I would reupholster the rosewood furniture in natural canvas or a natural linen look . Ask the upholsterer to do the job with NO welting. That will make it look more contemporary. Then stop by West Elm, Pottery Barn, or Crate & Barrel for some brightly colored pillows. I'm thinking coral might work well with your tile, but you be the judge of what color works best with it. For now we'll assume it's coral. So I'd like to see one wall painted coral if you're so inclined. Otherwise, I'd leave the walls white. Next, let's cover some of that tile you don't like. Two choice: 1. A rug you'll take with you. Perhaps a shaggy offwhite one. 2. A rug you'll leave in your rental. This could be a large piece of carpeting, cut and bound like a rug. Measure for size before going to the carpet store. Most carpeting is 12' wide, so figure on making a rug 12 x something so that there is no waste, or you could make a couple of 6 x somethings. If you could change out the rosewood coffee table for another, I think you'd be happier with the furniture. It needs some variety. Even a couple of small tables from IKEA could work for 6 to 8 months.

Especially in 50's and 60's houses, they often went through and put one kind of fixture, in the center of every room and the halls, and they were two bulb rectangular flat glass, frosted, sort of fluted edges and a simple (wheat pattern is what I grew up with) and they caught every bug around. I understand wanting variety, sometimes it may be the way to give a unified look to the house. Those look a lot more than the typical inexpensive utilitarian lights though.

You can use led ceiling lights. They comes in modern designs. Check out Yafen for more options.

I would get rid of that pendant. Here's one link to industrial pendant lights http://www.houzz.com/industrial-pendants Pick a light that you like and show it to your landlord. I bet she/he will say yes to your suggestion since pendant lights can easily be changed. In fact, if there's already a really secure junction box there already i bet they may even go with a ceiling fan light combo if that's what you really want