Sounds like you have enough wood tones and brown in the room. I would paint it blue like the accent colour you have in your rug and then add a couple of other blue accessories ie. Cushions, painting, vase etc. to pull it all together.

I would absolutely paint/distress your new wardrobe piece blue and add dark brown handles that have antique flare and tie in the brown tones. You could also stain that curvy top border, and drawer fronts a nice dark stain, while painting the rest blue for contrast.

This is beautiful wood and it would be a shame to paint it. Staining or pickling will show off all the wonderful handmade qualities of it. If you choose to do the pickling or whitewashing look you can counter balance all the dark rich tones that you already have going on.

I have a similar armoire in my daughter's room and we whitewashed it, then watered down mauve paint (accent color in her room) and with a cloth rubbed it very lightly along the corners - also sanded the finish on the higher areas. You could use blue paint and I would also change the knobs to crystal. Although your room decor sounds like it may be too dark for this idea, I thought I would mention it, as it's really pretty.[houzz=]

I also like the idea of painting it, either white or a whitewash and then lightly sand the corners. It will lighten the area of the room. This works well with large pieces of furniture that can sometimes overwhelm a room. Or paint it a contrasting blue color ( a few shades lighter than what is in your comforter) to match the accessories in your room.