The Cottage Great Room

Here it is! The great room in the cottage. It's a nice cozy space with good flow.

We used to have a couch and matching love seat, but we sold the love seat in the garage sale. I knew we wouldn't have room for both in this house. My plan is to give the couch to Luke when he moves into his apartment next month, and then get a small slip-covered sectional for this space. The little leafy chair will probably move into the office.

This chair and ottoman is about seventeen years old, but I still love it. It's a great reading and stitching chair, too. In the last house, I had slip-covered it to match the lighter furnishings in the office. But this time, I decided to go back to the original plaid. There's a touch of red in the kitchen accessories that it ties in with nicely.

I do love having a fireplace. It's such a nice focal point in the room. But I'm not a fan of the mantle or the pinkish colored tile. I will probably paint both of these white in the near future.

The biggest problem with this space is that it is sooo dark. I've had to adjust the light on these photos just to brighten it a bit. The room is southwest facing, which should give plenty of exposure. The problem is that the windows are small and the roof line is sloped. And when you pair that with a darkish paint color, you get gloomy.

I've been researching paint options, and one thing I've learned is that all colors have an LRV, or Light Reflective Value. It's usually listed on the back of the paint chip. On a scale of 1-100, with 1 being total darkness, and 100 being blinded by the light, I would say this color falls on the scale around 40. To get any benefit, it would have to be over 60 LRV. So I'm thinking of choosing a color like Creamy from Sherwin Williams that has an LRV of 80.

Another option we are looking in to is adding either skylights in this room, or using Solatubes, as pictured here:

We toured a house in this neighborhood that had utilized the Solatubes, and it made a big difference. Honestly, the dark aspect of this house was one of the top reasons why I dismissed it the first time around.

When we moved in, the patio door was covered with vertical blinds, and the windows flanking the fireplace were covered with dark striped sheers. The sheers came down immediately after move in, and the vertical blinds will be coming down just as soon as I can get to it. In the meantime, I keep them to the side and fully open.

I also went to IKEA and bought some lacey panels for $12.99 a pair. It provides just a bit of privacy while allowing the maximum amount of light inside. It also gives a sweet cottage look that I'm after.

And if Miss Naughty Paws gets at them, it won't be a total tragedy because they are cheap.

Next up: I need to sew the curtain panels for the kitchen and patio door. Wish me luck!