What's the impact of no built-ins on the newly refinished floor?

I think I'd keep them and just paint a lighter color. Drawers could be handy for extra storage. New light fixture would be nice.

An amateur prospective: one advantage of keeping the built-ins (or adding new ones if these aren't worth salvaging through the project) is that they are a good use of a sloping ceiling / low area of the room. However, is this to be a guest bedroom only? Then you don't need them. If it might sometimes serve as something else (office, playroom, whatever), then the shelves may become useful. The desk looks too small to be functional, but that might just be the photo.

One thing to consider as far as paint color - what direction does the window face? Direct sun or lack thereof, and time of day that natural light comes in, should be considered. Personally, I think a light but not entirely white color might be good - at first glance, the color there now is too dark.

I would remove them. If you are bothering to insulate and repaint, do it all the way not 50%. It would be a harder choice to make if this were a main bedroom or if these were higher quality built ins, but they are not. I would remove, make necessary fill ins to the floors space and be glad you can make your home more energy efficient.

I don't like the idea of a dark accent wall most anywhere, but especially in this room where it will highlight where the ceilings starts and stops, which makes the room feel smaller and darker. I would paint walls and ceiling all one color - same color as the rest of the upstairs. Strategically place a large mirror in the room to bounce around the light from the window. Maybe a full length mirror between the door to the room and the closet door? Think of something pretty, maybe with a gold frame to help bounce and reflect light even more. Clear surfaces like glass, and reflective surfaces, will make this room feel more open and lighter.

I think part of wanting to make this room lighter will be about making it feel more open too. Where do you plan to place the bed? How much furniture do you need in this space? Are you trying to make it double as storage and guest room?

1. I recognize the room in this pic benefits from skylights, but think the bright accent color on the bedding helps too. Also, the floor is light wood, and the bedding, which helps bounce light around the room. A light color area rug could be your friend. Adding plenty of good lighting for guests will be appreciated as well.

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2. Yes, a big beautiful window in this space, still I think the white bedding and walls help bounce light around around. Great having a focal point too around the window that helps focus the eye to the light spaces rather than the dark:

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Lots of lighting, seamless white walls, floor, and bedding. Pops of color as focal point for the eye:

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@David&Sue Schoch good question! The hardwood floor directly under the built-ins is actually new wood. If we took out the built-ins we'd have to patch in more under where the drawers are. We should have really thought all that through before we refinished the floor but that's all we can do now!

@V K I think they may come in useful and then we wouldn't have to buy a new bedroom set. Once they're painted and the hardware replaced maybe they would look nicer. I think this bedroom used to be for two children so there are two desks on each side. The window faces SW but the house next door is really close and not a lot of light comes through throughout the day. The neighbours house is yellow which sometimes gets reflected in.

IMO those built ins do not belong ina bedroom and even less in a guest room. All they do is cry out for a bunch of decor that makes no sense in a bedroom.I do not think a feature wall will make the space feel brighter but you need to first decide how you want the room to look. IMO guest rooms should have the feel of a 5 star hotel/. The big question is how to handle the floor under the units hopefully the floor runs under them. As for color choose your bed and bedding and then the wall color. I have never been of a mind that a bedroom has to be light since it is mostly used at night good lighting is more important especially bedside lamps and good overhead lighting for general lighting.Start an idea book of bedrooms you like and that will help us help you. Also a bit of an idea of your style too.

@Kendrah that is very helpful, thank you! Now I'm tempted to put a skylight in the ceiling since we're taking it down anyway, but this is how costs creep up! lol

The old owners had the bed under the window, but if we took the built-ins out we could place it with the head of the bed on the left wall. The room is actually fairly large, you could also have two twins on either side of the window but we don't really have a need for that. We don't really need storage for this space so really just a place for clothing other that the closet.

@Patricia Colwell Consulting I agree, there are so many built-ins in the house half of them are empty right now because we don't have much "stuff". There isn't hardwood underneath so we'd have to patch some in. We have white bedding right now because I also love the hotel feel.