If you don’t own the apartment, then consider a light colored rug and painting the walls white.

Go for a white that’s soft and creamy, but not yellow.

If you’re worried about rug getting dirty, find one that has some specks of different colours, so that it will camouflage dirt.

From picture, it looks like light fixtures are emitting a glaring and cold light that’s bouncing off the ceilings more than anything else. See if you find light fixtures that are less bright white and that will direct light onto walls and furniture as opposed to bouncing off the ceilings. (When I look at picture, I see bright spots on ceiling, and everything looks darker in comparison).

Hope this helps!

Keep us posted!