How does Patrick O'Brian use imagery in Desolation Island?

Examples of Imagery:

The breakfast parlour was the most cheerful room in Ashgrove Cottage, and although the builders had ruined the garden with heaps of sand and unslaked lime and bricks, and although the damp walls of the new wing in which this parlour stood still smelt of plaster, the sun poured in, blazing on the covered silver dishes and lighting the face of Sophie Aubrey as she sat there waiting for her husband.

....he might not go upstairs—his room was being turned out—there were pails and brooms that he might trip on in the dark—so there he sat staring at the fire, until the scent of fresh-brewed coffee filled the room, and he turned his chair to the table.