I recently painted my doors, frames and skirting with a white gloss water based paint. I have had no issues with it. it has been done about 6 months. Has not peeled, chipped or anything like that, it wipes like any other gloss paint. It did not smell and went on fine. I gave everything two to three coats. The doors three very fine coats with a fine napped roller. Quite pleased with my efforts except where my husband dripped ceiling paint down one and did not notice grrrrrrr. He hardly ever paints (unsupervised) thought he would surprise me by doing cornice while I was at work, so the grrrrr was on the inside. The water based gloss does not yellow like the oil based paints.

Have you tried Ikea? What are the measurements of the room total? If you ripped it out, now it's open and rectangular - does the thing on the right stay there?

If minimal is really what you're after depending on climate of the area I would use: Mercury Bay Weed Dichondria repens soft spongy ground cover once established has the blessing of you not having to mow the lawn so often. Do a feature vertical wall of herbs. Have potted citrus by or on deck. One or two clumps of Ti kouka, Cabbage tree, the dried fronds can be rolled up into small log bundles and used in wood burners very little ash so environmentally sound. Strategically place sculptural pieces around the garden and a seat or two.

Live in NZ near Christchurch. Am trying to find an alternative to tile as a wall covering on the walls OUTSIDE of the shower areas. These are already acrylic as did not want to clean grout lines. Has anyone used any of the panel products on the market for covering the whole room? Has anyone found any to replicate LARGE tiles. James Hardie has hardiglaze but the tiles are small . I really like T&G panelling, again seen A Hardie product but would like a narrower width tongue. Also I think up to ceiling will be a bit much........pHowever what height to end it? Are there less ornate dado rails available? The house is a new build and the fittings are contemporary. TIA for helping.