Ralph wrote (about pale blue porch ceilings) :

>The 1922 Audel's "Elementary Studies in House Painting, Decorating and
>Paperhanging" says that beaded porch ceilings are "usually varnished."
>However, if the owner preferred paint, one could tint it "light blue
>[presumably 2nd choice], cream or any light color specified."
>
>Anybody got anything older than this, or more specific about the reason for
>light blue?

Pale blue or blue-green colors (such as eau-de-nil) were used for
this purpose because they were considered to provide a reflected
light that was easy on the eye. The underside of the brim of tennis
player's shades or caps is often colored in a similar pale shade. We
really need some info from an optics specialist on this point because
I suspect there's some interesting technical stuff about light and
effects on the eye behind all this.
The earliest record I have of this practice is a builder's
specification for the  construction of a house in Adelaide, South
Australia, in 1841 which instructs the painter that the underside of
the verandah roof is "to be painted an approved green". The practice
was certainly widespread in Australia during the rest of the
nineteenth century and into the twentieth.

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Ian Evans
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