I love the look. I'm probably doing it for my house, if my house ever gets built.

We painted ours white. Our house is white board and batten style, porch boards are gray, our windows are a tan color, and our front door is clear stained but I thought that white made more sense with the overall look of our house. Context matters. What do you think your house wants?

Not our house:

Shades of White · More Info

Some folks paint their porch ceilings a teal blue, recalling the sky at some times of day.

Ooooooh I like the idea of doing blue!!! What a fun touch! That would totally make me smile. :-)

(I like the natural look, too, but oh, blue!)

"Haint Blue

Blue
porch ceilings are prevalent all throughout the South. Pale blue is not
only visually expansive, but it’s also a ghost buster of sorts. The
Gullah culture of the Lowcountry believes that spirits, known as
“haints,” can’t cross water. Using light blue paint to symbolize water,
the Gullah people applied the shade to porch ceilings and doors
preventing evil spirits from entering."

lots of porches painted haint blue in my and surrounding areas.

here is a link to the history of "haint" blue.. maybe as interesting to some and maybe not even accurate, however it would definitely make me smile :)

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/pretty-and-practical-the-history-of-haint-blue-porch-ceilings-206959

Blue keeps flies from pooping on it.

I just put beadboard on the ceiling of my front porch and on the ceiling of my sun porch as well. Both are painted a pale blue ("haint blue"). I used 1/2 strength Meander Blue by SW. I love the look.

My first husband's great grandfather built a summer cottage in northern MI. He owned a millwork company (as well as a bank!) in St Louis and had all the lumber shipped up to MI - this was in 1901-02. All the interior walls and ceilings are in unstained/untreated beadboard and it has held up very well over the years with zero maintenance. It's a nice look, too.

Haint blue is the only color to paint porch ceilings IMO.

Mrsfireman...love the look of your house. I love the idea of the haunt blue.

but, that wood on your ceiling is so pretty I would be tempted to do a light stain or natural.

Thanks everyone! I had initially planned on blue, but then decided to paint our garage BM Kendal Charcoal. The garage is attached by a breezeway, the ceiling there is same as front porch and the blue looked to busy to me next to the charcoal.

We were on Mackinaw Island a month ago, and one of the tour guides told us that the porch ceilings on the houses there were blue to keep birds from building nests up near the ceiling. I even saw one porch ceiling that had fluffy white clouds painted on the blue background.

The birds were fooled into thinking that the blue ceiling was the sky. I dunno - I guess it seemed to work.

We are using beetle kill pine with a clear stain for protection. It's pine with a blue tint.

My understanding is that blue mimics the sky and prevents both birds and bees from building nests there.

Found it!

I used white pine beadboard, and used Minwax Pecan for a stain. It is very light; only slightly darker than Natural, which has no tint at all. I found the light stain made the grain and knots 'pop' without making the ceiling too dark. I then put a couple coats of satin spar polyurethane. Hint- stain the boards before you install them, as shrinkage might reveal unstained tongues. I'll have to try to get a good picture.

"beetle kill pine"

That is amazing to me as it is the same as blue stain pine which for years was completely undesirable and often used as dunage. Now they market it as such and probably charge a premium for it as well.

Haint blue for sure.

We did blue for our v-groove porch ceiling (SW Blue Horizon.) It looks totally appropriate on our white brick home located in the South. However, in a more rustic lake or mountain setting, I think the clear stained boards would look great. It's all in the context.

our are haint blue however, my husband's grandmother's, built in the '20's was pale green which was also very nice...

I agree with the comment about context. I originally thought about haint blue, as it's traditional here, but it wouldn't go with our dark gray-green siding and tan trim. Very 1930's-state-park look. We're also in the woods and mountains, with a rustic decor.

Haint blue is the only way to go.. don't need no eeeeeevil spirits! :P