The Prettiest Shades of Haint Blue for Your Front Porch

Spend a weekend house-hunting in Charleston or strolling the streets of Savannah, and you'll likely notice that many of the houses have one thing in common: a sky-blue porch ceiling. While the practice is widespread across much of the South and even beyond, the tradition of painting porch ceilings light blue began with the Gullah Geechee communities of coastal South Carolina and Georgia.

These descendants of central and west African enslaved people painted their doors, window frames, shutters, and porch ceilings blue as a means of protection. They believed that the color would act as a repellant for "haints," or spirits of the dead, who might try to enter their homes.

According to Atlas Obscura, in one version of the tradition, the Gullah Geechee people believed that the haints would confuse the color with the sky and pass right through the porch ceiling. Another version of the tradition explains that the haints were afraid of water and would flee at the sight of the watery hue.

But if you're not one for believing in haints, you may still want to paint your porch a lovely light blue for a more practical reason. Some say that the color prevents wasps from building nests. We're not much for haints or wasps, so we'll improve our chances with a picture-perfect shade of blue. We've rounded up 12 of the best shades of haint blue to paint your porch, whether you live in the South or just wish you did.