Falu red comes from the Falun copper mine in central Sweden, which dates back to the 9th century. вЂњThe right color is always bright red,вЂќ he insists.ДЇor five decades, AnderbergвЂ™s country cottage property has been his pride and joy. While there were a lot of decisions to make in the last 50 years, the color of the house was never up for debate. He bought it when he was in his 20s-a dilapidated centuries old property with a rotting foundation, and rebuilt it from the ground up.

While his primary residence is two hours south in the city of MalmГ¶, the country cottage is a vacation home that he commutes to for holidays, weekends, and now whenever he wants because heвЂ™s retired. вЂњThey mixed it and boiled it,вЂќ he says.ДЇor five decades, AnderbergвЂ™s country cottage property has been his pride and joy. Today, the red paint can be bought in hardware stores across Sweden, though Anderberg (who is my father-in-law) recalls that when he was a kid, he saw people putting red pigment in buckets with water and flour to make the paint themselves. The color, known specifically as Falu red, has been a consistent symbol of pastoral life in Sweden for the last century, an influence that thanks to the Swedish diaspora has seeped into bordering countries, like Norway and Finland, and even America, in the form of the big red barn. Nearly all countryside houses and barns in Sweden are voluntarily red, albeit in different shades. Down the street, the neighborsвЂ™ homes are the same color scheme, and up and along the Swedish countryside, the red continues, as if it were mandated. For the last 53 years, Christer Anderberg has been happily painting his country cottage and the adjacent barns the same exact color-a bright crimson red with white trimmings on the windows.

Copper symbolism