This isn't exactly a kitchen question, but more a flooring question for a space that abuts the kitchen. The flooring board is very quiet, and you guys are so active, and I need to decide this asap, so I'm posting it here, I hope that's okay.

I'm putting in a mudroom off the kitchen and family room, taking part of the garage. The hardwood flooring in the kitchen (off the right of the layout below) and the family room (large open area) goes left-right if looking at the layout. I'm picking up 12x24 charcoal slate tile tomorrow or Tuesday for the mudroom/laundry (orange rooms in the layout below). Which way should I orient the tile?

More info:

o Tile ends at the 3' pocket door near the washer, hardwood starts just outside that door, running left-right, and blends into family room. There is a step up to kitchen on right, also hardwood.

o In layout below, the mudroom and laundry are separated by a half-wall on one side and a full wall on the other side of a 42" walkway -- so it looks like two separate spaces in the layout but is really more like one space.

o Outside the mudroom door on the left of the layout will be a flagstone exterior landing, probably 3' x 7' or so, parallel to the house wall. I'm guessing the flagstone will be mixed shapes squares and rectangles, with the rectangles likely oriented parallel to the house to mimic the shape of the landing? Color will be charcoal, just like the tile in the mudroom.

o Counters in laundry and mudroom bench will be butcher block, with some striation to the wood. There will also be a runner rug down the laundry room.

Layout options:

o Tile installer recommended (without considering the hardwood orientation) the tile go top-bottom if looking at the layout, laid in a running bond (50% overlap) pattern (brick pattern). Hubby and I like this way because it lessens the bowling-alley feel of the long room, because the tile goes width-wise across the rooms. But this makes the tile run perpendicular to the hardwood floor at the doorway separating the laundry from the wood hall / family room. Is that a no-no? Do we need to have it run left-right (long-wise down the room) to look okay? Or maybe the recommended way is okay because it mirrors the orientation of the slate colored landing outside . . .

o Hubby and I really don't like the lengthening effect of laying it parallel to the wood, looking like a bowling-alley. We are trying to avoid having to use this pattern. Unless you say we have to :).

o What about a herringbone pattern, not on a diagonal? Is this too busy? Too big of tiles for the space to handle a pattern? Too trendy? Too unusual? I'm going for timeless farmhouse :). A pattern incorporating both directions of tile would make both the wood orientation and outside landing happy . . .

Tiler is coming next week. I'm pickup up tile early this week. Please help! Any ideas or input would be soooo appreciated.

mudroom with slate oriented the way I like it (across rather than parallel), but adjacent wood floor is parallel (mine would be perpendicular):

slate meeting wood both going parallel long-wise (bowling alley):