I have been dreaming of a small little cottage in Scotland for a long while now. The ideal would be the fairytale cottages you see in picture-books but I have realised that as perfect and dreamy they are to look at, they are quite difficult to maintain. I would love to vacation for a few days in one of them where I don't have to bother with the cleaning and maintenance of the property.
After a lot of contemplation, mostly watching a whole lot of BBC shows like Escape to the Country, I came to the realisation that a little old house filled with character features is wonderful to look at and experience for short periods of time but does not suit the pragmatist (and lazy) side of me.
All that in mind, I decided to sketch out what I want in My Little Cottage and from that stemmed a 3D model in Sketchup.
My primary requirement was that I needed a dedicated library room which ideally should open into the garden. It should have floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and have a heavy, preferably antique, desk for my heavy desktop computer and a brass lamp. For the comfort of my back, I would settle for an ergonomic desk chair with wheels but there has to be a separate, nice and comfortable wingback armchair with an ottoman to rest one's feet up and cosy up with a book. A fireplace would be great, but I could do without it to keep the room proportions manageable. All leather and hardwood and deep rich and warm colours are what I want but for practical reasons, I wouldn't mind Billy bookcases DIYed to look built-in.
The next requirement was to have two separate bedrooms, both ensuite. Three bedrooms would be the perfect set, one each for my best friend and me and one for visiting friends and family but as I was trying to avoid an upper storey (we are getting old), the extra bedroom would increase the footprint of the house by a lot. It would also add to the list of rooms to clean. So, two bedrooms it is. I prefer a well-laid-out medium-sized bedroom over large bedrooms which have too much wasted open space in them. A walk-in closet in at least one of them would be wonderful to have especially when the room is on the smaller side.
The third requirement was a separate common bathroom so that visitors don't have to use the ensuites. I also wanted a tiny little pantry for my small kitchen-cum-diner. I don't really want a formal dining room because I am not much of a formal host.
One of the things I wanted inside a house since I was a child was a central courtyard or any small little green space that is open to the elements. Of course, considering the setting of my cottage in my dream world, 'open to the elements' was out of the question so a conservatory was the second-best option.
Finally, my best friend wanted a basement or a workshop (or a dungeon... Ha ha!) So, that was included with an entrance at the back and none from within the house.
With all the necessary elements, the cottage stopped being little but that's totally because of my insistence that it had to be all on the ground floor. I just want to future proof it if we want to grow old(er) in it.
Here is the 3D model I made in Sketchup… it is quite a rough model, and the interiors are speculatory, but it was such fun to put together... this cottage in the cloud!
Exterior Shots
Interiors
Bedrooms