Whether to Ward Off Spirits, Bugs Or Boring Design, Blue Ceilings Are

60 REAL ESTATE | Kip Dawkins / The Washington Post ABOVE: Designer Suellen Gregory chooses a pale blue ceiling for a client’s porch in Virginia Beach. The color is Icy Moon Drops by Benjamin Moore. LEFT: Nashville designer Jonathan Savage’s 2017 Kips Bay Decorator Show House space features a ceiling of Farrow & Ball’s Borrowed Light (powder blue). Benjamin Benjamin Benjamin Moore’s Moore’s Moore’s Donald Friedman / The Washinton Post Palladian Blue Artic Blue Clear Skies Whether to ward off spirits, bugs or boring design, Kane County Chronicle / KCChronicle.com • Thursday, July 13, 2017 blue ceilings are staple of the South By JURA KONCIUS centuries, the tradition has made its The Washington Post way beyond the South, influencing design across the country.” Her picks In Richmond, Va., people debate for best Benjamin Moore blues: Arctic their favorite sky blue paint color for Blue, Clear Skies, Palladian Blue and porch ceilings as they do their favorite Harbor Haze. biscuit recipe. To get the pale color you want, you “It’s all about bringing the outside might need to dilute the intensity of in,” said designer Suellen Gregory, the blue a bit. “Always test and never who has seen blue ceilings on front be afraid to cut the color in half with and back porches, screened-in porch- white. The paint store will do that for es, loggias and garden rooms. “My you,” Gregory said. Her blue choic- clients do ask for it. It puts an interest- es: Sherwin-Williams’ Atmospheric ing spin on what would be just a plain or Breath of Fresh Air by Benjamin white ceiling.” Moore. Across the South, the tradition of In the 2017 Kips Bay Decorator painting ceilings blue is passed down Show House in New York, Savage used from generation to generation. There Farrow & Ball’s Borrowed Light for are many stories and legends as to the ceiling in his dramatic stair hall why, and it’s not just about keeping in the 1905 townhouse. “I wanted to bugs at bay. In the Deep South, some incorporate different elements of the believe a darker blue sometimes called South in my space,” Savage said. “A “haint blue” keeps away evil spirits. powder blue ceiling, although normal- “I was always told that the color of ly found out of doors, felt Southern our porches was ‘dirt dauber blue’ and and sophisticated here.” that they kept wasps from building John Bessler / The Washington Post Gregory said another ceiling paint nests in there,” said Jonathan Savage, The porch ceiling outside a Connecticut home is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Harbor Haze. tip she’s often used came from a savvy an interior designer in Nashville, Parisian hostess: Paint ceilings pale Tenn. “Then some people say if you a tradition in the South that they Hannah Yeo, Benjamin Moore’s pink so your skin glows by candle- are on a porch with a blue ceiling, it evoke a feeling of the past and make color and design expert, said that light. Gregory likes to paint a dining seems to keep the daylight around a people feel comfortable and cozy. “I although “blue porch ceilings have room ceiling with the faintest tint of bit longer.” like them because they add softness been a long-standing tradition in pink. Her favorites: Benjamin Moore’s Gregory said blue ceilings are such and interest,” she said. many parts of the Southern states for Beautiful in My Eyes or Pink Essence..

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