Thanks for your insights. The too-rich soil might really be a factor with this particular tree, since when we brought it home from the nursery last summer, its roots were almost completely undeveloped and stuck in a wire cage in a huge, wet, almost solid clay ball. I carefully freed the roots and planted the tree in its present container (at night, away from all sun) in a mix of soil, coir, and pumice, and kept it appropriately watered, and it flourished for about 2 weeks, and then we had temps in the 90. The leaves fried and all dropped off, but after that (late summer now) the tree grew a complete second set, which were solid green. (When we bought the tree, it did originally have the beautiful variegation, so I know it's an Ukigumo.) So this little tree (not quite 4 feet tall now) has been through a lot, and it now seems to be happy and healthy where it is - except that I would love to see more color. But from what you've said, I think I'm just going to be patient and wait and see what next year brings. The tree's shape, structure, and condition of the leaves are all excellent, so I'll just keep hoping for "a good year" for color too.

Marti- We went through that too. Thought about every possible potential use of the space and got discouraged by people who insisted we needed to have an island or nothing at all. I understand the sentiment, but different things work for different people. I mentioned it took us a year to go through the layout/design phase, right? We considered everything. I am going to try to attach a copy of an ideabook from houzz where I collected some photos to help me decide what to do with the beam/bar area. I liked some of the photos and disliked others, but kept them all to help me think it through... I have some other pictures, not on houzz that I will try to attach separately. Here is a link that might be useful: Houzz ideabook

I don't know your exact shade of color-everybody has their own mental image when hearing yellow/beige-but as somebody who lived with yellow walls..they're actually pretty versatile. I went with a vibrant palette of yellow-brick red-aubergine. Then as time went I added more colors in patterns etc. Blue would work of course. Maybe cornflower blue? Maybe turquoise? White and a bit of black. Greens since they work everwhere..bring a plant and you have a green:) But I also loved adding chartreuse. Look at lot of inspiration(can be decor but can also be art, or nature, and whatnot), and you'll feel what clicks with you the most. Decide what you like more -sharper contrasts? softer ones? As little contrast as possible? Do you want your room to be more upbeat or more quiet? there's no one right answer, we all are different and your personal reaction to colors and their relationships should govern your choices. And always strive to vary your textures. Then the room will be interesting even if you go with a very tight, almost monochromatic color palette.

Wow, so excited to see such good and varied inputs on my request! Thanks @Flo Mangan - I am now certainly going for a ladder shelf for the corner. I am not sure of moving the desk away from its existing place for precisely the reasons @functionthenlook mentioned - my desk job can sometimes result in 8-9 hours, and I do plenty of video calls throughout the day. So not only is it nice for me to have a view (which BTW Flo is right, it is limited since the windows are a bit above my eye level (photo of the view below)) but it is also pleasant to have light on my face. Further, the remaining space in the room comes in handy when the occasional extra guests stay over and the sofa beds need to be pulled out. Thanks everyone for all the rug options - this weekend is going to be (window) shopping weekend :)