Hi everyone! In October, I moved into a 2-bedroom apartment in DC, and I've hit a bit of a road block when it comes to design in my own room, which serves as both my bedroom and home office. Let me tell you a little bit about it.

Construction: This is a 1970's mid-rise apartment which is owned by the management company. The floor in my unit is mostly carpet which overlays the original parquet wood floor, which is not accessible. The interior walls seem to be drywall, but it's possible that the exterior walls are laid over concrete. I believe, based on experience with other buildings in this neighborhood and the lack of ceiling fixtures that the ceilings are concrete.

Room: 12' x 18' with attached bath on shorter interior wall. 10-foot ceilings. 44" floor-to-ceiling window on shorter exterior wall, east-facing. Gets some direct sun in the mornings.

Considerations: I work from home, so the home office part of this arrangement is really important. I am seriously allergic to clutter and trying to avoid anything with sharp edges. The cluster of family photos currently on the etagere toes the line on clutter. Also, I have a dog and he has a lot of play dates so there can't be a ton of stuff on the floor for them to knock over or lose their toys under.

The carpet and closet doors have to stay. I am open to painting the walls but it'd have to just be a refresh of the white, since anything else would need to be repainted again when I left. I'm planning to fix the closet door that seems to have lost a part that keeps it on the track. I wish I could change the bathroom door to open the other way but am not quite that handy.

The style I am going for is contemporary with a colonial/tropical (think India vs. Key West) feel. I'm trying to achieve this by keeping a palette of whites/creams and warm naturals. Accent colors are gold and emerald green. Think woven grass baskets, plants, and feathers, white cloth, Audubon-style prints of animals and plants.

Current Furniture/Elements:

1. Laundry hamper - This may not be the most attractive thing, but it's functional for me in its current location between the bedroom and bathroom doors. All of my clothes are in the closets so putting it in there isn't an option without re-assessing my closet usage - which I'm not up for right now.

2. Bed - I'm happy with this. It's neutral and has no sharp edges for stubbed toes or banged shins.

3. Floor lamp - This is my favorite piece of furniture. I love it. It's gold with a white shade and black marble base. I am open to moving this, but the outlet it's currently plugged into is controlled by the light switch, so I'd need to find another lamp to be the primary light source if I did move it.

4. Desk - Love it. The screen is a necessary evil.

5. Office chair - This is functional so far, but its silver color doesn't go with my warm natural color scheme.

5. 1970's Philippines-made etagere (shelf unit) with matching bar cart (acting as nightstand) and plant stand (hard to see). The etagere didn't exactly match the flavor of tropical colonial style I was going for, but it's very functional for my home office space. I am not attached to the bar cart or the plant stand, both of which could have useful lives somewhere else. I think the etagere alone will look nice, but with the three elements together, it's a little too much of the wrong thing.

6. Pair of square, white/gold color block lamps - Having second thoughts on these. Still have the receipt.

7. Matching emerald velvet drapes and throw pillow - Love these.

8. Zamioculcas and Dracaena - Love these.

9. Maxfield Parrish's Daybreak print - Those in older generations might groan, but I have always loved this print. It hung in my parents' house and I could just stare at it forever. Fortunately, my mom hates it so it's mine now!

Goals:

Bring on your opinions and advice!

1. Photos and/or prints on the wall above my desk

What types of frames should I go for - wood, gold, black? Subject matter? How should I arrange them? And in general, doesn't it create a cleaner look to keep the top lines of wall elements consistent around the room? Most of the existing nail holes are pretty high up.

2. Replace current plant (for ZZ plant) stand with something like this or this?

3. Replace current desk chair with...something else? I'd like the same thing in white, beige, tan, etc.

4. Would a round gold mirror like this look nice centered above the bed? And would the bed look nicer with a seamless white duvet cover? I've got my eyes open for an appropriate throw. The light blue one in other photos is for the dogs.

5. Retire bar cart to the living room and replace with a pair of streamlined and contemporary end tables, like this one (but less expensive!) I don't need a lot of surface area or drawers next to the bed, so I'd like to keep to something clean-looking. I like the idea of gold and/or marble, but would love to know everyone's thoughts on how much is too much. I'm leaning on the gold because I'm wary of bringing in more wood tones: I'll already have the light/yellow etagere and the medium/red desk. Perhaps something that was closer to the desk?

6. Return the square lamps and get something else for the nightstands. Now might be a good time to ask...how much is too much in the gold-colored department?

7. Dress up this corner. I'm assuming the bar cart will go, and here are some thoughts:

• Upholstered reading chair - maybe I'd get lucky and find something in green velvet, but neutral would also work. If I did this, I might like to move the arcing floor lamp to this corner and find something else for the central plug attached to the light switch. There's not a whole lot of room here: 36" from corner to door, 46" from corner to the bar cart.
• Dresser - Something not too big in a wood tone similar to the desk maybe? I don't know what I'd even put in it. Probably dog toys. Move the laundry cart into the closet and put anything foldable in it? It might be nice to put a large vase of peacock feathers or dried plants in the corner, too.

This corner also really needs some pictures or something.

8. Lastly, I need a place for a full-length mirror. I would put it behind the door but the window would likely cause some glare.

If you got this far, thanks for your time! I had a lot to share and wanted to give you good information. Let's hear your thoughts.