Also thank you everyone for all the ideas; I have never had any kind of personal space except for sleeping before....it is kind of exciting!
I guess I want to go as minimal as possible until I know for sure what works and what won't work. I don't want to put a lot of $$ into big expensive pieces of furniture that I won't use or won't work for my space. I think that is why I wanted to ask for suggestions first, to listen to people who have been here before.