Well, I can weigh in on the toilet paper roll issue, anyway. In my house, the TP comes off from the bottom, not the top (i.e., the roll is mounted so that the top of the roll rotates towards the back of the roll to take paper off of the bottom).
Why? We have cats. When the roll is mounted so that the paper comes off the top towards the user, you will occasionally enter the bathroom only to find 1/2 the roll unraveled onto the floor. When the roll is mounted so that the paper comes off the bottom towards the user, one never has this problem.
very simple: if you have cats, the roll edge should be INSIDE, else you'll have TP all over