The Chinoiserie Fireplace

Amanda Lindroth

This stunning chinoiserie fireplace was created by Accents of France for an Amanda Lindroth project. The design is gorgeous and I love the color.

The Blue and White Breakfast Nook

Hallie Neley Sims - House Beautiful

This darling breakfast nook right off the kitchen features the iconic wallpaper Quadrille Climbing Hydrangea. This is a great wallpaper for anywhere, working beautifully in literally any room of the house.

My Lanai Redo

Amanda Lindroth

 

As you may know, my last room to do at CCC is my lanai. My projects include -

1. Painting the ceiling Haint Blue - I have chosen Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue

2. A new ceiling fan 

3. New outdoor wicker furniture

4. A bar

5. New flooring

So, my painter broke his wrist and is all backed up on projects. Luckily I am in my new laid back Florida mode and it will happen when it happens. 

The flooring has been the Magical Mystery Tour. 

After looking at blue and white tile and choosing one, I started looking at porcelain tile and chose a marble lookalike, then still didn't love that and my flooring people have not been available to start yet anyway. I posted a while back before moving here about coral stone after seeing these Amanda Lindroth photos of her Bahamian home. In the photos, the floors and columns are coral stone. I did some preliminary research and did not find coral stone available locally and thought better of shipping in a ton of stone.

Then I was watching HGTV (I am an addict) and a Florida couple redid their home in shellstone. Eureka. I realized that it is a Florida stone and called shellstone here, not coral stone. As soon as I searched shellstone, I found local sources. It has half a dozen names actually including shell/shellstone marble, shell/shellstone travertine, and shell/shellstone limestone.

With my stunning limestone floors throughout the house, a beautiful natural stone is what needs to be in the lanai and entryway. Shellstone is like limestone and shares many characteristics, but is made of shells and coral. It is a natural sedimentary stone found right here in Florida. So today I am off to some stone places to get samples. I am crazy super excited.

Shell Stone

Amanda Lindroth - House Beautiful

Haint Blue

Sherwin Williams

Having spent most of my adult life as a resident of Virginia, vacationing with my family every summer in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and now as a full time resident of Florida, I am delighted to learn about another wonderful Southern tradition. Many of you might have noticed the trend of painting porch ceilings blue. Check out this wonderful example above with Chinese Chippendale railings, antique wicker, and potted palms. Well this painting porch ceilings blue has been a Southern tradition for generations. Theories abound as to its origin - it extends daylight hours because it looks like the sky, it wards off evil spirits or "haints," it keeps away bugs and spiders who confuse the blue ceiling with sky.

via Pinterest

This light blue even has a name - Haint Blue. Whatever its origin, I would love to do this in my lanai in my new home. I even have a blue I would like to use - Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue - a historic and very lovely blue indeed.

BM Palladian Blue

Here is another fun example below with the ceiling painted Palladian Blue.

Washington Post

Do you like this idea? Any other suggestions on a blue paint color?