Carrie, never feel bad about the border you decide to put on. Sometimes something more basic is the best choice so things don't get too busy and end up looking like a mess. I like doing small piece blocks, but I have to think long and hard if that is what will actually look best for the next round. That is another reason it's nice to have people with different skill levels so we do get that variety in the finished top.
What I did for yours was actually rather basic, I was only turning it and repeating the rows already there. Then I started playing with the dresden plate challenge and got the idea that it would be fun to toss a few of them on your top. They are way, way simpler to make than one would think by looking at them.
When considering colors, I felt that I needed to bring the off white into the top again, or it was going to look out of place as no one else had repeated that color yet. When doing the first few round, you can pretty much go with what you want, but for the last few rounds, I feel it's important to consider the top as a whole and see if there is a color that does need to come back in to pull it all together. This is what happened to my top with the last RR - someone early on added some different colors to the quilt, but then no one in the remaining rounds pulled them back in, and at the end they stood out like a sore thumb. It wasn't that they were a "mistake" when added, it's that the rest of the quilt went off in a different direction.
I'm always amazed at those that do the applique - I've been playing with it more and more, and I'm still not a big fan of doing it myself - so getting a top that someone else has done that part works great for me.