Decisions decisions! - Dining room

[CannotGuaranteeNitFree]

Please help me make up my mind.

My dining room has a dark wood floor and dark wood bay window. It also has double doors in waxed pine.

In the room I have a very dark mahogany piano, oak bureau, and dark wood table and chairs. The furniture is all pre-war and fairly utilitarian - all bought cheaply or donated by / inherited from family. I do like it though and some of it has sentimental value so I don't want to get rid. The problem is the whole room is quite dark and there's a bit too much wood on show.

The walls are Hemp Beige, which feels a bit gloomy in artificial light. I'd like to brighten it all up a bit.

Options are:

Paint walls white (or nearly white) but with wallpaper on one wall. I'd like something really retro like this!

Go for a bright colour - I did think I might go for pink, but I don't want it to look like a little girl's room!

Which do you think would work best to counteract all the dark wood?

[Greencheese]

I really do like that wall paper but it's going to be quite dark, maybe find a lighter one to go with White walls. Maybe think about the actual lighting too and create light with a new brighter light fitting?

[burnishedsilver]

The word dark appears so many times in the post that it seems like too much to ask of wall paint alone to brighten it. Perhaps some of the cheaper pieces of furniture could be painted. A large rug on the floor would break up some of the dark wood.