Tinan & nosoccermom - thank you! I had no idea that HD could colormatch the chips, but this makes sense. I'm now remembering their old commercials where you bring any old object to their store and they will colormatch it for you, why not the paint chips? I love the look of a neutral color with white accents, but I'm afraid in my character-less apartment, there won't be much pay-off. There is no crown moulding and all the accents (window sills, frames, door frames) are quite unattractive and not worth setting off. My broker said it'd better to paint everything white and let it all "disappear" and I'm inclined to agree with him. My next home is cuter and where I am going to go crazy with wallpaper & paint colors! Thanks again!!!

Your inspiration desk is quite different than the drawing you posted of two L-shaped desks. I've been looking for home office furniture for quite some time and pretty much all of the desks similar to your inspiration photo also lack storage. If you want decorative legs, you probably aren't going to find them with file drawers. Do you have room for a separate credenza where you could store papers and files? FWIT, I pretty much rule out anything that would connect my workspace with my husbands. We already share an office, I don't want to share a desk, too (neither does he). I do like the look of those "shared" desks, though.

what temp bulbs do you have above? first see if 4000K bulbs makes a diff. I don't think it's the wall color, I think it's just the color of the desk. It's ivory. so get your stuff set up on it, add some green plants, and art above the desk. see how it looks

I would think about making the room more stylish with minor decor changes, but make them bold. I would get a new guest chair, a new desk lamp, put a big piece of art over the file cabinets. Consider layering a bold graphic area rug under the desk. Are the shelves in the book case adjustable or removable? I would take out some of the them so you could add some big art or objects. Right now the room lacks curves and swirts, so I’m thinking a modern-ish curvy swivel chair for the guest chair, a dynamic rug under the desk (even a zebra hide!), an archng or round modern desk lamp. Rather than try to jazz up the interior or back of the bookcases, I would break up the appearance of the shelves with a couple of framed oversized black and white photos hung over a few of the shelves or propped up within them, or absract modern artworks with color. Also consider, if it’s not impractical, arrangng some of your books horizontally, instead of all of the spines vertically upright