I'm in the middle of a demo where we are creating two new bathrooms, one of which is the master. I have bought a 60 inch freestanding vanity with an open bottom that is 34.5 inches high. The vanity is set back into a niche. (see plans attached) I'm using a 12 x 24 inch tile for the floors and shower wall so I'm going to use the same for the tile backsplash. Here are my two questions:

1) How high to do the backsplash? I don't want to go all the way to the ceiling because I need the ability to change out the mirrors and/or vanity lights easily in the future. Do I do 1/2 tile on bottom so 42" high or the full tile and go to 48" high?

2) Should I just tile the back wall or the sides too? If I do the side, do I go all the way to the shower or use schlutter to stop on the right wall the same place as the left. It's a pretty small bathroom so I don't want to overwhelm the place with tile.