs. Honestly though, we dealt with lots of bugs when we lived in Louisville, Kentucky and that is where we learned about a southern tradition of painting a porch ceiling “haint blue”. Here’s how we used a version of haint blue to accent our outdoor living spaces and why we believe it does help cut down on the number of certain bugs on porches.
Our wood porch stairs before the haint blue accent
Once we completed clean-up of our porches post Hurricane Ian, we decided to use our tried and true version of haint blue called “Pool Blue” by Sherwin Williams to paint two of our porch ceilings and to accent our front porch stairs. We are not partial to using Sherwin Williams, but I just really liked their Pool Blue color and it’s tropical vibe when I was looking at options of haint blue porch ceilings on Southern Living’s website. In my research, I learned that there are many colors that can be considered haint blue.
Pool Blue instantly made our porch happy
If you are unaware of the history of haint blue, here’s a quick history lesson. The word “haint” is a southern version of the word “haunt”. It was said that painting the ceiling blue would keep your home safe from “evil spirits”. The blue represented water and apparently the belief is that spirits cannot cross water, so there became a huge increase in porches and window trimmings being painted blue. This belief is said to have stemmed from southern folklore, so that’s why you’ll see a lot of blue porch ceilings in southern states in the United States.
See this article set to music, my favorite song by Tears For Fears below or via our YouTube channel @carolynjbraden:
Haint Blue and Tan Porch Stairs
We also learned that the blue color can trick birds and insects into thinking your blue porch ceiling is the sky, so therefore they would not nest there. Some argue this is not true, but after using it on our porch ceiling in Louisville, KY, we did see a huge decrease in spiders and wasps. We used the Pool Blue paint color again in early 2022 to paint our front porch at our Sanibel Island home, and we did see less spiders hanging from the ceiling post painting. It did not cut down on mosquitos, but we have not had a wasp form a nest in that area yet.
Our porch stairs now have a tropical Sanibel vibe
After returning to our home after a long evacuation period from Hurricane Ian in 2023, we saw our back-porch ceiling was covered in bugs, spiders and unfortunately, water damage. We planned to paint that porch ceiling haint blue prior to the hurricane, and we were happy the project got delayed. Our front porch ceiling paint held up well, so we did not have to repaint it.
Haint blue porch ceilings can help with bugs
At 6 months post Hurricane Ian, the terrible increase in strange tiny biting bugs (they didn’t seem to be “no-see-ums” because I could definitely see them biting me!) finally started getting better, making porch time more enjoyable. Most of the porches were already a tan color, so we replaced a bunch of wood and repainted where needed, adding my favorite shade of haint blue (Pool Blue) to the back-porch ceiling.
Snake plants do well in Sanibel’s tropical environment
Check out our quick idea pin on Pinterest about our use of haint blue:
Our driftwood garland somehow survived Hurricane Ian
I then wanted to make the wood we replaced on the stairs match the tan of the porch floors, so we painted the tops of the steps in the tan exterior porch paint, then I painted the backer boards (which are a necessity in building code in Sanibel Island) with Pool Blue. The paint we purchased in Pool Blue is an exterior grade too. Our house is coastal and the environment is tropical, so this color definitely made sense, but I loved it at our Louisville house too. It also made the stairs look happy and fun!
We have no idea how our fountain survived Hurricane Ian either
We are not even close to being done with all our Sanibel home repairs, insurance is finally getting to our home for yet another walk through (with our lawyer provided people) at 7 months post Hurricane Ian, and this is still the case for many SWFL people.
Painting haint blue on our back porch
Tommy and I are tired but at least little improvements like this make the porches look clean and more put together. I’ve picked out a white board and batten style siding, pool blue shutters and a roof color. As soon as we get a settlement, another phase of repairs will begin.
Our back porch painted in haint blue
Now we are moving onto our home office/bedroom with a cracked wall. Thanks to the Hurricane Ian damage, it will have to get more than just paint.
If you love this article, we know you’ll love this one too: Using Dunn-Edwards DURA Paint for Office Remodel
My Sanibel porches are my happy place to watch all the wild animals
C.J. (Carolyn) Braden is a regular contributor and editor for Carolyn’s Blooming Creations. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.