Finishes are one of three types; urethane, urethane with aluminum oxide, or urethane with ceramic bead/marble dust.

But I’ve done vinyl and ceramic tile floors too.

It's really not that tough to go through ceramic tile floors, white baseboard and trim, tan walls, etc. so if you're aiming for "neutral" I'm 100% sure there are some easy options out there. 

Initial cost to install ceramic tile is more than carpet but it pays huge dividends over the long run.

Add backerboard and ceramic tile all over.Would the soft and squishy or the stiff approach work better?

Ceramic tile all around and under windowOnly other thing is to close off and NO window at all but that makes a bath pitch black even during the daytime,,,least fav optionONLY other way would be to 'sneak' a high short window up high but this house fronts on busy main street and hard to miss that work if inspector is driving by while so doing.Shortest double hung is 36",,shortest sliding window is 24",,,any other options???

You couldn't give me a place that was ALL ELECTRIC in Houston, I wanted (or added when the time came) archetectural roof shingles (look better), ceramic tile, decent carpet and pad etc.Learn to do the work yourself.

Ceramic tile while not the cheapest in labor, usually lasts the longest and takes a pretty good beating, again though its all about the prep before the install that makes it work.

Concrete backer board and ceramic tile are easy to learn. 

You must be talking about spackling to fill plaster holes or maybe grout for ceramic tiles.