The remodeling of an old house seems like a never-ending project. The skill level of DIY jobs ranges from 1 (easy) to 5 (difficult). Ripping up old carpet and refinishing hardwood floors is maybe a skill level 2. Installing new kitchen cabinets is probably a 4, while ripping out the bathroom would definitely have to be a 5. But, one of the most rewarding and easiest of the skills is painting. Applying color to the walls and ceilings is one of the simplest and fastest ways to add your own personal distinctive touch and immediately alter the character of a home.
It seems there are a zillion ways to apply that paint. Color washing, ragging, sponging, sueding, leatherizing, Venetian plastering, poofing and just plain old rolling it on... all give a different texture and look and depth to the color you put on that wall. There are lots of little ways to incorporate the character of colors into your daily life.
Now nothing makes you sit up and notice color faster than the restoration of an historic home. With the upstairs mostly done, we’ve moved to the outside trim and front porch. Looking at traditional colors for use on this style home led me to the discovery of porch paint with its legend of the color "Haint blue."
The legend goes that savvy people paint their porch ceiling in Haint blue color. Various twists on the reasoning for this are to ward off wasps and insects, another variation of the legend says it will ward off ghosts or "haints" (ergo the name), others say it keeps the birds from nesting on your porch. For me, the soothing color and brightness (reflectivity of the paint color) especially during the dreary winter months is reason enough. The Haint blue color legend is worldwide, yet for those of us in the US the legend supposedly originated in the Southern coastal regions even though historic homes in the NE and SW and Midwest follow this tradition too. The superstition or logic behind it varies from region to region.
Haint Blue originated in the deep American South. Today, in cities and towns throughout the south, one will find these blues and greens tints on shutters, doors, porch ceilings and windowsills, gracing many historic homes. The pretty blues and greens compliment any grand old Victorian mansion, but the first painted strokes of Haint Blue adorned not the homes of the rich, but the simple shacks of African slaves.
Known as the Gullah or Geechee people, the original Haint Blue creators were descendants of African slaves who worked on rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia. Many of their ancestors came from Angola, which may be where the name "Gullah" originated. They are well-known for preserving their African heritage more than any other African American community. They kept alive the traditions, stories, and beliefs of their ancestors, including a fear of haints.
Haints, or haunts, are spirits trapped between the world of the living and the world of the dead. These are not your quiet, floaty, sorrowful ghosts, they are the kind you don’t want to mess with, and the kind you certainly don’t want invading into your humble abode looking for revenge. Luckily, the Gullah people remembered an important footnote to the haint legend. These angry spirits have a kryptonite; they cannot cross water. The safest place would be in an underwater bubble, or perhaps to surround your house with a moat. But the Gullah people had a much more elegant solution. They would dig a pit in the ground, fill it with lime, milk, and whatever pigments they could find, stir it all together, and paint the mixture around every opening into their homes. The haints, confused by these watery pigments, are tricked into thinking they can’t enter.
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The milky blue color is said to have another advantage besides making a home ghost-proof; insects seem to be repelled by this protective hue. While some speculate that insects perceive the blue color as a never-ending sky, and so don’t understand that they can settle there, the more likely reason is the lime content in the paint. Insects generally tend to avoid lime. Today, in places far-flung from its southern roots, the tradition of Haint Blue lives on as a popular color choice for porch ceilings. The reason is based on the idea of an extending sky and a calming effect, but to us, the safeguarding defense of the Gullah’s Haint Blue against evil makes the southern version a far more fascinating color.
Deciding which tint is the true Haint blue color isn’t for the faint of heart. There must be two dozen or more colors of "Haint blue" ranging from robin’s egg blue (azure) to duck egg blue (grayish blue) to pale sky blue to a rich vibrant turquoise. Aurora blue is northeast Haint blue while turquoise suits the palettes of the southwest and deep south.
Regardless of color tint choice, the use of Haint blue color on your porch ceiling is nothing more than a calm and attractive choice of light reflectivity that welcomes you each time you arrive home. The insect repellant meme no longer applies as lime is no longer used in paint ingredients. And honestly... if the spirit world wants to get you... Boo!.. I don’t think the energy of water would deter them. There must be some water spirits somewhere along the way in 2/3rds of the earth’s surface. :^)
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Speaking of haints... Rand Paul roams Kentucky, and the nation, with his father’s ghost in the shadows. And in case you missed it, Rand Paul wants to criminalize rape and incest victims who have an abortion. According to the Paul family, it is not constitutionally guaranteed to have an abortion, to use birth control pills or the morning after pill, nor to have stem cell research.
Meanwhile, Jack Conway is pulling the Democratic Party together in Kentucky. Thank gawd for leadership. ActBLUE for Conway
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Now it’s on to the TOP COMMENTS OF THE DAY submitted from our Kossack readers today in the Top Comments’ mailbox... TYVM to everyone who sent in these excellent comments!
From anonymous:
terryhallinan says Obviously You Have No Notion Of Extreme Left from MinistryOfTruth's diary.
From JanF:
jmknapp's comment from Wednesday's Morning Feature by J Brunner Fan on the Ohio Secretary of State race provides a great word picture: "lashing himself to the saddle of the teabaggers, Husted is trying to ride into office on a dead horse".
From Julie Gulden:
This comment by Odeomi13 expresses the gratitude that I think many of us felt reading the diary Liberal Criticism of Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal by puakev. It was as if a collective sigh went out over the site.
JekyllnHyde's cartoon!
Truly a top comment from the "Liberal Criticism of Franklin Roosevelt..." diary. For anyone that has not read the comments in that diary, there are too many top comments to mention.
From nonnie9999:
Don't drink anything until after you've read this comment by The Gryffin from kos' front page post Border Residents feel safer than idiot Republicans.
From renzo capetti:
In jotter's High Impact Diary comment thread...in response to LaughingPlanet's cautious optimism on pie diaries, JanF put a cute pic of a pie-eating hoot owl (cartoonedly of Hedwig only here for the pie).
From bronte17 (tonight's diarist):
From puakev's diary Liberal Criticism of Franklin Roosevelt and The New Deal is this comment from Pescadero Bill that puts the diary in perspective while orestes1963 seeks context.
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