Twelve years ago we painted our living room, entry, and dining room with Ralph Lauren's River Rock paint. It has a very fine granules which give the walls a fine sandpaper texture that is really wonderful. I have found the surface easy to clean with a magic eraser (sponge) and when necessary I've done the occasional small touch-up with a jar of the leftover paints that I store under my bathroom sink. I did a quick check online to see if these paints are still available and discovered they are, but also found a lot of threads with folks complaining how difficult it was to use this paint. I do recall it looked blotchy with the first coat, but looked fine after the second coat, so we really didn't have any problems. (We used a very deep taupe for the living room and a soft dove for the entry and dining room and both worked equally well for us.) I wouldn't recommend Ralph Lauren Suede, which is similar in texture. We tried that for our den and later discovered every time we brushed against the walls it left a white mark and any attempt at touch-ups simply wouldn't blend in properly. For some reason the River Rock doesn't have this problem. (We ended up repainting that room six months later with an ICI Dulux paint that was fabulous - nice, thick and rich in pigment - could almost get away with just one coat even in their deepest colors, including red and navy!)

My thoughts on the order of attack are: 1. Use putty knife to get in behind it to the plaster in a small inconspicuous area just to get a better grip on what I'm working with. 2. Water/Fabric Softener out of a pump sprayer. If it soaks in, let it sit for a while and see if it comes off with a putty knife or scraper. 3. Try this product from Amazon (link at bottom) - EcoSolve Home Strip X-Tex Textured Coatings Remover 4. I'm going to be renting a steamer for all of the wallpaper in the home and will maybe give that a go as well. 5. If none of the above works, I will try to sand. If this works, I will likely rent a power sander/vacuum combo. 6. If all else fails, I will skim coat with joint compound. Does this sound reasonable? Here is a link that might be useful: EcoSolve Home Strip X-Tex Textured Coatings Remover

actually, it does make a difference. a level 4 or 5 smooth here in Florida is not the norm. therefore, more expensive. in my native Midwest, smooth level 3 or 4 is pretty common... texture isn't necessarily nasty. a very fine texture can even help a bit with echo in a home with hardwood or tile floors.

I'm sorry you don't like those tiles, but I can tell you, I would select those tiles TODAY (if they were even available) over the ubiquitous grey veined marble or marble look tile bathrooms we see here every day. It's a beautiful bathroom. The windows do not bother me at all; I much prefer them to something that has window coverings for privacy that block all the natural light. They are somewhat reminiscent of chapel windows and feel almost reverent to me, and calming. There is something natural and organic about tile over the quartz that is being used everywhere these days (plastic). I bought a house built in the 1980's that had beautiful trim tile which looked as if it could have been hand painted. But it had kind of a pinkish beige background with simple pink flowery designs on it. I detest pink, so I couldn't wait to change it out. I finally did that in 2022, lol! I understand not loving something, but living with it sometimes is easier than we can imagine.