Thank you for the ideas and suggestions. I tend towards "dark and barely visible" in my personal tastes, although I've never tried putting shadows on a map before. I do want the players to still be able to see

I hadn't thought about doing two levels of shadow, but that makes sense and would look better than the single level of shadow I have now.

I'll try out both of the approaches for the stairs and see how they look. I had added the glow because I used the candle and lantern as light sources and wanted some reflection/warmth from them to show on the stairs. The stairs currently lead to a wrap-around balcony on the second floor overlooking the foyer/front room so I'm planning on adding some shadow to indicate that as well.

Also, I ended up re-orienting the study/office/library room as you suggested and it looks much better to me. Thanks!