What Color do I Paint the Underside of an Outside Porch Roof?

Light

• Covered porches, especially those on bungalows, where the porch consumes a large portion of the first floor or screened-in verandas, can appear dark compared to the bright sunshine outside of them. Porch deck and ceiling colors should bring enough light into the porch for the inhabitants to read and converse without requiring extra light. Deck colors are often dark grays or browns that will hide dust and dirt tracked onto them, so the task of reflecting sunshine or lamplight is left to the ceiling. On the other hand, the purpose of a covered porch is to shade and protect, so a bright white might create glare and draw attention away from the surroundings. Many shades of blue answer these needs.

Dirt

• Porch ceilings, like indoor ceilings, may not be cleaned often. Dust and dirt contrast sharply with bright pastels, so colors that contrast less, such as blues and grays, look better longer as summer winds blow dust through the porch. Beadboard ceilings, made of panels pressed or cut to resemble tongue-and-groove slats, make especially effective dirt catchers, so a color that “hides dirt” makes cleaning a matter of occasionally sweeping the ceiling with a broom rather than a weekly overhead soap-and-water scrubbing.

Custom

• If your home is a grand old Victorian Painted Lady, consider painting the ceiling of her porch blue. Sky blue, from cerulean to azure, graced 19th century porches in the South and along the East Coast during the height of this architectural era. There is a blue that harmonizes with just about any color you might wish to paint a house; the Victorians favored subtle earth tones in several shades with contrasting highlights. Pale blue porch ceilings not only represented the sky but also provided a calming influence against the busy color schemes of houses. Since then, blue porch ceilings have become quite common.

Mythology

• The notions of the porch ceiling as sky and the color blue as soothing are the result of imagination and experience. Other ideas descend from folk mythology or creative thinking. Blue was the choice of the Gullah folk of South Carolina to turn away evil spirits who might haunt a home’s inhabitants, according to Leigh Handal, a director at the Historic Charleston Foundation. She credits blue porch ceilings to the tradition of painting exteriors “haint” blue.