I recently arrived home from a road trip photographing some of my cabin designs. When I did a quick review of my images, I exclaimed, “Oh my, I’m seeing red!” Red cabins, red windows, red island, red column and more. How did that happen?
Maybe it’s in my DNA from my mother’s Swedish roots. Carl Larrson, the Swedish painter, always had charming little red cottages in his paintings. Was my grandmother born in one of those?
Or it could have been the red barn at my family barn. Lord knows that my father had me spending a lot more time in and around that barn as compared to the pale yellow house where my mother captained.
Or maybe it’s Edwin Lundie’s influence on me. Although of Scottish ancestors, his north shore cabin designs are Scandinavian red. My book on his work has a red cabin with white column on the cover.
Even in the city, I live in a red house, or as the neighbors say, a red barn. I’ve only designed one other red house, known affectionately as the chicken coop by the owner, another of my farm references.
I didn’t invent red cabins as there already are many along Minnesota and Wisconsin lake shores. Recently, earth tones have replaced red, white, and pale yellow cabins. And there are now many beige vinyl sided cabins. Better not ask my wife about those….
Maybe like Picasso, I should now move on into my Blue Period. Whereas many designers are turning “green”, I could stand out with blueberry cabins. They would be incognito bridging between blue water and blue sky. And they might feel like a giant ice cube in the winter ready to drop in your Blue Goose cocktail.
