Why are tropical animals so colorful? Archaeologists discover that parties 11,000 years ago were BYOB — bring your own boar But barns weren't originally red in fact, they weren't painted at all.

Why are so many barns red? Barns, like houses and other buildings, could be any color you choose, but red seems to be the dominant barn color. Before 1800, very few barns were painted.

But we have a lot of wood, so they just painted it to look like brick,” explains Anna Blomster, a PhD in Scandinavian studies from UCLA who wrote her thesis on Swedish red cottages.

Ancient Romans used blood red, bright yellow and stunning white paints to illustrate dire warnings on the wall that separated them from the rebellious tribespeople of Scotland, a new study shows.