I like your wood paneling and I think it is better to keep it as a character of your house and paint to the bright colour! Just in case, you can have some idea through these images of wood paneling and parquet flooring below. 1. White wood paneling with parquet flooring This white wood paneling gives minimal and contemporary looks and feeling. 2. Light gray wood paneling with parquet flooring 3. Beige wood paneling with parquet flooring And for parquet flooring, if the wood condition is still good then you may consider sanding the floor to get the nice smooth finish? If you do, the colour of parquet floor might be slightly lighter than the original colour. I hope this will be helpful for you.

You need to ensure that the colour/design you choose is correct. They are too expensive to swap around. I have Nuance by Bushboard. Lots of colour choices in 3 different price ranges and there's absolutely no way I would revert back to mucky tiles/grouting and all the maintenance they require. Google Nuance and ensure you have BB Complete for the joints and seals. I personally don't like niches cut out as I've found they hold the water. I have a stainless steel holder for my shampoo etc. It's big enough to hold 5-6 bottles of various stuff.

Personally, I wouldn't. To my mind it's the absolute opposite of the style of the kitchen. You'd be adding something that just doesn't suit the feel of the room. I think it will look weird and it would look almost like a mistake. I would also hazard a guess, it would also make that area seem smaller and that part of the room more cramped.

A lot of trees are enormous, so what about fruit trees? They are grown on different rootstocks. Dwarf ones grow to about 10 feet or so and there are lots of apples (Malus) which will do the job - lovely blossom followed by fruit. Cornus Kousa is a smallish tree with lovely white flowers. Crabapples are another smallish tree as are Mountain Ash (Sorbus). They shed their leaves in winter but maybe the branches will break up the glare? Whichever tree you choose, check it’s eventual height on the RHS website, as some sellers can be a bit liberal with the truth!