When I visualize a Victorian home,
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I see a covered porch with a painted blue ceiling . Someone once told me, ceilings on porches were blue because it kept away the insects.
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I was a little curious - not all porch ceilings are blue.
Doing some research, I read that the paint used on porch ceilings, at one time, was 'Milk Paint'. Made by mixing milk and lime and then adding pigment for color. Possibly the spiders, mosquitos or bees were attracted to the mixture.
No one knows for certain whether a blue porch ceiling does keep away the insects
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One very interesting fact, I found, is that we can thank the Gullah Culture of South Carolina's low country for starting the blue ceiling trend. The African Descendants believed their ghosts, called Haints, could not cross water. By painting the ceilings of their porches, and sometimes the casings around the doors and windows blue, they could ward off evil spirits by making the ghosts think it was a river.
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There is even a shade of paint called Haint Blue.
Whether for good luck, keeping the bugs away, or just the calmness blue can create, a blue ceiling above a porch is a must!
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