Last Sunday evening we dined at Dan and Louanne’s. Dan roasted a pre-seasoned tri tip he had purchased at Costco–it was simply amazing!! All the food was so good! As I’ve said before, we do dine well in this community!
It’s been a week of this and that so I thought I would share photos of some completed projects:
And the porch–really it’s an enclosed room with large windows and a windowed door but it’s a great place to sit in the afternoon with the sun turning everything warm and golden. The leather chairs and ottomans are the ones we purchased from the Tucson Craigslist. The other chair and the tables came from a local garage sale. The office chair is the Cowboy’s favorite computer chair. The ceiling is painted blue–a contractor friend in Montana paints the ceiling of porches blue to keep out the evil spirits. I Googled “painting a porch ceiling blue” and found these reasons–
- The shade of blue used on many southern ceilings is often called “haint blue”. This light blue-green color is especially popular in southern coastal cities like Charleston, SC or Savannah, GA because of the historically haunted nature of these cities. The blue color was meant to ward off “haints” or evil spirits who might want to harm the house or the family inside.
- Many people argue that painting your porch ceiling blue actually keeps insects away. While not necessarily rooted in science, there are a few possible explanations for that theory. Older blue paints were often made with lye, which is a known insect repellent, and to keep the paint looking new, a new coat had to be applied every few years, thus refreshing the insect repellent. Another theory is that the blue color mimics the color of the sky and tricks insects into not making their nest there.
- While blue paint on a porch ceiling can’t literally extend the amount of daylight you get, it can provide that feeling. The light blue color reflects light, so your space will seem brighter even during the twilight hours. Additionally, you can use less artificial light to brighten up the space at night. This practice was really popular in the Victorian era, and you can still see the blue color used in many Victorian homes today. From AndersonandRodgers.com
Tuesday we had a bit of rain making the outside world smell so clean and fresh. 
The fog left behind from the rain made the hills look as if they were islands in the sea.
This hawk was facing the other way when I first saw him then the resident owls at our neighbor’s hooted. His head swiveled in the direction of the “hoots” and I could just hear him thinking–maybe I should depart this post!
Emmi has had a couple spa days–she gets so agitated when I’m clipping her hair that I try to complete the new haircut in a couple days instead of making her stand for so long. She is all nice and spiffy now.
The laundry remodel continues–the new drywall is in the ceiling and the cement board has been laid on one side of the room.
Friday we made a trip to Sierra Vista to purchase a couple items we found on Craigslist–Leki hiking poles and a Pfaff Tiptronic sewing machine. I had a pair of Leki poles and accidently left one in a motorhome we sold. Plus having a set in both homes was my goal–success, at a great price. I have a Pfaff Tiptronic in Montana and it’s a workhorse sewing machine–even hems denim. The Pfaff sewing machine I have here we purchased on Craigslist in Montana several years ago. It’s not one of Pfaff’s better machine and when the Cowboy saw the Tiptronic pop up on Craigslist off we went. Groceries plus lunch and we were on our way back home.
It rained again overnight with not much accumulation. Snow on the mountains. Sunday afternoon I joined the ladies at Linda’s to play Rummikub–a game that has evidently been around a long time. It’s fun and we have a good time.
It’s been a good week–I think!
Restoration Cowboy Style 
I love the blue ceiling. This southern gal has never heard of porches having blue ceilings ward of haints…I do love that kind of trivia! I’m pretty sure if that were my porch, I would never go anywhere else in the house. The leather chairs are beautiful. I know, I know…I so need to discover Craigslist, etc. Your new bench is perfect! A week of this and that sounds like my kind of week! Emmi looks so tiny in the big outdoors…and what a magnificent big outdoors it is! So beautiful as always! P.S. Hope we got some rain at our house…👍
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Neither had this southern girl until our contractor friend painted the porch ceiling of a friend’s new home. I love the idea! Emmi weighs less than ten pounds–about half what a miniature schnauzer should weigh–our previous schnauzer weighed 21 pounds. Emmi was the runt of her liter and never grew up.
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Love the bench Michael made. Love double duty items. Your porch looks so homey and comfy. I’ve never heard of the blue painted ceiling. Thanks for sharing the history. The mountains do most certainly look like they are floating. Cool! Beautiful rainbow.
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I think the porch is my favorite room in the whole house!
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The porch looks great! Found your blog because I’m in Sierra Vista. I went to Costco for the first time since living here this past weekend and their meat looked awesome. I just got some pork belly.
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We purchase all our meat at Costco. Thanks for commenting and reading the blog–welcome!
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Thanks for reading and commenting! Welcome!
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That porch looks so very inviting with all that sunshine and the blue ceiling. Lovely idea! Cold here today and foggy, so I am envying your sunshine.
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We love sitting “on the porch!” And we do love our sunshine.
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Speaking of lye as a bug killer in the light blue ceiling porch paint…if you visit online or in person, the home of writer Maud Hart Lovelace (Betsy, Tacy and Tib stories), you will hear about the “helpful” green color of the kitchen walls. A dark green color, achieved by using arsenic, was used for most kitchen walls in that era, late 1800s. The flies would land on the painted walls, and soon just drop down dead. No one had to use a fly swatter then!
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Oh my!! I’ve never heard of the “helpful” green paint! And I’ve never heard of Maud Hart Lovelace–will have to look into her books.
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I love reading your blog. I’m in Australia and have no idea what a tri tip is. Your porch looks very inviting.
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It’s a cut of beef from the “tip” of the sirloin. Welcome and thanks for reading!
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Love the warm room to enjoy the last of the day’s sun. I guess I’m the only one who knows about blue porch ceilings! Our farm’s original porches were all painted that way, it was built in 1824, Even our first house in the city had the blue ceiling on the front porch!
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That is so cool Sue! I really like our blue ceiling!
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Your sun porch is so beautiful! It looks so cozy and inviting. We painted our screened porch ceiling a calming pale blue-green a few months ago and installed new bronze ceiling fans. We absolutely love it. And I think we have the same strings of lights that you do. We enjoy it every day. 🙂
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We too enjoy our porch every day–in fact a large portion of the day and evening!
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How wonderful to have your sunny room all ready for peaceful afternoons enjoying your views! What a wonderful rainbow you caught. That rain was such a treat – hoping we get some more real soon! Your Craigslist successes are amazing.
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We too would love to have more rain!
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We loved your porch/sun room. Many of the antebellum homes in Natchez have blue porch ceilings. The reason given is that it kept spiders and other creepy things from living there. The Cowboy is a Craig’s List Master….
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Yes, Mike is a Craigslist master! He finds the best stuff!
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