Carl Larsson House

Carl and Karin Larsson were given the cottage at Sundborn in 1888 and spent decades altering it - Karin designed textiles and furniture, Carl painted the walls, doors and window surrounds - producing rooms in clear colour with painted mottoes, striped rugs and flat pattern that were then published in his books of watercolours, above all Ett Hem in 1899. Those pictures went round Europe and did more than anything else to fix what a Swedish home is supposed to look like; the line runs from these rooms to a good deal of modern Nordic design. The house is small, still owned by descendants, and shown only on guided tours in short groups.

What you actually see

• Painted rooms in clear colour - walls, doors and surrounds by Carl.
• Karin's textiles and furniture - her half of the work.
• The rooms from Ett Hem - the watercolours that spread the style.
• A small house still in the family - shown in short groups.

When to go

May to September, when tours run. An hour and a half.

Honest expectations

Tours only, in small groups, and they sell out in summer - book ahead. English tours are limited. The house is genuinely small. Photography inside is not allowed.

Nearby

Falun's copper mine is south-west; Siljan is north-west.