Haint Blue for the Porch Ceiling

While vacationing recently in Savannah, Georgia, we saw many beautiful, historic homes with wonderful front porches. It was not unusual to find the ceilings of the porches painted a color often referred to here in the south as "haint blue."

Back in the day, folks could be pretty superstitious. Many believed if you painted the front ceiling of your porch haint blue, it would look like water and keep the haints, (restless ghosts and bad spirits) from entering into your home, because as everybody knows, haints can't cross water. What? You didn't know that? ;)

Well, I'm not really the superstitious kind (knock on wood) but I love tradition, folk lore and just some old fashioned, southern nonsense from time to time. It's fun and keeps life interesting, if you know what I mean.

I almost painted the ceiling of my front porch blue when I added it to my home a few years back. In the end I decided it might not work so well with the Benjamin Moore, Heritage Red paint I had chosen for the front door, so I ended up going with white.







Let's take a look at some homes with ceilings painted haint blue. This grand home in Savannah was sporting a blue ceiling. Let's cross the street and take a closer look.






Do you see the blue?  You can tour the inside of this home in THIS post.











Definitely a haint blue ceiling if I've ever seen one.








Remember this home I shared in Isle of Hope a few days ago. Yep, a blue ceiling?






The porch ceiling of this home in Grant Park was painted a pretty shade of haint blue.








When we toured the beautiful homes and gardens in Greenwood, SC we saw more homes with blue ceilings.






If you've been reading BNOTP for a while, you may remember the tour we took of this Second Empire (Mansard) historic home on the Newnan Ramble.







We get a glimpse of the ceiling here and it's a pretty haint blue shade. So, you may be wondering, how do you chose the right blue if you're going for a haint blue porch ceiling?






After I posted HERE about so many porch ceilings being painted haint blue here in the south, Lori with Color Strategies sent me samples of some of the blues that are considered historically correct haint blue colors. Thanks, Lori!


I scanned the samples Lori sent into my computer and I've posted them below in case you are looking for that perfect shade of haint blue. All colors below are Benjamin Moore Paint Colors. I think my favorites are Ohio Haint Blue-Light and La Maison Bleu-Light.

First Set:
All Benjamin Moore: Top: La Maison Bleu-Dark; Middle: La Maison Bleu-Light; Bottom: La Maison Bleu-Medium









Second Set:
All Benjamin Moore: Top, Savannah Haint Blue-Light; Bottom: Savannah Haint Blue-Dark










Third Set:
All Benjamin Moore: Top: Ohio Haint Blue-Dark; Bottom: Ohio Haint Blue-Light








You can read more about the legend behind the color haint blue in this article written by Lori HERE.

While in Savannah, we had to go on one of the many, many ghost tours offered in this city that claims to be the most haunted city of all. Yep, that was our tour mobile.






One of our stops was the Warren A Candler Hospital, the very first hospital in the state of Georgia. This hospital is believed to be the second oldest general hospital in continuous operation in the United States. During the War Between the States, the hospital was used to care for Confederate soldiers, so this building has tremendous history and supposedly a lot of ghosts.




It has long since been closed and unfortunately left to fall to ruin. Of course, our tour guide said no one will touch it because it's so haunted. (Cough, cough) Our guide dared us to set foot on the balcony and I couldn't resist a little ghostly fun. I have some pics from the ghost tour of some of Savannah's most haunted spots. Let me know in a comment if you would like to see those and I'll post them sometime. :)





You can click on any of the highlighted links in this post to see tours of more beautiful homes here in the south.

Also, there's a great article HERE in the Washington Post about painting porch ceilings blue. They mention some other great colors you may wish to consider. One is Benjamin Moore's, Caribbean Breeze.

See you this evening for Tablescape Thursday!

Repainted Foyer!

Well, I thought this day would never  come but I am so happy to show you my new painted foyer!!! 

Oh, before I go into this post to far, I want to apologize for missing this weeks Amaze Me Monday party.  It’s been a long weekend and by Sunday night I was completely wore out!  I honestly didn’t have the energy to sit and focus at the computer.  The good news is that for the last two nights I slept threw the entire night (minus a few trips to the bathroom).  I’m thinking the combination of finishing the poison oak medication and having this foyer done might have something to do with it!

{Before}



{After}



I know…  Amazing!!!  I am so smitten with the results.  This has been a project floating around in my head for a long time and now it’s finally coming alive!!  There is still a few things to do.  We want to replace the floor, and I still need to restain the stairwell to match the door.

The color we choose is Sherwin Williams Macadamia for the wall and Moderate White on the ceiling.  The trim is a Benjamin Moore match of Cotton Balls.  It’s soft and warn but yet still a true white.

Don’t laugh but I know that the chandy is missing a few shades.  I went to the store and bought 12 during a big sale only to get home and realize that I need 15!  I searched high and low for the 3 matching ones but never found them.  The 12 original have faded on the side facing the window over the years, so guess I just need to replace all 15 shades. 

Let me show you more photos.

This is what the room looked like on Friday when the painters left.  The colors are off in this photo but I wanted you to see the shelf.  This in not what I envisioned.  I really wanted the shelf to be an extension of the mouldings around the door.  So in less than 24 hours I added moulding and painted out the shelf.  

Trust me, I was asking myself what kind of “anal” do you have to be to repaint less than a few hours after hired professional painters leave?!?!?

But don’t you agree??? 

The shelf is truly amazing painted out in white!

   Remember the shelf and the Google Sketch-up drawing that I showed you?  Didn’t it turned out just like my sketch?!?!  Love it!

Entering from the family room.  I most definitely will be replacing those gold tacky door knobs with a beautiful oil-rubbed bronze set. 



Here is a close up of the door casing that I created all from Lowes stock molding.  This took about 2 hours to do including removing the old door casing.  What an easy upgrade with such powerful impact!    You can see the wall paint, ceiling paint, and the trim all together in this photo.



I added a stock crown moulding under the ledge and my father and I made the picture frame moulding on the front of the shelf using MDF. 



I can open my front door with pride now!  I use to be so embarrassed. 

I have a few ideas on how to decorate the sides of the door and while talking it over with my parents you know they had to add their wisdom to make it even better!  Now to find the time and the money. 

On a personal note, my son has some really big dirt bike races coming up in this month and I will be traveling with him.  I hope to keep post regularly but I am still without my own computer {it was fried in an electrical storm we had a month ago}.  Oh how I miss my computer as it was set up with all the programs that I use on a regular bases.  I’m currently sharing the Hubs lab top.   So if you don’t hear from me just know that I am out-of-town.  In fact the end of this weekend I will be heading to the great state of Texas. 

Historic Tyson-Stedham Restoration, Part IV: Welcome to the 123rd Metamorphosis Monday!

Happy Met Monday! Hope your Memorial Day weekend has been relaxing. I've been busy scrubbing labels off colorful bottles...ummm, what might that be about? :) I'll share this little project soon but today I want to bring you a fabulous update on the Tyson-Stedham house.

When we last left this historic home, Dustin of Van der Fleet Designs and Restoration, along with his crew, had just completed restoration of the front porch. The home had also received a new roof and was in the midst of being prepared for a new dress, better known as paint.





This old girl also had her unattractive and "not original" back porch demo'd to make way for a full restoration of that area, too.





Check out the back porch now. New custom columns were built for the back porch project.








Here's a little close-up of the base of the column and the custom shadow boxing Dustin's crew created for the skirting of the porch.





Justin Holcomb, Dustin's master carpenter, continues to make progress on the rear restoration project. For added interest, Dustin designed the floor to have a pattern, a process that wasn't hard to accomplish but was definitely time consuming. They had to create a detailed support structure for the boards that were not running straight up and down. Dustin said, "This type of pattern is an easy way to add drama and detail in a space that could other wise be quite bland."







New set of totally custom stairs was built for the new open rear porch. These stairs were 100% custom made; Justin even hand made the stringers.





Newly installed 1912 historically correct French Doors. Dustin said, "I love these doors and no one would ever know that they did not originally belong to this house." I love them, too! What a beautiful design!





Dustin and his crew removed the stairwell that had been added leading up to the attic. This created a grand back hallway/entry for the custom, vintage French doors.





Dustin said, "Now that the doors are completed we have begun the long and hard process of putting the original siding back into place. All of the siding had to be removed from the house and reapplied. This is 100 year old siding that has not been protected with paint in a good three or four decades, so it is easy to split or crack. This portion of the job will be very time consuming, but well worth the effort."






Dustin continued, "The original siding is being put back into place. I love this look and I love the way the back of the house is shaping into an asset instead of a liability."






Time for a sneak peek at how this lovely lady's dress is going to look. The first coats of paint are just going on now. Richard Palmer and Jr. Miller, owners of Paint Slingers, are the painters chosen for the painting of this historic home.





As you can see here, the trim is going to be a creamy white. The window sash color is a delightful surprise and will take a good three coats to cover as it should.





Here's another look at the front porch showing the window sash color and the white trim. Dustin said, "We have yet to unleash our fourth color as it will be top secret until we get to the brick foundation." I can't wait to see what Dustin has planned!

I just got back from vacationing in Savannah, Georgia and while there we took one of their ghost tours. We were told all about ghosts and this thing called orbs. So, I'm wondering, is that a drop of water on the camera lens or does this home have a friendly visitor from days past? ;) (wink, wink)





Well, if that is a past resident, I think they must be grinning from ghostly ear to ghostly ear over what Dustin and his crew have accomplished for the Tyson-Stedham home.





Today is the last day to enter the Giveaway from A Great Impression. Click HERE to enter.


To see the amazing transformation of the Tyson-Stedham house from start to finish, click HERE. Looking forward to your fabulous Before and Afters!



Metamorphosis Monday:
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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: Touring Mercer House

I've just recently returned from a few days in the port city, Savannah and my trip had me thinking about the movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The movie was based on the book of the same title written by author, John Berendt. I've visited this beautiful Georgia city several times over the years, including back in June 1995, the year after the book was published. In case you aren't familiar, the city of Savannah is a planned city, designed by General James Oglethorpe. He designed the city around squares and ultimately it grew to have 24 picturesque squares, of which 22 still remain today. The squares make Savannah a unique and beautiful place to visit.



On that visit in 1995 I bought an autographed copy of the book in V. & J. Duncan Antique Maps, Prints & Books located on East Taylor Street which is on Monterey Square.



The V. & J. Duncan book store is located in the basement of this beautiful historic home and the owners (the Duncans) live in the home above. They have a "13 marble step commute" to their shop each day as they say in THIS video.



After I purchased a copy of the book in their shop, Virginia Duncan autographed it for me on page 142 where she is mentioned in the book. Now my book had two autographs. :)



I would manage to get it autographed one more time during that 1995 visit by yet, another one of the real live characters of the book, Emma Kelly...you'll meet her later in this post.



It was exciting and wonderfully strange experiencing the actual places and meeting the real people you read about in the book. It's not often you get the opportunity to fall into the rabbit hole, talk to the characters, touch the places and live the story. And, quite the story it is! It's all about art, antiques, parties, drag queens, voo doo, cemeteries, eccentric characters, murder and revenge.

During that long-ago 1995 visit to Savannah, we did the "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Book Tour" which you can still take today. The tour took us to all the places made famous in the book, and later in the movie released in 1997 starring Kevin Spacey, John Cusack, Jude Law and many of the town folk of Savannah. The movie was directed by Clint Eastwood.



During my visit this past week, I was able to tour Mercer House where much of the movie was filmed. Mercer House, previously owned by Jim Williams, a prominent art and antiques dealer, is now "The Mercer Williams House Museum." It is currently owned by Mr. William's sister, Dorothy, and is open for tours each day. Photography wasn't allowed inside the home, but I've snagged a few pics from the movie to share. I asked about the furniture that's in the home today and was told by our guide that much of it is the same as it was in the movie. Of course, some pieces have been reupholstered over the years.

When I visited and took this photograph in 1995, the exterior of this 7,000 sq. ft. Italianate home looked the same as it does in the movie released in 1997. Mercer House was designed by New York architect, John S. Norris for General Hugh W. Mercer who was the great grandfather of Johnny Mercer, the famous songwriter/singer. Construction of the house began in 1860 but it came to a halt during the time of the War Between the States. A gentleman by the name of John Wilder purchased the home and completed it in 1868.



When I visited again last week, I noticed very few things have changed since the movie was filmed here. (See pic below.) Gone is the heavy vine seen growing above the door in the movie. As you might expect, the palm on the right side is much larger, as are the shrubs lining the walkway. Other than that, the exterior of the house today is very much as it was in the movie. This photo below was taken last week.



The book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, is based on a true story about Jim Williams. Of course, John Berendt added and embellished to make it more exciting. Mr. Williams bought Mercer house in 1969 after it had been vacant for over a decade. He restored it, as he did 50+ houses in Savannah during his lifetime.

Here's a brief synopsis of the movie from Wikipedia:

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is atmospheric and Southern Gothic in tone, depicting a wide range of eccentric Savannah personalities.
The action that serves as a catalyst in the book is the killing of Danny Hansford, a local male prostitute (characterized as "a good time not yet had by all") by respected antique dealer Jim Williams. Four murder trials resulted, with the final one ending in acquittal after the judge finally agreed to move the case away from the Savannah jury pool. The book characterizes the killing as the result of a lovers' quarrel, not a pre-meditated murder. The death took place in Williams' home, originally built by an ancestor of songwriter and Savannah native Johnny Mercer.
The novel also highlights many other residents of Savannah, most notably The Lady Chablis, a local drag queen and entertainer. Chablis provides both a Greek chorus of sorts as well as a light-hearted contrast to the more serious action.
The book's plot is based on real-life events that occurred in the 1980s and is classified as non-fiction. Because it reads like a novel, it is sometimes referred to as a "non-fiction novel" or "faction", a sub-genre popularized by Truman Capote and Norman Mailer. (Booksellers generally feature the title in the "true crime" subsection.) It is among the most popular non-fiction releases of all time.
The title alludes to the hoodoo notion of "midnight", the period between the time for good magic and the time for evil magic, and "the garden of good and evil," which refers principally to Bonaventure Cemetery.
The famous Bird Girl statue, originally designed both as art and as a birdseed holder, was originally located at Bonaventure. A Savannah photographer, Jack Leigh, was commissioned to take a photograph for the cover of the book and created his now famous photograph of the statue. The Bird Girl was relocated in 1997 for display in the Telfair Museum in Savannah.


Let's take a tour of this beautiful home as seen during the making of the movie.



Jim Williams was known for his elaborate and over-the-top Christmas parties. Savannahians eagerly checked their mailboxes each Christmas to see if they had made the cut and would receive a much coveted invite.



Last Sunday, I was standing in the same spot as John Cusack in this scene from the movie. I probably had the same gawking look on my face, too. :) The home is filled with amazing art and rare antiques. To be honest, I'm shocked they allow the public in to tour this house. There are many valuable paintings and antiques throughout the home. When our guide pointed out crystal candlesticks given by Martha Washington to her daughter when she married, I was stunned. They were literally 3 feet in front of me, just sitting on a sideboard unprotected and easily within arms reach. Visit the home now before they come to their senses and put everything in a museum behind locked glass and roped off rooms. The tile in this entry is still in beautiful shape. Really, the whole home is just beautiful. The walls are still painted the soft peach color Jim Williams so loved.



The tour guide told us the dining room table was turned in the movie (as shown below) to create more space for the party that takes place in this room. It was turned the other direction during our visit last week. Many of the characters in the movie are actual town folk and play themselves. I think that was the case for the caterers of the party, if I'm remembering correctly.



Emma Kelly, known as the "Lady of 6,000 songs" has a whole chapter of the book devoted to her. She got her nickname from Savannah-born songwriter Johnny Mercer, who challenged her to play numerous songs that he named. He estimated she knew at least 6,000 songs from memory. Emma always played for Jim Williams at his Christmas party each year and she played herself in the movie. She's the other person from the book/movie who autographed my book back in 1995. When I met her, I found her to be a genuinely caring and generous soul. You can just tell by the sweet autograph/comment she wrote in my copy of the book. (Just scroll back up to read it.)



John Cusack plays a reporter by the name of John Kelso. I think John Berendt was channeling through Cusack. In the movie, he has been assigned to write a story about Jim Williams stunning parties, but he uncovers a much more interesting story along the way.



Prior to Jim Williams purchasing the home, the walls of three rooms upstairs were taken down to create one large ball room. In the movie, Jim takes John upstairs to show him a very rare gun that he keeps in the box he is unlatching here in this scene.



In the movie, Jim tells John about his neighbor's (Lee and Emma Adler) dogs that bark and annoy him. To get revenge, he plays this organ in the ball room really loud. :)



It would rival some organs found in churches. John is stunned when the curtains roll back to reveal these giant pipes. The movie is full of crazy moments like this.



Here's a picture I took of Lee & Emma Adler's House when I was in Savannah in 1995 on the "book tour." Their home is the one on the left and is across the street from Mercer House on Monterey Square.



While we are looking at other houses from the movie, here's one more. In the movie, John Kelso also meets Mandy Nicholls (played by Alison Eastwood) and Joe Odom (played by Paul Hipp) when Mandy comes to borrow ice from the guest house where he is staying out back behind Mercer House. Mandy invites John back to a party in this house known as the Hamilton-Turner House. I took this photo of it on my trip in 1995. Not sure why it was decorated this way back then. I believe it was open for tours, though we didn't go in.



The movie is truly filled with eccentric characters. One scene involving a character named Luther takes place in Clary's Cafe, seen here in this photo I took in 1995. In the movie, Luther has a small bottle of poison that he carries around with him wherever he goes. Apparently, Savannhians are worried he will dump the poison into the river and poison them all one day. ;)



As you can see in the photo I took last week, it still looks pretty much the same as it did at the time of the movie, except there's a huge building behind it now. Clary's Cafe is a popular tourist destination as you might imagine, but we didn't have to wait long to be seated when we ate there in 1995 or last week. The food is quite good, too.



Back downstairs in Mercer House, Jim Williams (Kevin Spacey) and John Kelso (John Cusack) are talking after the Christmas party. We get a few more views of the interior of Mercer House.



Jim is flattering John (buttering him up for the article he will write. John is trying to stay objective in his role as "reporter."





After the party, Jim (Kevin Spacey) and Billy Hanson (played by Jude Law) who is living with Jim, get into an argument. Billy threatens Jim when he refuses to give him money that he's demanding.



The argument escalates and a shooting (some would say murder) takes place that night after the party. Here investigators are questioning Jim Williams after being called to the home. Suddenly the party John Kelso is supposed to be writing about seems rather boring.



Jim Williams sits with his cat as the investigation is taking place. He has shot and killed Billy Hanson, and states it was in self-defense. He will be tried 4 times before ultimately being acquitted.  Have you noticed how the furniture is positioned away from the walls in almost all the rooms.  These beautiful old homes have windows on two, sometimes three sides and it forces you to NOT line up the furniture around the walls.  I love that!  Of course, the rooms are also nice and large so you have room to place furniture toward the center and still walk around behind it.  I just love the way the furniture is positioned in the room...feels so free and open and so conducive to conversation, flow and movement.



Another view of the exterior as the body is being carried away in the movie.



This is the office where the shooting occurs. When we entered the office on the tour last week, the guide told us, "This is the room where Mr. Williams defended his life." What a polite, southern way to say this is where Mr. Williams shot Billy Hanson. (In real life, Jim Williams shot Danny Hansford. The name is changed in the movie.)

They never mentioned on our tour that Mr. Williams dropped dead in this exact room a few months after being released from prison after his last trial. Some say it was Billy (Danny) getting revenge. Ummm...I'll let you decide that.



Mercer William House Museum all lit up at night time. The chandeliers in Mercer House are stunning! If you tour this home, you'll love the view looking up the curving stairway to the gorgeous ceiling several stories up. Apparently, Mr. Williams did the restoration work on the ceiling himself. The home truly is beautiful inside and a must see if you visit Savannah.




The Bird Girl statue (called this because she is actually a bird feeder) was originally pictured on the cover of the book. She stood for many years in Bonaventure Cemetery. Bonaventure is such a lovely, peaceful place. It sits along side the Wilmington River and is filled with Live Oak Trees dripping in Spanish moss. It is also just a few miles away from Wormsloe that I posted about HERE and the Isle of Hope Community I posted about HERE and HERE.

The Bird Girl eventually had to be moved to the Telfair Museum after the book and movie came out. Folks were vandalizing the sculpture. You can still see her if you visit the museum.



Of course, these days you can buy copies or near copies for your own garden. I've had one for many years tucked in among the daylilies along my front walkway. They are for sale all over Savannah, too.




Hope you enjoyed this tour of Mercer House.

You'll find additional Movie House Tours HERE OR click on any picture link below.