Tiling a bathroom- what to do where tiles stop?

[Busywithsomething]

I haven't needed to think about tiling a for a long time and I feel a bit lost with this. I should point out it's an old house and not going for any modern, sleek look. We're tiling a fairly small, and narrow bathroom which has a bath / shower and basin on one of the long walls which will be tiled top to bottom. That side's fine. For the opposite wall, we're thinking just tile up to waist height or so.

What I can't picture is

1- whether to have the rectangular tiles placed flat/ horizontally, which seems more traditional, but if so keeping them one directly on top of each other so the grout lines are a straight vertical or should they be offset / staggered a little. Could I have any comments on this please? also, alternatively -

2 - whether it would look nicer for the tiles to be placed vertically, and if so, again same question, should they be staggered ( sorry, probably not the correct term)? If going for this option on the wall where it's tiled to waist kind of height, would we have a trim at the top? Seems like a lot of people don't have trims, just leave the tiles open but alternate tiles would need to be cut so I'm not sure how that would look. Hope you can follow that.

These are the tiles I'm thinking of, probably in the ( bland, I know) white colour. Hopefully I'll twist hubby's arm into getting some exotic wallpaper above later on.

www.toppstiles.co.uk/bathroom-tiles/catania#selection.product_colour=Violet&selection.size=30cm%20x%2015cm%20Rectangular&selection.primary_tile_finish=Gloss

Personally i always prefer to put something at the visible top edge of tiling, it finishes it off much better. You can use border tiles ( l istell o ) spellcheck objects to the word but if it is not likely to get very wet I often use a wooden beading which gives a smoother finish as it is in longer lengths. You can paint it to match.
If you are going to wallpaper, put the beading on afterwards as it will give you a better finish on the wallpaper tile seam.

@Busywithsomething Why do you need to tile more than one wall? Why go to the expense on the other walls and have the issue of an unfinished top of the tiles? Lay them horizontally as in the pix you linked to.

We have F&B interior durable eggshell on bathroom walls and you don’t need to worry about it at all. Towel rad goes against it and loo! Use a very low profile skirting board and don’t forget to have some storage. You won’t want to be covering tiles with any of this. So just do the one wall and leave it at that.

@Allthegoodnamesarechosen thanks for your reply. I do like the type of border tile in your picture and I've looked for border tiles but nothing seems quite right. Where I could find the type that is in your pic please ? Presumably it isn't the same as the listello borders as they seem to be made of metal.

Also I'm not averse to using a wooden trim as you say and we do have that in the ensuite in fact above some big panels. But I really do like the look of what you've posted here. Thanks in advance

@TizerorFizz I suppose I haven't firmly decided on what to do about the wall opposite the bath and basin but can I ask why you think it's preferable not to tile that wall please - is it just the unfinished top? I think you;re right that horizontal is the way to go. Just wondering if there are other factors that I should be aware of.

Also, do you think when placing them horizontally, the idea of not staggering them ( whatever the word is), as in placing them one directly above the other, would be an odd look in an oldy-worldy house? Is that a much more modern look?

Many thanks

It is wooden beading. I have painted it the different colours and then varnished for ease of cleaning. It’s stuck on with No more nails.