Alternative uses for gold and elixir

Hey guys I'm new to the forum (and forums in general) but I've read the "ruled out" sticky thing and tried searching to see if my idea has already been suggested but couldn't find anything. If it has been suggested before please leave a link to it. So here's my suggestion:

Give us other ways to spend our gold and elixir so that we don't sit with full storages while we wait for a couple of long upgrades to finish and in the process 'waste' all the loot we get when attacking. These should be purely aesthetic and serve only to provide players with the ability to personalize their base.

*For example, give us the option to progress the outskirts of the map through different levels. Upgrade paths/themes can even be introduced like dark/ominous, light/good, forest, desert etc.
*Allow this for ocean too. Eg. Stormy, Mediterranean, deadliest catch, jelly beans.
*Another possibility is npc's that either roam around your town or move around the sides of the map. Lion, unicorn, kraken (sea), giant dragon. These units do not add to your defence or interfere with an enemy attack.
*Customise the appearance of troops (only within the army camp and only visible to the player when online, also not when attacking to avoid confusion when watching replays)
*Dark elixir can possibly be used to change the actual in game area but should be expensive and only visible to the player when online or when base is visited by another player. There could also be an option for the visiting player to easily return the base to its original visual state.
*Lastly, allow the player to zoom out further so that more of the edited area becomes visible.

I just think these options will give dedicated players or players interested in further base customisation a way to make their base their own, give players who like customisation an option and creative players who may get bored down the line a reason to play for a while longer. I know it would also give me another reason to attack/farm enemy bases when my storages are full and I'm not trophy hunting.

I'm really interested in your opinions and any other ideas that you have.