The design and installation failed on a couple of levels. There was certainly miscommunication. If you want something, print out the photos of the patterns you like and show them to the tile installer. In a perfect world with a well-coordinated GC running the show, the tiler would then stipulate what the dimensions of the rough framing need to be. Then the wall gets built and everything is mighty purdy. For the top of the pony wall, subway-sized tile on top is going to clash pattern-wise with some part of the bathroom. I'd go with a slab of stone. For the face of the pony wall, there's no reason they couldn't have been tiled on the horizontal, even across the front. But my first question would have to be: are the courses of tile on the shower side of the pony wall and the bathroom side of the pony wall at the same elevation? Had he tiled horizontally across the front, would that front edge have matched up with the tile on both sides? That's probably why he ran the tile vertically up the face of the pony wall. Because the horizontal courses on either side of the pony wall don't. At least they don;t appear to as I view the photo. If both sides do match then the front could have been tiled, but If the width is longer than the tiles are, then you'd certainly have grout lines. If you can't use bullnose, then they could have mitered the tile which requires care to provide a bit of an eased edge, but it can certainly be done. Or use a schluter-type of edge, I think livewire or someone else mentioned that. Or use a vertical quarter-round. The nice designs don't usually just happen. But they can happen with proper planning. Back to the installation as a whole. I don't understand why there's a sliver of tile for the first course of wall tile within the shower (to the right of the pony wall), and a half-tile (or less) for the first course of wall tile outside the shower (to the left of the pony wall). Or why the courses of wall tile on either side of the pony wall don't match up elevation wise. I would have also had the overall height of the pony wall fall on a horizontal grout line on the wall. But overall? If you had a tile pattern in your mind that you liked, you have to share that with the installer. Pictures work better than words.

If you have to go with a visible niche, here is what I did. I went to Bath and Body Works and bought several bottles of shower gel. The shower gels come in clear plastic squirt bottles with silver chrome-looking tops. I emptied a couple of shower gels into spare bottles, removed the labels, and put my other products in the empty BBW bottles. Then I marked them on the bottom with a sharpie to identify: B for body gel, F for face wash, S for shampoo, C for conditioner. You can’t see the sharpie marks. The bottles look really nice in the niche. BTW I have a custom niche that was sized to work seamlessly with the tile I chose. EDIT: I would consider doing the border on the bottom of the walls like a baseboard to make the shower floor look bigger. Re the niche: I was warned about water seepage as well, so I towel dry the niche after every shower. It’s not a big deal. Also, my custom niche was framed out inside the wall so I could put it where I wanted. (My shower is small: 30x 60) Also think about how much water will be hitting the niche. In the pic with the pony wall, there might be a lot of water coming at the niche. My niche sees hardly any water because the shower spray hits the floor several inches before it gets to the niche wall.

Plumbing can get in the way of utilizing the area under the sink. Why start off that way when it's easily rectified? I'd ask them to reposition the drain and lines in the dead space within the wall. Also watch how the fridge water line is finished. Recessed into the wall is better so the fridge can be set back as far as its clearances allow. If you think about how you want to use the storage space, make sure that the plumbing configuration will allow it. Lisa_a's sink cabinet comes to mind but I'm having trouble locating it. Here's an example, inspired by her. [Pullouts[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/trash-pullout-and-drawer-under-sink-finally-installed-dsvw-vd~3617245)

Oaktonmom that is a good point, but unfortunately as mentioned in my original post, the other wall opposite the fireplace is not wide enough to put a tv on, that is part of the dilemma with this space.