A few months ago, I solicited ideas for how to redesign our study. We finally got around to ordering furniture (Pottery Barn Bedford collection corner desk, project table, and two file drawers in Espresso) and painting the walls (BM Bronzed Beige), but I'm not sure where to go from here. As you can see from the picture, there are existing built-ins, which are more traditional than we would have chosen, but which we feel for practical purposes (storage, shelving, and, well, the fact that we inherited existing built-ins), we're going to keep. I'm also not a huge fan of the wood panelling, but again, we're going to keep it - seems to work for a study, anyway. We have a sofa that I would like to put in the room since there is room and we'd like it to be a true study with desk for work and sitting area for reading. Here are my questions:

1. I'm not sure that I'm happy with the paint color - it is maybe more yellow than I had in mind and wonder if it makes the room look more dated/antiquated. It brightens up the room significantly compared to the dark navy that was on the walls before, but I'm just not sure that it's right.

2. The built-ins feel very heavy, especially given the dark floors and panelling; how can we lighten the room up, both in color and texture/feel? Area rugs? Lighting? Other accessories? I like British Colonial style and thought about trying to go that route given the dark wood, but I'd love some others' ideas and suggestions.

Pictures are of the room before painting, after painting, the built-in style up close, and the couch that we'd like to include, but are willing to use somewhere else if another style couch / reading chair would work better. Thanks in advance! Carrie Lyon