Interesting question. I think it depends on the budget of the film or tv production and it’s the job of the set decorator to be able to source materials and and be artistically creative within that budget. Might be that parts of some sets were made from cardboard, polystyrene, foam or other cheap material and then spray painted to look the part. Also a lot of sets, especially these days, are computer generated and the actors and a few props are green screened onto the CGI image. Your cafe sounds like a great project. For futuristic panels I would suggest a stronger material such as plywood or MDF and have someone who is handy with a jigsaw to cut them in the required shapes, stick to the wall with strong adhesive and then paint. Would love to see a before and after of your cafe:)

The first step is to contact your local planning department. They should be able to advise you as to whether it is possible and what your local requirements are.

Pine floorboards are used in older properties. Alternatively you can use sheets of tounge and groove plywood or chipboard at least 18mm thick.

We have engineered wood in our living room with wet UFH under it. We’ve noticed it’s a lot slower to heat up compared with our tiled kitchen - presumably due to the insulating effect of the wood. So in practice we need to leave the heating on in that room overnight in the coldest months, otherwise the room doesn‘t warm up till mid afternoon. Luckily we made it a separate zone from the kitchen so we don‘t need to leave both on overnight. Rugs are tricky - we’ve recently put a wool rug down on the wood and are waiting to see if it affects the heating or ruins the floor...! Hopefully not but I found conflicting views on the net.