Show us an example of your cottage charm.

I guess what I mean is that the rest of the house has old details that make things cozy. Here are just a few snapshots of the details I love/a little bit of my style.

A coupe more…

I think you need to decide what is most important in the living room. Right now priority is on tv watching from the comfort of a large sectional.

From a decorative standpont the tv placement is distracting and not cottagey. If you’d find a traditional yet appropriately sized piece of furniture to lower the tv, or even hide it when not being watched you could increase the charm quotient a bit.

May be bring some color with painting and drapes?

Or warmness

I really like the dark green walls and additional art suggested by Celery Visualization. I would simply like to mention that the TV seems very high for viewing. We can't see what exactly are all the items on the floor under the TV but a wide corner cabinet would look much better in what ever wood finish would coordinate with what you have (we can't see it in your photo). I also suggest the sheers be pulled back straight to the sides or removed if not needed for privacy.

As others have mentioned the TV placement makes any cottage/charm very difficult. Warm up the wall color, use straight window panels, add more art on the walls, and possibly get a different rug. I cannot tell much about the fireplace but it seems very black. Is it wood, painted brick, or ? I think that a fireplace redo would make a huge impact on adding charm.

Never going to have old cottage charm with wall to wall carpet.

Print fabrics.

If the goal is old cottage charm, I would replace the carpet with wood and redo the fireplace to be more cottage. The big mantle with columns and large mirror isn't very cottage.

Non-structural beams are rarely a good add, and I don't see any that you would be matching, so that would be a no.

You could add crown molding and change your curtain rod to white wood with fancy finials. Adding some beadboard halfway up with molding on top is an option, too. I'll not that while the fireplace looks cottage-y, little of the furniture does. Your ottoman looks small for the space. I might focus on a coffee table with cottage charm.

I love your fireplace.

The sofa is not cottage. Is TV important here? If so, need to find a better pace for it.

I'm in the replace the carpet with wood floor camp too. The rest of the pics show wood floors of a nice wider wood, and that makes the carpet even more.. carpet. A taller baseboard or even wainscoting. Replace the couch with something with more leg and shape/curves. Is the fireplace supposed to be black- or was it wood and later painted black? It's nice looking, but black isn't often in the fore for cottage colors.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I agree about the carpet, but unfortunately pulling it would be tricky since all of the other floors connected to the room are original wood floors and with it being an add on doesn’t have anything magical underneath. I’m not sure how to replace it with something that will jive with the old 1850s aged floors. We also have a rough housing two year old, so some changes will have to wait a bit until she’s grown a bit. Right now, it’s so nice for her to fall on the carpet rather than the old floors. Definitely not opposed to getting rid of it in the future though. I struggle with the fireplace because it’s pretty, but not really my style so that’s another thing I can tackle in the future. I definitely plan to change out the drapes and possibly the room color asap and see if that gets me through for a bit. Attached are the original floors and fireplace head on :)

Even if you don't have magic under the carpet.. just put in board wood. It looks like you have at least 3 colors/kinds of wood floor going on. Use it to your advantage. You could carry over the painted look with a wide board painted in cream or a nice green.

The fireplace looks a lot more like regular wood from head on, it's just dark. I'm usually pretty torn about painting fireplaces.

I think another detail is the room has no ceiling light. Don't have to have one, it's just a nice touch. Lacking that, a detailing bit in the middle would be nice. Nothing too fancy. But with a wood floor and that fireplace, why not go for a parlor feel in your cottage?

During this period in your life (young children), carpet, large sofa, TV, etc all make sense for that room. I would focus on adding color and art and printed fabrics to make it cottagey. Lots of easy potential here!

I love the fireplace!

I would not paint the fireplace. It's not going to become more cottage by painting it. I think beesneeds has the right idea, though: go for somewhere between cottage and Victorian parlor.

What strikes me is the almost total lack of wood, aside from the fireplace, and the total lack of antique/reproduction anything. The furnishings seem to have wandered in from another house - a new tract house where everything is less than five years ago, and is deliberately meant to look that way.

Here is a great article for you in Boston Magazine. I'm sure you will get some ideas for your Greek Revival while keeping the sofa.

https://www.bostonmagazine.com/property/2018/11/13/lisa-tharp/