Advice with plank direction

[harrymanimus]

Hi,

Pic shows our approx walkable laying we are doing for wood floors. Engineered on concrete. In deciding direction here are the main points...

• I dislike (hate?) the idea of having the boards go against the long hallway (with the view all the way to the living room/dining room). It's a looong view. The longest in the house.
• My wife dislikes (hates?) the idea for the kitchen of the boards not following the longest wall. I think I'd be ok with it, but I understand.
  • She wants to follow the entryway direction.
  • Less of a problem, she also dislikes having the boards not go with the longest wall in the master bedroom. It's at least closer to square-ish in places.

My wife really likes to follow rules. Here are the ones she's going by.

• Orient with the entryway direction
• Going with the longest wall
• Pick a direction and never change
• Don't get too creative due to "fad" issues, keep it simple. Creative seems to mean, don't do any 45s or herringbone etc.

My point on the entryway rule is this: Our home entry view "straight ahead" is a wall. We actually we have an open view to the left of the dining/living on entry, there is just a brick bar/separator for there for keys and whatnot. LOTS of home entryways open into the living dining straight ahead. I don't want to decide the the direction of our planks based on a short view of a wall. You come in, look left toward the living/dining, then turn/walk left which I see as the real "entryway" to our home. Not a short view of a wall that's mostly covered by a rug.

So looking for solutions that might make both of us happy. What are the least offensive rules to break? What about changing direction over the threshold to the kitchen? Have only the kitchen change directions?

 

[C.J.]

Lay it on the 45

 

[highup]

Do the entire entry area in ceramic tile and run the rest, the long direction of the hallway.

 

[havasu]

I'd begin following the wall in the hallway, but really like it being broken up with ceramic tile as Highup suggested.

 

[highup]

A change or sorts might work in the entry....
Do the entry in red quarry tiles with a picture frame or wood two planks wide.
.....or tile the whole entry keeping it simple.
I like the program you used. I'm still using Ticonderoga 2.0

 

[Incognito]

I would for sure lay it all one way ACROSS the main entry and therefore longways down the longest hall. That's the simplest layout that follows the rule of laying your boards parallel to the longest walls in the layout.

While this may seem perplexing it's about 99% for sure also that it's not a big deal given your particular home layout. Sometimes the layout screams to be done a particular way and will actually be more difficult and less appealing if you make the wrong choice. Your layout is too close to call so just flip a coin and get to the install.

I don't prefer breaking up the design with another material like tile. You've got other things in the home to direct attention to. You pick a nice, neutral flooring, lay it down and get on to all the other elements of the total design-------piant, furniture, art, plants, family pictures. Most people dont really want the floor to be a real focal point and a good reason for that it it's pretty expensive to do something really special with wood, stone or tile.

 

[Tile Tom]

Don’t be a knucklehead, just do it the way your wife likes it.

For the life of me I can’t understand why husbands get in the middle of interior design?

 

[havasu]

Happy wife, happy life!