Some trivia about Norway's red buildings

Ever wondered why the red buildings in Norway are, well, red?

My guess was visibility, which was wrong, and in fairness was a stupid guess, since white, pink and radiant yellow would be pretty noticeable too.

I'm told it's actually because red paint was the cheapest, and the romantic 'red building in the middle of a fjord' photos we love to look at tend to be of farming or fishing areas where average income is relatively low.

If you were a slightly wealthier farmer, you might have had your outbuildings painted red, and your farmhouse painted white - a more expensive colour that signified wealth.

Even better, some image-conscious families in coastal towns and cities would paint the sea-facing wall white and downgrade to red for the less prominent walls. 

All interesting stuff, I thought - if you're going to think something is beautiful, the next thing you should do is ask how it got that way.

Update: I've posted a full set of images from Norway, plus some photos, in my image gallery on travelhub (Travel Weekly's networking site).