I subscribe enthusiastically to the idea of playing certain music for certain occasions. Last weekend, the occasion required me to broadcast Good Morning Starshine (paid link) throughout my tiny cottage (see The Many Lives of Shell Cottage). Sunshine streamed gently through my eastern windows, and the cottage filled with light.
I felt as if I had accomplished quite a feat.
Shell Cottage’s passage to upstairs (Photo: Sarah A. Zeiger.)
The reason I received some of the credit for this perfectly natural phenomenon is because three weeks ago, when the sun hit my windows, the cottage did not fill with light. I initiated this change by deciding to paint the ceilings. Previously they had been unpainted plywood in a variety of pleasant but non-reflective shades.
Luck was with me: I’d had two reasonably sunny, warm weekends on which to paint first the downstairs, then the loft ceiling. We managed two coats on each, and they are now much closer to white. While white isn’t my favorite color for anything that might require washing, it doubled the amount of light in my new space. This is particularly important in a building that currently has no electricity!
Now, I can enjoy the abundance of light on my walls, ceiling, and all the boxes crowding my floor! These last can be difficult to work around—part of the reason I wanted sunny weather for painting was so I could stash all the boxes outside instead of underfoot—but they will likely be one of the later steps in the process of updating the cottage.
My plan for the next couple weekends is to cover the walls in canvas. This will continue the process of lightening the room, and substantially diminish the probability of splinters.
Wish me luck!