Heuristic
Iconic Language
This is an image of a tree painted on the wall leading up to a hidden nook with acrylics. The ladder leading up to the loft is made of wood, as is the toy box at the base. I see an homage to childhood image here- to the tree house and to warm spring days. There's snow in the outside window's views, so perhaps they live somewhere that gets less than its fair share of warm days. I also see an attempt at making an indoor space seem more like a natural outdoor space.Cultural Language
I found this image on Tumblr, in a post about "great" home design ideas. Considering it was a part of that post at all, it's assumed to be "great". Additionally, this post, at present, has 7, 469 notes, which means it has either been liked or re-posted by that many blogs. That's fairly popular! The audience, in this context, is usually a range of ages crowded in the teens, to mid-twenties age, and heavier in girls than boys. These are people that either own a space of their own, or are of an age where they're old enough to imagine how they'd like to customize their space.
Theoretical Language
In this context, the tree is a symbol representing a child's tree house and bringing with it all the imaginary potential that comes with a creative change in environment. It is part of an upper-middle class home in a snowy area, showing the affluence to "afford" creative inside spaces. The wood of the ladder and toy box help to cement the attempted tie-in with nature that is not immediately present outside, as well as to imply that this set up is intended for a slightly older child (who can safely ascend and descend the ladder, but still needs a toy box). The surrounding yellows further set the scene as a bright, sunny day and mood brightener.
Charlie - This is a good start. I'd like to see a little more scholarly backing to your language though. For example, whose version of iconic are you using? What about theoretical (which they are all theoretical, even the cultural)? So push on these just a bit.
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